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March 1997 Price 50p Free to members

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Bromley Borough Local History Society was formed in 1974 so that anyone with an interest in any part o f the Borough could meet to exchange information and learn more about its history. History is continually being made and at the same time destroyed, buildings are altered or demolished, memories fade and people pass away, records get destroyed or thrown in the bin. We aim, in co-operation with the local history library, museums and other relevant organisations, to make sure at least some o f this history is preserved for future generations.

Meetings are held at 7.45 in the evenings on the first Tuesday o f the month, from October to July, in the Methodist Church Hall, North Street, Bromley (there is parking available, bus services nearby and facilities for the disabled).

In addition meetings are held during the day at 2.30 pm on the second Wednesday o f January, March, May, July, September and November in the Methodist Church Hall at the comer of Bromley and Bevingtou Roads, Beckenham. This is on several bus routes and there is a large public car park nearby.

Members receive regular newsletters similar to this one.

You are welcome to come along to one o f our meetings to see if you would like to join. If you have any queries just ring our information hotline 0181 650 8342

You will be made very welcome and won’t be pressed to join, although non-members are invited to make a donation o f £1 towards the costs o f the meeting.

However if you wish to join, the subscription rates are £8.50 for an individual, £10 for a husband and wife. Members joining after 30th June pay half these rates.

Our next Bromley meetings will be:Tuesday, 1st April A.G.M. followed by:

‘A Brush with the Law’ Elizabeth Silverthome

Tuesday, 6th May The History o f Sundridge Park Ken Wilsonwith visit to follow on 17th May - see page 11

The next Beckenham meeting will be:Wednesday, 14th May Edith Nesbit, Author o f the Nicholas Reid

Railway Children

Chairman: Dr Eric Inman, 28 Downs Hill, Beckenham, BR3 2HB (0181 650 8342)

Hon. Sec: Mrs P. Knowlden, 62 Harvest Bank Road, West Wickham, BR4 9DJ (tel. 0181 462 5002)

Membership Sec. Dr A. Alhiutt, Woodside, Old Perry Street, Chislehurst, BR7 6PP

Editors: Paul & Denise Rason, 1 South Drive, Orpington, BR6 9NG

The Editors are always happy to receive articles, large or small, for inclusion in the newsletter. But please don’t be offended if we do not use your article immediately. We try to maintain a balance between research and reminiscences and articles about different subjects and parts o f the borough.

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Bromlragc Mar 1997

A.G.M.

Just a reminder that the next meeting on 1st April is our ACM. We are as always looking for volunteers for various jobs, but in particular we need a Chairman and a Treasurer, as both of the present incumbents, having held the posts for many years, feel that it is time for them to move on to other tilings

These are both jobs that are vital to the continued existence of the society, so if you can help, please contact Eric. His telephone number is 0181 650S342.

THE HUMBLE BUS STOP

Ask people to guess how long the humble London bus stop has been with us as a piece of street furniture and most of them will say "since the 1930s". For a guess, that is quite reasonable, because most London bus stop locations date from the 1930s and in the suburbs most of them were "planted", or in some cases fixed to lighting standards, in 1937-39.

Before bus stops, or "fixed stopping places" to give them their formal title, buses simply stopped where they were asked to: wherever you were, you raised your arm when you saw the bus coming, and told the driver (or in later years, rang the bell) when you wanted to get off.

In the days of horse buses, this worked; a pair of horses could bring their bus to a halt in its own length. The early motor buses, however, needed 40 yards or so, and when going down hill, drivers could need up to 100 yards, risking break-up of the gear box if they were not careful enough. As traffic congestion (as people saw it then; one motor in a street made it busy and ten meant serious congestion) grew, it was decided that buses must stop at precisely defined points, to avoid confusion at road junctions, at hump back bridges, near bends and in busy market streets, and on hills. As an example, one of the Ministry of Transport’s rules was that bus stops must be placed before, rather than after, a road junction.

The earliest stop sign in the Bromley district was almost certainly at the Fox and Hounds PH. at Westerham Hill at the end of the (then) route 136. Often, bus stops do not show up in old photographs: if they are there at all they tend to have been hidden by the bus which was the photographer's usual target! But photographs of the Fox and Hounds taken around 1922, show a London bus stop sign and iron post of the earliest known type. Instead of the enamelled plate, sometimes known from its shape as a "tombstone", which became familar from about 1923 onwards, or the rectangular tin "boat" of more recent years, the sign was a blacksmith's job, made up from one-inch angle iron and strips of iron sheet, forming the company’s bullseye symbol in a square frame. Only a hundred or so of these were made; most were in the City and West End and they were probably scrapped when the enamel plate design appeared about 1923.

