Bromley Common

Bromley Common
Bromley Common
Bromley Common shown within Greater London
Population 15,113 (2011 Census. Bromley Common and Keston Ward)[1]
OS grid reference TQ416669
London borough
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town BROMLEY
Postcode district BR2 / BR3
Dialling code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
EU Parliament London
UK Parliament
London Assembly

Bromley Common (grid reference TQ420670) is the area centered on the road of the same name, stretching between Masons Hill at the south end of Bromley and Hastings Road, Locksbottom. Part of the A21. The area lies in the London Borough of Bromley and borders onto other suburbs such as Petts Wood and Orpington.

Besides this well-used thoroughfare between Kent and central London, Chatterton Road has a number of popular restaurants, delicatessen, hair and beauty salons, the Chatterton Arms pub (the village and the pub were named after the 18th-century poet, Thomas Chatterton)[2] and a range of hobby/craft and charity shops. The pub, which opened around 1870, was originally named the "Hit or Miss", presumably a reference to "Shooting Common", dating back to the 'dark' days of highwaymen.[2] The area has been awarded village status by the local authority and is known as Chatterton Village. Recent improvements include flower boxes, a village sign, Victorian-style lamp posts and a village notice board outside the bakery. The nearby Whitehall Recreation Ground has also been enhanced by Bromley Council's Parks Department with flower beds, seating, a picnic area, a wildlife pond and a refurbished children's play area. The network of mostly Victorian streets comprising Chatterton Village is becoming increasingly popular with younger professionals working in the centre of London.

History

Until the 1860s, Bromley Common consisted mainly of farmland and the estates of a few large landowners. The common itself was owned by the Bishops of Rochester as Lords of the Manor, but on the condition that various ‘commoners’ should be allowed to freely enjoy their privileges on it. It amounted to about 300 acres, extending irregularly along the sides of the road that formed the main route from Tunbridge Wells and Hastings to Bromley and, beyond, to London. It was a well-known and profitable haunt for highwaymen. After the common was enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1826 (the Act was passed in 1821), there was some limited residential development, but this was mostly to the south of the old common, where it fanned out from the main road; a substantial number of homes had been built around Oakley Road and Princes Plain such that in 1842 Holy Trinity Church, at the junction of Bromley Common and Oakley Road, was built to cater for the expanding population. In the northern section of the old common development was much more modest, with just a few dozen homes put up along the east side of the road.[3]

At the heart of what is now Chatterton Village stood the grounds of Bromley Villa (later renamed Walpole Lodge), a large house owned by gentryman landowner Henry Hebbert. It was his death in 1864, and the subsequent auction of Bromley Villa, that presaged the residential development out of which Chatterton Road was built.[4] This first tranche of development to the east of Bromley Common stretched from Chantry Lane to Johnson Road, between which lay Pope Road and Walpole Road; connecting these roads and running parallel to Bromley Common was Chatterton Road. Only in the late 1870s did the area just to the north – including Bloomfield, Addison and Cowper roads – begin to be developed. The development to the south – of Mosslea, Balfour, Albert, Victoria and Salisbury roads and Crown Lane – began around the turn of the 20th century.[5]

Cricket venue

The first definite mention of the Bromley area in a cricket connection is a 1735 match on Bromley Common between a Kent side and London Cricket Club. Kent won by 10 wickets after scoring 97 and 9/0 in reply to London's 73 and 32.[6] The report of this match states that a large crowd attended and a great deal of mischief was done. It seems that horses panicked and riders were thrown while some members of the crowd were rode over. One man was carried off for dead as HRH passed by at the entrance to the Common. "HRH" was Frederick, Prince of Wales who was a keen patron of cricket.

The common was used for matches on at least dozen occasions between 1735 and 1752, a period which coincided with Bromley Cricket Club having one of the strongest teams in England during the career of Robert Colchin. The last historic match known to have been played there was between Bromley and London on 30 June 1752.[7] Cricket has been played on the common in recent years.

Bromley Common cricket ground
Location Bromley, Kent
Home club Bromley Cricket Club
County club Kent
Establishment by 1735

Notable people

References

  1. ↑ "Bromley Ward population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  2. 1 2 Bromley Common News Archived 14 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ Bentley, Daniel. "The History of Chatterton Village, Bromley".
  4. ↑ Bentley, Daniel. "The History of Chatterton Village, Bromley".
  5. ↑ Bentley, Daniel. "The History of Chatterton Village, Bromley".
  6. ↑ H. T. Waghorn, Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730-1773), Blackwood, 1899.
  7. ↑ G. B. Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.