Bromley St Peter and St Paul, Kent Family History Guide

Bromley St Peter and St Paul is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Kent.

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1558
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1744

Nonconformists include:

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Beckenham St George
Lee St Margaret
Bromley Holy Trinity
Lewisham St Mary
Hayes
Eltham St John the Baptist
Chislehurst

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

BROMLEY, a small town, a parish, a subdistrict, a district, and a hundred, in Kent. The town stands on high ground, rising from the Ravensbourne river, adjacent to the Farnborough railway, 10 miles SE of St. Paul’s, London. It commands good views to the W, SW, and S; stands in a beautiful country, with rapid increase of fine residences; is a seat of petty sessions and a polling-place; and has a railway station, a post office under London, SE, a new town hall, good inns, a church, three dissenting chapels, a college for clergymen’s widows, a National school, and a literary institute.

The church is chiefly perpendicular English, mainly rebuilt in 1829, and consisting of nave, chancel, and aisles; has, at the west end, an ancient embattled tower, surmounted by a cupola; and contains a Norman font, a brass of 1356, a monument of Dr. Hawkesworth, the chief writer of the “Adventure,” and the graves of Bishop Pearce, Bishop Tonge, and the wife of Dr. Johnson. The college is a large brick structure, founded in 1666, by Bishop Warner, and repaired in 1765; gives residences and support to 40 widows; and has an income of £1,993. A drainage-system for the town was projected in 1869.

The parish comprises 4,646 acres. Real property in 1860, £25,565. Rental in 1865, £46,771. Rateable value in 1861, £28,565; in 1865, £37,810. Pop. in 1861, 5,505; in 1865, 8,028. Houses in 1861, 1,090; in 1865, 1,338.

The manor was given, in the 8th century, by Ethelbert, King of Kent, to the bishops of Rochester; continued, with some slight interruptions, to be held by them till a few years ago; and belongs now to Coles Child, Esq. A palace was built on it, by one of the bishops, soon after the Conquest; underwent improvements by successive bishops; was visited by Walpole and Pope; and gave place. in 1776, to a new palace, a plain brick mansion, now the residence of the present lord of the manor.

The parish ceased, at the recent re-arrangement of sees, to be in the diocese of Rochester; and the residence of the bishops was then fixed at Danbury in Essex. A chalybeate spring is in the palace grounds; and another spring was there till lately, called St. Blaize’s well, which had anciently a small oratory, and was a resort of pilgrims, in the Romish times, at Whitsuntide. An old moated mansion, at the southern extremity of the town, belonged successively to the Bangnels, the Clarks, and the Simpsons; and some remains of it exist under the name of Simpsons place. Plaistow Lodge, Bickley Park, and Sundridge, are in the neighbourhood.

The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £160. Patron, the Bishop of Worcester. The vicarages of Plaistow, Bickley, and Bromley-Common are separate benefices.

The subdistrict contains the parishes of Bromley, Beckenham, Hayes, West Wickham, Keston, Down, Cudham, and Knockholt. Acres, 23,118. Pop., 11,755. Houses, 2,257. The district comprehends also the subdistrict of Chislehurst, containing the parishes of Chislehurst, Farnborough, Chelsfield, Orpington, St. Mary-Cray, St. Paul-Cray, Foots-Cray, and North-Cray. Acres, 39,927. Poor-rates in 1866, £14,191. Pop. in 1861, 20,368. Houses, 3,851.

Marriages in 1866, 162; births, 871,-of which 35 were illegitimate; deaths, 464,-of which 163 were at ages under 5 years, and 15 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 967; births, 5,414; deaths, 3,078. The places of worship in 1851 were 17 of the Church of England, with 5,489 sittings; 5 of Independents, with 1,010 s.; 4 of Baptists, with 630 s.; 10 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 1,239 s.; and 1 of the Wesleyan Methodist Association, with 16 s. The schools were 20 public day schools, with 1,717 scholars; 24 private day schools, with 395 s.; 17 Sunday schools, with 1,179 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 19 s. The workhouse is in Farnborough.

The hundred is in the lathe of Sutton-at-Hone; bears the name of Bromley and Beckenham; and contains only the parishes of Bromley and Beckenham. Acres, 8,521. Pop., 7,629. Houses, 1,452.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Bromley Parish Records

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Administration

Civil Registration District: Bromley
Probate Court: Pre-1845 – Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Rochester, Post-1844 – Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Diocese: Pre-1845 – Rochester, Post-1844 – Canterbury
Rural Deanery: Pre-1864 – Dartford, Post-1863 – West Dartford
Poor Law Union: Bromley
Hundred: Bromley and Beckenham
Province: Canterbury