As a rule, the London General Omnibus Company did not put up stop signs at railway stations or pubs, nor at bus termini, because at all of these places everyone knew where the bus was to stop. The Fox and Hounds sign thus broke all the rules. One suggestion is that in the early days, the LGOC used bus stops to mark out the boundaries of its territory, and that the Fox and Hounds stop was one such.

In the early days the spread of bus stops around London was patchy and they were well scattered. The earliest stops in the Bromley area were confined to Bromley, Beckenham and Penge, and there were only a handful. Some of the early locations can still be identified in Parish Lane, at Clock House bridge, in Beckenham High Street and Southend Road, near The Crown. Bromley Common, and at Wickham RoadVOrchard Avenue, Shirley. Some of these stopping places were first fixed about 1922-25 and there are still bus stops there even though the original stop posts and signs have been replaced at least twice - more often if traffic has damaged them.

Elsewhere in the borough, except for Green Line coach stops placed along the A21 from Lewisham to Sevenoaks about 1934-35. bus stops were quite late on the scene. Green

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lbrmlcage Mar 1997

Street Green was given just two bus stop signs in 1937; Orpington had no bus stop signs at all until about 1938; and West Wickham's first stop came in 1939.

For about a year in 1922/23 some of the stops in Bromley town were merely temporary affairs, with a wooden sign mounted on a wooden post. Although there were possibly as many as 400 around London, there seem to be hardly any photographs of them, and I have found none at all showing the Bromley examples, of which there are thought to have been six or eight, in and near the Market Square. One of the Market Square stops was on the east side, probably outside Dunn's, and carried the serial number 409; its descendant, still numbered 409, was. sadly, abolished when the Market Square was pedestrianised. In 1923, the temporary wooden stops were replaced by a cast iron type of which there were eventually about 3,000. They were known as "Birmingham Guilds". Nearly all have now gone, but about 20 can still be found among London's 17,000 stops, and in fact three of them survive in the Bromley area: one in Baston Road. Hayes, one at Chislehurst Common, and one in Marvels Lane, Grove Park. Further afield, there is one in South Park Hill, Croydon; all were originally on other sites, and were probably moved about 1951.

Several bus stop locations are referred to in the Minutes of Beckenham and Bromley Councils in the 1920s, but here there is a mystery. The LGOC, say the Minutes, had declined to provide a "standard sign" in Southend Road; this suggests that some bus "stops" may not actually have had stop signs in the early days; but if so, how were passengers supposed to know where the stop was? If there was such a thing as a "non-standard" bus stop, what did it look like? If. somewhere, there is a photo of Southend Road by Brackley Road. Beckenham, taken around 1926, it might not only solve the local mystery: more important, it could resolve a basic question in London bus stop research!

You may ask, what do old bus company records say? Alas, except for the collection of photographs in the London Transport museum (most of which do not show bus stops), the early records of London bus

stops, from the beginning through to the 1980s, have been lost. Efforts to produce a history of them now have something in common with compiling a parish register from surviving gravestones and family photographs, and research is actually proceeding along those lines. This is where you, the reader, may be able to help.

In 1939 when war seemed inevitable, plans were made for public transport services to be able to cope with a national emergency. It was realised that, if London's streets were in "blackout", the traditional practice of hailing a bus "anywhere" would no longer be possible after dark. All bus routes would therefore have to be provided with fixed bus stops. There were already about 12,000 bus stops in and around London, but about 7,000 more stops for "red" buses in the suburbs, and 1,000 or more for "green" routes, were needed. This mammoth task was begun about May 1939. What we have been unable to discover - yet - is when it was completed: was it by November 1939? or did it take until the Spring of 1940?

The answer to this problem of London local history may lie in peoples' memories of some of the bus stops around Bromley, because they were among the last to be "planted" in that huge operation. Most of the stops on the old 227 (now partly 269) between Chislehurst and Penge (but not in the centres of Bromley or Beckenham; they were much earlier); and on the 254 (later 126/162) along Wickham Road and Hayes Lane, were among the last to be done, probably after the war started but before the crisis of 1940 halted work. The London Transport serial numbers, from 19735 to 19782, still identify those stopping places, even though the original posts have long since been replaced. The number is usually clearly visible on the under-edge of the "flag". Does anyone remember, or know, to the nearest month, when these two lengths of bus route were given their bus stops? (The answer is not, by the way, the same date as when notices went up saying that passengers could only get on and off at the stops: that came a couple of years later).

L a u r i e Mack

(who Is hoping to hear the answer on 0181 462 1938!)

