Visit to Bromley Parish Church - Thursday 17th September 2026

Twenty members of the Society met up for a tour of the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, the long-standing parish church of Bromley whose history can be traced back to the early middle ages and even before. The church was improved and extended over the years and was completely rebuilt, apart from the tower, in the popular gothic style in 1830.  As the population of Bromley continued to increase through Victorian times, so daughter churches were built such as St. Mary's and St. Mark's and the parish reduced in size.

On the night of April 16/17th April, 1941, a very heavy bombing raid of the area led to nearly 150 deaths and 4000 homes destroyed or damaged. One of the earliest casualties was the Parish Church when a 550lb bomb hit the nave and reduced the church to rubble, only the tower largely escaping external damage. However, its wooden internal floors caught fire and in the inferno the eight bells crashed to the ground and melted. Sadly, an 18 year old schoolgirl on the roof carrying out fire-watch duty also died.

After the war, in order to allow for a larger footprint, the church was relocated so that the old south wall became the new north wall and the tower "moved" from the SW corner to the NW corner. With the post war shortage of money and materials this all took time, and it was  finally reconsecrated in December 1957. The tower was repaired and concrete and stone floors inserted and new bells were cast, as far as possible using material recovered from the fire.

The church has produced a very comprehensive history of the building  which was given to our Members and we would like to thank Rev. James Harratt for taking the time to show our two groups round the church and bell ringer Davina PIke for taking them up the tower (although not everyone managed the 92 steps).