Chislehurst walk

Chislehurst Walk

A walk round Old Hill Chislehurst - Friday 13th July 2018

With the usual informative guidance of our Vice Chairman, Michael Rawcliffe, eleven members of the Society braved the heat and the date and assembled outside The Bickley pub at the bottom of Old Hill, Chislehurst for a look at the houses and places of interest in the area. Our tour took us up the hill, along Susan Wood to the top of Summer Hill and then back down Old Hill to Lubbock Road before returning via Lower Camden Road to our starting point.

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

Near the northern end of Susan Wood are the former stables to Summerhill House, marked by the arched entrance which now leads to refurbished properties around a courtyard. Nearest the camera is Quince Cottage.
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One of the largest properties on the road is The Mount built in the 1890s and also refurbished a hundred years later.
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Continuing to the junction with Summer Hill we find Bank House, so called because from 1897 it was used by Martins Bank and later, into the 1960s, by Barclays.

It forms part of the original Summerhill House owned by George Bascomb from around 1860. After his death in 1885 the property was split up and the well known architect Ernest Newton added a tower to the other end.
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The other, altered, end of Summerhill House showing the Newton tower addition.
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The nearby Ramblers Rest inn, an C18th century Kentish clapboard design seen here in its English World Cup football guise. The pub was orginally called the Millers Arms, reflecting the location of the Chislehurst windmill a 100 yards or so to the south east.
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Adjacent to the pub are Heath Cottages built in the 1880s for artisans but today much sought after residences.
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Perhaps because of the limited size of the Millers Arms, the Windmill Inn was built nearby. It changed its name to the Imperial Arms when Napolean III and his family moved into Camden Place (now the golf club) in 1870.

The present builiding dates back to around 1865.
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Round the corner from the Imperial Arms are a row of house originally built around 1792. This one became Chislehurst's first police station and magistrates' room.

The police moved to a new site in the High Street in 1893.
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When first built what is now Lubbock Road only extended a short distance from Old Hill and had five houses, only three of which remain. At what is now number 103 was the house occupied by Sir John Lubbock before he moved to High Elms on assuming his late father's title. There is an excellent permanant exhibition about his life in Bromley Central Library.
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Abbey Lodge, now grandly named Chislehurst Hall, was built around 1876 and like many large buildings in the area was used as a hospital during World War 1.
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Opposite Christ Church, started in 1871 and subsequently altered and extended (the original spire was replaced by a tower only eight years later), stands Granite House.

This very unusual building, largely hidden from the road, is faced with cut granite blocks set in hexagonal surrounds.
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