Bromlcagc Mur 1997

THE BAPTISMAL FONT

Dick Wood

Making a replica of the 14th century St. Giles font - for use by the Bishop in Norman Park in 1991 - caused me to wonder “why eight sides?” and “although all sides of the pedestal are the same why is each side of the bowl different?”. “What do the pictures mean?”. Since then whenever 1 enter a church or cathedral I pay special attention to its font and I have even done a little research Your magazine editor suggested I should share my conclusions with you. but 1 warn, they may not be corrccti Perhaps a reader will continue with some research’’

As we know, early Baptism (from the Greek “Bapstein" - to dip) took place in streams and rivers and was very public. At some stage a catechism was added “at the cockcrow the water was blessed. Little children were Baptised first, answering for themselves if they could, otherwise answers by parents or family members, then older children and adults" By the second century, ritual (and a desire for some privacy) produced a requirement for raised fonts, the earliest of which were wooden tubs In the second and third centuries, perhaps the greatest period of bapusmal ritual development, fonts appeared inside churches. Originally a small pool with steps, the change to a “sprinkling" technique called for bowls, then pedestals for them, then steps “for greater dignity" on which the pnest stood, often with three Godparents who were required to lift and hold the child Last came lids, some with means for locking to preserve the purity of the water and guard it against profanation. One can see where, on the rim of the St. Giles’ font, locking lugs originally were, although the present lid is 19th century made, as is the pedestal. (The bowl originally had a circular pedestal).

Canon 848 of the Catholic church required that “every parish have a Baptismal font" To this end broken or discarded stone columns or their bases, perhaps already carved, were often hollowed out to basin shape whilst font “factories" appeared and, from the eleventh to the seventeenth century, lead fonts were made and also imported, one of the last is dated 1689 and is at Ingham. Hertfordshire.

Whilst many decorated fonts are round or square, and a good few are hexagonal, during the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they were mostly

octagonal pedestal types. Carved pictures were meant to tell stones or remind, for example the “Seven Sacrament" one at Famingham, The eighth face might have a subject appropriate to die place or some Old Testament lesson. There are more than thirty other Seven Sacrament fonts in England, mostly in East Anglia. On simpler fonts, masons if left to themselves might, I learn, copy window tracery and this is my view of the St. Giles carving with its mason including what may be a hint of family figures?

Craftsmen were, it would seem, valued As an example, in 1468 of a total font cost of £203 6s 8d which included stone, cartage etc.. £160 was “payd to the mason for workmanship of the seyd fiinte" and £16 “to his reward” - (was this a 10% tip?).

.And why eight sides? Well, it may be a throw-back to the early pools which were generally octagonal for the reason perhaps explained at the end of the third century, by St. Ambrose writing mystically about “fontis purifici" and referring to the eighth day - Sunday - the day of the Resurrection and of regeneration by the Spirit.

NR Part o< this article previously appeared in ihc l am boron dr parL-ii tnaganne. The alitor) have fcmdly allovvcd us to reproduce the ccntpldc article here

has recently been formed to raise the funds necessary to maintain the beauty of the Church and its Churchyard for future generations to enjoy. For just £5 a year you will be included on their mailing list and be advised of, and invited to. any functions held in the church, as well as any special services that may interest you. For more information, write

to:

VMrs Yvonne Burr, 3 Bassetts Way Famborough. Kent BR6 7AE

________________________________ ^5

LJratnlcagc March 1997

GROWING UP IN BROMLEY com

SCHOOLDAYS Alati Hills

I remember briefly attending the National School near Bromley North, as well as Mason's Hill Being a troublesome little boy the headmistress, a Miss Anness, asked my Mother for my removal!

My next school was Aylesbury Road Now there was a school with discipline. At that time it was purely a boy’s school - the Headmaster being a Welshman named Benson, who I was told liad often been visited by irate parents re. the punishment he meted out to their sons, summonses also being issued.

To describe the school, later demolished and becoming a girls’ school, one entered by a gate situated near the caretaker’s house - at that time he being a Mr Lawrence with two sons Billy and Ronnie. When Mr Lawrence died, his job was taken by a Mr Rogers with family

Crossing die playground one entered die school, this entrance also being the only exit. The first classroom on the right was presided over by a Mr Margetson who to augment his salary taught die violin to diose willing to pay. Unearthly sounds issued from this room at dinner times and I am quite sure produced very few if any Menuhins or Kreislers,

Hie next classroom was ruled over by a Mr Woods I was fortunate in never being in his class but did sit in die next class and could see what went on in Mr Woods' classroom through a wood-framed glass sliding partition

Mr Woods always seemed to favour wearing brown suits His features were radier purplish and when detecting misbehaviour on the part of a boy he would pick up a wooden ruler from his desk, make his way and glare at an entirely innocent boy beyond die offender and then lash out with said ruler to the guilty party in passing' His means of augmenting his salary was by teaching French I understand diese lessons took places at his house which lay in London Road. Bromley.

