Bromley New Town

With our very knowledgeable guide and Vice Chairman, Michael Rawcliffe in the lead, more than a dozen Members assembled in Bromley, outside the Baptist Church, built in 1865 in response to the growing population of Bromley. Much of this growth was and continued to occur in the area bounded by Tweedy Road, Sherman Road, Freelands Road and Widmore Road, then known as Bromley New Town. Although it might seem unlikely that new things of interest could be found so close to the town centre, even long-time locals were surprised by what there was to be seen!

This included Palace Road with its eclectic mix of housing styles and discrete Wharton Road with its small playground and car park, a hundred years ago the site of a mixed school and in the 1950s the location of the Art College's Department of Building! Then past five pubs, mysterious Freelands Hall, another hall (now used by a charity) with a foundation stone laid by the beneficent but unnamed Lady Scott and into Freelands Road. Here small and large houses, and those in-between lie almost side-by-side. We then returned past the site of a United Dairies dairy and back into Park Road passing St. Johns and concluding our tour at the former furniture depositary lurking behind the large houses lining the road, and now itself converted to housing.

Our thanks to Michael for another fascinating tour which was enjoyed by all, despite raising more questions than answers. There is definitely a need for someone to investigate the history of this area in much more detail! Any volunteers?

Click on an image below to see a larger version - you can then move forward or back using the arrows on either side.

A house in Palace Road, one of many different styles.
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A terrace of houses in Palace Road.
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A completly different style of house in Palace Road.
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Detail of brickwork in Palace Road houses.
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Emmas Cottage 1865 although the brickwork looks rather newer!
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Same houses, different spellings!
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A building in Wharton Road which clearly had commercial use at some time.
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A terrace in Wharton Road.
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Where are we? Wharton Road playground, once the site of a Council School.
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A view up North road past the White Horse.
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The Red Lion in North Road.
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One of the smaller style of houses, this in North Road.
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Commemorative plaque, but what was the buildng used for?
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Only yards away is Freelands Hall, possibly built for St. Johns.
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A Freelands Road house with some original features.
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St John's parish church, 1880, but the site of a temporary Iron Church from 1872.
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A large house in Park Rd where again there is a great mixture of styles.
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The Park Road depositary once used by Dunns whose store was in the Market Square.
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A Walk Round Bromley New Town -19th June 2015