Kentish to their core

While Bromley marches on with its regeneration, nearby Biggin Hill continues to honour the important part it played in the Battle of Britain

- Caroline Read

HISTORY

Once a Kentish market town not far from London, Bromley was officially engulfed by our expanding capital in 1965, becoming a London Borough. Having boomed between the late 1800s and the 1960s, with a great deal of development during that time, there isn’t much evidence of the original town left, but there are a few historic gems if you know where to look.

Market Square is the centre of the old part of town which, until the coming of the railway in 1858, comprised a single street.

Its Market Charter was granted by King John in 1205 but in recent years the market itself has moved to the southern section of the pedestrian area of the High Street, where it operates every Thursday, Friday and Saturday throughout the year.

Being set on the ancient route between London and Hastings, and having sprung up on land owned by the Bishop of Rochester, it’s no surprise that Bromley had a bishop’s palace. The original manor house was built around 1100, but rebuilt in 1184 and again in 1775. This Georgian Bromley Palace is now part of the town’s civic centre and used as a wedding venue.

Another glimpse of the area’s distant past can be seen at Bromley College on London Road. A quadrangle of almshouses, built for the poor widows of members of the clergy in 1666, it is still in use and is regarded by English Heritage as one of the most important 17th-century almshouses in the country.

And look out for the old town water pump in Market Square, relocated some 25 metres from its original location beside the old Town Hall Chambers. Beside the pump you’ll also find a mural, painted in honour of one of the area’s most famous fomer residents, Charles Darwin.

Others include the writer HG Wells, the site of whose home is marked with a blue plaque above Primark, and – famously – musician and actor David Bowie.