The next classroom (I dunk) was also partitioned by a sliding wooden and glass divider enabling die two partitions to be slid back to make one large hall for special occasions, tins being presided over by Mr Bevan. I diink his name was spelt with an ‘A’ not an T . At any rate I am sure he wasn’t Welshl

By us boys he could often be side-tracked from what we considered a boring subject by asking about his experiences in W W 1. The last

classroom built at right angles to the previous three had as its master Mr Westgate who amongst other things taught science - a small man with glasses who was T found out die most qualified teacher dierc, going off at various times to collect various degrees. Most of die other teachers I think only possessed teacher’s certificates and had been formerly at Raglan Road School.

One day die choirmaster and organist from St. Marks. Sir Edward Carlos came to select choirboys and as I always liked singing I found myself picked. Edward, referred to out of his heanng as Ted. had a twin brother Bob or radicr Robert who sang in the men’s section. There was also an elder brother whose name I forget who also sang in die men’s section

The twins were rather Spanish featured. Ted had a radier bad stammer which I found, radier unkindly, 1 could increase by looking him straight in die eye I can’t be certain whether brother Bob was similarly afflicted and don’t remember talking to the elder brother. *

They lived in a large house in Homesdale Road. Bromley Common where those unsighdy concrete offices now stand. (E*l note - demolished early 1997) Their house was named ‘Boscobel’ as I later learned one of their ancestors liad helped Charles I, who was said to have changed dieir name from Careless.

Their big old car. an Austin, I dunk, had a coat of arms on its door, which several of us used to pile in for trips to Otford Church to sing at their Harvest Festival, and were afterwards regaled with cakes and drinks (non-alcoholic) by die ladies of die village.

Our route dien was by the old road from near the top of Pollull and returning in the dark was like travelling dirough a tunnel, die headlights shining on the overhanging trees My young brodier who died earlier diis year, also later joined die same choir but used to say to me ‘of course you used to sing the solos!’

One of die men’s choristers was Ron Minter who ran a radio shop just off the Bromley Market Square in East Street As St Marks only possessed one bell which struck the hours, Ron had fitted a gramophone with loudspeakers, so the local populace were amazed to hear peels of bells issuing from die tower one Christmas.

.Another of the men's section was Mr Ayling who presented me with a nice pair of football boots. Many boys passed dirough the choir to make a name for themselves. One of these 1 reminisced with a few years ago being Desmond Carrington.

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St. Marks Hall now the H G Wells Centre off Mason's Hill was the scene of many a choir bunfight and near it was a single storey wooden hut used by the 1st Bromley Scouts and Cubs. We wore a divided black and yellow scarf winch was also die school colours of Aylesbury Road Boys School. The Cub Mistress was a Miss Margetson daughter of the teacher at Aylesbury Road School. Just round the comer in Mason's Hill was Hinton's sweetshop run I think by aunts of Wally Hinton who was another childhood acquaintance and further along was Reynolds’ wireless shop.

Prior to WW2 the Air Defence Cadet Corps had been inaugerated, the nearest unit, 173 Squadron, was at Orpington. Many local lads interested in aeroplanes myself included joined and cycled to Orpington. Visits at dial time were to Biggin Hill where aircraft like the Hawker Hart was our day fighter and nightbomberi Air Gunners at that time being mostly under the rank of Sergeant, but drawing flying pay, their only flying insignia was a brass winged bullet on their sleeve.

I now seem to be jumping into WW2. The Air Council had realised the use of keen ADCC Cadets and changed it into the Air Training Corps in 1941, but by then I was in the RAF so I think I’d better call a halt to tins saga

"By co-mcidence. the NewsShoppei of 19th Feb. 1997 contained an article about ‘Ih e Pathfinder' a well-known painting by Ernest Carlos, another of the brothers.

Revision of the Oxford English Dictionary : you may be able to help.

Work is now in progress on a complete revision of the Oxford English Dictionary, and one of the most important aspects of this is the improvement of the range of the quotation evidence which illustrates the history and development of words. Often the existing quotation evidence can be antedated or postdated, or new evidence of the changing use of a word can be found.The editors are concerned that a great deal of research which has been and is being done on manuscript sources such as wills, inventories, accounts, letters and diaries, and which is subsequently published, is not being brought to their attention. The period of greatest interest is that from about 1500 to 1900, but earlier and later evidence will also be welcome. A team of researchers has started work recently on extracting material

from some sources of this kind, with very encouraging results.If you are aware of any sources which you think might provide useful material, please write to: Call for Research Materials,Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press. Great Claredon Street, Oxford 0X2 6DP or Fax no. 01865 267810

or E-mail to oed3@oup.co.uk

DO YOU REMEMBER “U N C L E S ?

Horsburgh would have it that Bromley’s first pawnbroker was a William Humfrey who had premises in the Market Square in around 1860; but there was a Bromley pawnbroker who was called to Petty Sessions for not displaying a board back in 1814. .Among die later "hock shops" was Christopher Pfeil’s in the Broadway at Bromley Soudi In advertisements he described himself as Clothier. Outfitter and Jeweller, but certainly the diree brass balls hung outside, and no doubt he was an essential part of Bromley's economy.

The Pfeils were a fascinating family Christopher Ferdinand’s father William was also a pawnbroker who moved out here from London’s East End. William himself was a son of Christopher Ferdinand (1st) and his wife who according to die “Memoirs of the late Mary Pfeil" was bom Mary Cunningham at Epsom in 1787. Incidentally William’s sister .Alice Letitia married Henry Bush, pnnter of Bromley High Street and publisher of dial long run of local trade directories The younger Christopher had a daughter Gertrude Rebecca. Among her effects after her death in 1969 her executor discovered a number of family papers. Among them was a book written in vanous hands entitled “Writing .Album” with entnes relating to family matters dating from 1899 to 1952. There was also a collection of letters to dieir mother from Gertrude’s brodier in New Zealand, dating from 1924to 1933.

The executor - and family friend - is our member George Hailey, who was clerk to Latter and Willett, Solicitors, for many years Unfortunately Mr Hailey has been housebound since a fall in 1970 and he is worned diat these precious family records might end up in die re-cycling bin So..,, if there is somebody who would be interested in taking over Uncle “Pfeil’s" file and writing up die family's history, please do let me know

Patricia Knowlden Hon. Sec.

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ORPINGTON HOSPITAL

For the November 1996 meeting of the society we were pleased to welcome two members from the Friends of Orpington Hospital who gave a talk about tiie Hospital and the work of the Friends.

Joan Bruce, who has been involved with the Friends for many years, spoke first and informed us that tiie Hospital was built and paid for by the people of Ontario as a contribution to the war effort during the First World War. The site chosen for the Canadian Hospital, as it was known for many years, was the 60 plus acres of the Boundary Estate, Sevenoaks Road, Orpington. The Estate lies on rising ground next to the London to Hastings Railway line, and about a mile from the station.

We were informed that the plan to build was given approval in Canada in June of 1915. and that work actually started in October and the hospital was ready with 1000 beds in the following February This number of beds was to increase as the war dragged on, with many more injured soldiers requiring treatment, to over 2000 beds, so it was a very large and busy hospital.

The official title for the Hospital was No 16 Canadian Army General Hospital and at one time it had over 300 army nursing and medical staff caring for the wounded. Although a Canadian Hospital many British. Australian and New Zealanders were treated, there being no distinction, as a wounded soldier was a wounded soldier. The Canadians were very proud of the latest equipment and the high standards in nursing care that were available in the hospital, and the impressive numbers of patients with very few deaths speaks well of the care and attention by die staff

Over 32.000 were recorded 3S having been admitted up to the handover of the hospital in June 1919, with 223 deaths occurring during this period.

Most of those who died are buried next to the churchyard of All Saints, the Parish Church for Orpington, with one part particularly marked out as a War Grave Cemetery and known as Canadian Comer.

King George V and Queen Mary visited the Hospital in June 1919 and were very impressed

with the work being earned on there. The King was reported as saying that he hoped a use could be found for such an excellent establishment.

The hospital was sold later that year to the Ministry of Pensions for £80,000 and so started another phrase in the life of the hospital. Until 1936 the Pensions hospital cared for and was the home of the many senously wounded ex-soldiers unable to live in the community because of the traumatic experience suffered in the trenches. Many older Orpington people recall die men in blue walking-out uniform either in the town or standing around the hospital gates. Many of course would have been a very sad sight.

For a short while in 1936 the RAF took over and used it as a training camp for a short period Later it was a Kent County Council Home for the elderly. But it was soon returned to a Hospital, and at the start of die Second World War the nurses from Guys were evacuated down to the 'safer' countryside of Orpington. However many bombs and Rockets fell around the hospital and two at least in the hospital grounds, so perhaps it was not so safe. As in the first War die nearby railway was used to bring in the wounded. Tliis was repeated after Dunkirk, when many exhausted survivors were brought into Orpington.

We were dien informed that the hospital became a training hospital throughout the 1950s and early 60s when the number of beds was around die 800. However since dicn there have been many changes in hospital practices, and die hoped for expansion to die 1970’s Canada Wing never materialised. The Temporary Huts of 1916 were mostly replaced by the Canada Wing, but many of the later Canadian built huts were until recently still in use. albeit as storage and other uses

Mrs Bruce, accompanied her talk by showing slides of the early days of die hospital and at various stages since. She made mention several times of the Clock Tower diat stood above die Operating dieatre for many years and was then moved outside the Outpatients entrance. She was particularly pleased to assure us diat the Friends had paid for it to be renovated and it now had a resting place in one of the courtyards in the Canada wing.

Her colleague Derek Oakey then gave us a detailed account of the sort of items that die Friends have been supplying to die hospital since they were

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QromJeage March 1997

formed in 1951. with Aubrey Mullock (a well known local estate agent) as its president. Items mentioned were two specially adapted Nissan Prairie vehicles, easy chairs, various lifting devices, physiotherapy equipment and the hydrotherapy pool. He also gave the names of many difficult to pronounce or understand items of surgical equipment which had been purchased in recent years, and it seems that the Friends are needed to provide more and more as financial restraints are placed on the NHS. However he was not dismayed by tins and said the Friends are pleased to be able to help They were of course concerned with the latest plans for a General Hospital for the Borough and were unsure of the effect this would have m the longer term for Orpington, but they hoped there would always be a Orpington Hospital.

Paul Rason

Postscript Anyone at the November meeting may remember that we welcomed Brian Avenll from Canada whose grandfather liad served at the Hospital during WWI. His grandfather was discharged in Orpington in 1919 and Brian was hoping to find out what happened to him subsequently. Tins we have been able to do for him. Meanwhile Brian has been busy sending more information from the Canadian Archives about tiie W W I hospital including copies of the War Dianes which contain lots of fascinating information. Copies of all of these will be deposited in the Local Studies library in due course, but in the meantime a few snippets to whet your appetites:

S ep t 21st 1916. 'Convoy 17S men, 9S cot, SO sitting. Some o f them saw the new 'Tanks' going into action. Weather fine and warm. .-1 good concert party by Miss Henry, Hotting Hill. *Sept. 23rd 1916 *No.13714 L/Cpl Mowbray R.I Ith Borders. Died (G.S.W. Head) Zeppelin raid late at night the burning Zepp tray witnessed by most o f the night staff. Bombs fe ll about 2/: miles from the hospital. *Sept. 11th 1919 ‘the last convoy o f patients left fo r the Hospital Ship 'Araguaya 'for Canada. The wife o f No.4032S. Sergt. J. Dahl, C.F.A. was at the hospital to wry goodbye to her husband, just as he left, she took sick and we admitted her to hospital, when in a few hours she ga\’e birth to a son. We looked after her and her baby and both left here on September 24th, doing well, fo r her home. ’

The Canadian Hospital closed Sept. 20th. 1919

CHISLEIIURST CAVES - a short history

Having resisted for all these years ever going down Chislehurst caves. 1 may not be the best person to appraise Eric Inman's new history. But the dark tales of Romans and Druids have seeped out and it is both refresliing and reassunng to read instead a factual account which, to a committed local historian, is much more intriguing than all the fairy tales.

Although die known history of the caves begins with a charter of c. 1250, it is reasonable to suppose the chalk was being mined long before that, as Dr Inman points out when telling of the importance of chalk as a raw mineral. Certainly the caves formed an industrial complex by die 19th century' The coming of the railway had perhaps unexpected results and it was after this that sonic of diose romantic ideas were promulgated. The Great War brought a new era in die caves’ history - followed by anodier but entirely different industrial phase - followed by that famous time as a shelter during World War 11. Since then there have been ups and downs: but diere remains always die aura of mystery

Dr Inman has based his short but comprehensive account largely on information from the many people lie has met with memories of the caves, but he has also ranged much more widely and it would be nice to have some idea of his sources. Be diat as it may diis is a readable and fascinating book and well worth £1.20 of anybody's money Even claustrophobics1

Patricio Knowlden

North W est Kent Family History Society.

Members probably already know dial the above Society undertakes to transcribe, record and index Parish Registers. Census Returns. Monumental Inscriptions etc To save unnecessary' work diey are currently producing a register of diosc works which are complete, in progress, and still to be done - for die West Kent area I have had a letter asking whcdier this Society has attempted anvthing in this field so that projects are not duplicated. We liave not done anything as a Society, but perhaps individuals have If so could they please inform me so diat the information can be passed on

Patricia Knowlden. (Hon. Sec.)

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Brnmlcagc March 1997

ARCADIA OVERWHELMED

Part 4 : A Different Class o f Person

|This cnrUinuca the talk aboul VVJLST W1CK1IAM lhal Dr Ren Cox gave id hei vears AGM|

A number of estates - all with land fronting the village street - came on the market, because of the deatlis of their owners or occupiers, just at the moment (in the late 1920's) when such houses were no longer viable and when the locality was npefor development

Remarkable was the speed of tliat development and its consequences for die existing village community and its infrastructure and services. We find inertia, incompetence, utter disbelief at what was happening and at its speed, coupled with a feeling that it ‘couldn't and wouldn't go on’: an absence of planning controls: and a local government structure, remote both geographically and emouonally. that was quite unsiuted to, and incapable of dealing with, die massive problems that arose

Of course, diis kind of thing was happening contemporaneously all around London, in such places as Coulsdon. Chessington, Ruislip, Bamet, Chingford, Upminisier, Bexley and Orpington. But nowhere, perhaps, were the results more overwhelming and the tensions greater than at West Wickham where - as a starter - 900 new houses were built between 1926 and 1929. anodicr 1,800 by 1933 and a further 4,000 or so in the next six years.

To die villagers, all was confusion. Tliis is reflected in die minutes of meetings of die Pansh Council as kept by die bumbling and downtrodden schoolmaster-husband of the ageing Mistress of the National School; and illustrated by die bitter comment of one of die Pansh Councillors diat "the older residents will soon need a guide to find their way about"

The old. unchanging way of life - already disturbed by the death of 75 of die 300 or so men who’d gone from the village to fight in World War I - was seen now to be in imminent danger. Farm work was liard to come by. there was no manor estate to look to and, with the closure of the big houses, dicre was far less employment for domestic servants, butlers, gardeners, grooms, laundresses and the like; employment which, for some families

had been the only source of income, and for odiers a supplement - especially invaluable in die winter months - to the meagre agricultural wage. It’s true diat the house building and the new shops provided jobs - but mainly for people with building trade skills or with a degree of literacy and numeracy. Even unskilled labouring on the housing estates was seasonal, demanded physical fitness and was only short-term.

So diere was resentment among die villagers. They saw die beauty of the place being destroyed overnight .As the BECKENHAM ADVERTISER commented, in a 1929 editorial: "The rustic country lanes have given place to wide, dreary roads, and along the frontages of these modemmotor tracks, brand new villas have sprung u p .....almost as monotonous ... as the roads diey adorn”

And this physical upheaval was accompanied by a feeling diat diey were being treated as ‘second - class citizens’ by the incomers. As my old Sunday School teacher Rose Hobson (interviewed a few years ago when in her eighties) recalled, when she and her parents were moved out of dicir condemned cottage (in the Alders) in 1927. into one of West Wickham's first council houses (in Hawes Lane), the newcomers in die private houses opposite at once planted a screen of fast-growing trees along dieir frontages to obscure the view

"They were snooty", she said; and she claimed that they employed cheap French and German maids, dressing diem in cap and apron even diougli the houses were only three-bedroom affairs

Their pretentiousness was confirmed by the odicr interviewee, Eileen Preston, an early incomer. “Anyone coming to live here was in a bank or in insurance. Mostly working in London We had afternoon tea parties - all trying to be select and upper class. Anvdiing to make a good impression .... We didn’t get involved in Wickham (i.e. old

village) ... Got to know all die neighbours and selected our friends. You needed die company or you would have gone mad".

Villager Rose Hobson, on this theme, commented perceptively; “Some of diem tended to keep the class system going .... We knew die gents and we knew what wasn’t. Real gents don’t put on side. Tliis was the mistake diat people made ... These people were toffee-nosed but real gentry weren’t like that!"

Ron Cox

10

lircmleagc M.u Ji 1997

( f *surSUNDRIDGE PARK ESTATE VISIT

1 have arranged a visit to the estate and house on Saturday 17th May We will meet at 2 30pm by the front door entrance. Please park in die car park Ken Wilson, author of the book on the history of the Sundndge Park estate will conduct our tour Please phone me on 01689 S54408 if you wish to join die visit.

Elame Baker

Council for Kentish ArchaeologyStudy Day on Saturday, 5th April 1997

Recent archaelogical discoveries and research:

at Crofton Halls. Crofton Road. Orpington Tickets All day, £3.80; Morning only SOp.

.Afternoon only, £3.00 From C K.A 5 Harvest Bank Road.

West Wickham. Kent BR4 9DL (with sae)

LOCAL STUDIES CORNER

Our new shelving in die archives has now been installed and we have began die task of filling it. Less used and fragile items from die second floor will be transferred leaving more room to display and store die more heavily used items.

A number of copies of old 1:2500 large scale maps have recently been ordered These will help to fill gaps in die collection and reduce wear and tear on die originals These should arrive soon

Due to the ever increasing demand for our family history materials two extra fiche readers will be available shortly bringing die total to 8 Tlus will help to avoid turning people away at busy times

Michael Foot will be returning to Bromley on Easter Saturday 29th March to give a second talk on Bromley bom author H.G.VVells. He will be speaking in die large hall at the Central Library at 2.30pm. Free tickets are available from die Local Studies library. They can be collected in advance or on the dav.

J

Nore & Spithead Mutinies 1797

The 1797 committee is organising two one-day conferences to commemorate the bicentenary of diese events - to be held on Saturday 19th April 1997 at the Royal Naval Museum. Portsmoudi and on Saturday 5di July at the Histone Dockyard, Chatham

Cost £12 (£7 unwaged). To book or for more details write to 1797 committee, 44 Lindley Avenue, Soudisea P04 9NU

WEA Saturday SchoolWest Wickham and Beckenham Branch

Saturday 31st May at 2.00 p.ni. at the Emmanuel Church, The Grove, West Wickham.

Our member Dr Ron COX will give two lectures :

CAPTAIN SIIAW.Autocrat, committee servant or drawing room darling? The conflict between London’s first Fire chief, die Metropolitan Board of Works and the London County Council.

THE MONKS ORCHARD PIONEERS:The strange story of a very unusual Housing Estate (1920-40). The bizarre do-it-yourself development

of this estate at Shirley, made the Town and Country Planning Legislation, which was to follow,

almost inevitable.

Fee £5 including light refreshments. Further details from Doris BAILEY

on 0181 650 7758.

The Civic Trust's Heritage Weekend

13th & 14th September

We are again looking for ideas, suggestions or volunteers for buildings to be open to die public on this weekend. So far, apart from die Chislehurst Society. EnBro and St Mary Cray Action Group, Bromley has given a pretty poor showing Perhaps none of you fed diere is anything worth looking at!

The SHUTE familyMr K Rooksby of 21, Tannsfield Road, Sydenham SE26 would be grateful for any information about tins family of Beckenham & Bromley in the latter part of die 19th Century.

Postage will be refunded

11

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT12

If tilings go according to plan this will be my last letter to you as Chairman of the Society. I have enjoyed my period in office but it is in the best interest of the Society and a sign of a healthy organisation if no one stays in the same office for too long. If nothing else it encourages members to volunteer for office if they know they will not be stuck with a position until they pass away or walk out in dcsparation. I am not being allowed to disappear however as I have accepted a nomination as Vice-Chairman and the Committee has done me the honour of proposing me as a Vice-President that is assuming the AGM approves You will notice that we are still doubling up on some jobs and it is vitally necessary that we get some new blood on the committee so how about having a go You will find a nomination slip at the bottom of this letter. If you dont want to mutilate the newsletter it will be quite in order to photocopy it or write out the the details in manuscript

Subscriptions.You will see from your AGM agenda that there is a proposal that the senior citizen concession be abolished This is only being advocated after considerable heartscarching by your committee for we are aware that a large number o f our members fall into this category and are o f a generation who can clearly remember when a pound was a considerable sum and when spending a penny resulted in getting some change. However

static whilst costs are slowly but surely rising.We have substantial reserves but your committee feels that it is better to face up to the need to bring income more into line with expenditure rather than put our heads in the sand and wait until we face a real crisis. Of course you may have alternative ideas of ways of raising income and either postponing or avoiding such an unpalateble proposal If so now is your chance to give them an airing It is your Society and it is up to you.

Holwood.The Society has formally objected to this proposal from a history standpoint on the grounds that the lack of watertight guarantees concerning the superficially attractive features and the highly speculative nature of the business venture behind the application in what is high quality green belt land does not warrant its approval. As a specialist society we have ignored the other factors which are rightly concerning the local residents so that it would not undermine the seriousness of the point we have made.

NewsflashBoth Beckenham Place and Kelsey Parks in Beckenham now have Friends organisations and the former has opened a visitor centre in the Homesteads next to the Mansion which is open each Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 3. Both organisations need more members and can be contacted via myself.

NOMINATION FORM

I ........ ........................................................... ..............(Name in block capitals)

being a member of the Bromley Borough Local History Society, hereby nominate

.................................................................................... ............................................(Name in block capitals)

as a member of the Committee or for the office o f ................................................. (delete as appropriate)

Signed ................ .................. ...... D ate..................................1997

I being the person nominated above agree to serve on the Committee or accept the office slated

if elected by the Annual General Meeting on 2nd April 1997

Signed.................................................................... Date ...............................1997