Bromley Borough Local History Society

St. Georges Bickley

St. George's Church, Bickley - Visit on Thursday 29th June 2023

Our evening meetings do not make it convenient to visit the church to which the hall (or extended vestry) is attached, and it was felt it was time to meet the vicar and to learn more about this unusual building.

Our genial host, Father Henry Everett, met the twenty plus Society members outside the church where he pointed out the main features, including the kestrels nesting in the tower. We then went inside for a fuller tale of the history of this church and for a closer look at some of its features.

Our thanks to Father Henry, pictured left, for sparing the time to meet us and for his patiently answering many questions.

Click on an individual picture to see a larger image.

You can use the small arrow on either side to move through the pictures.

The tower and spire of the church which was started in 1863 and consecrated in 1865. The spire was orginally 175 feet high, but had to be rebuilt to a design of Ernest Newton in 1906. It remains an impressive feature.
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The Porch, in a rather different style to the tower. On either side are some of the blocked up windows which are a feature of the exterior, including the clearstory above the nave. This was done by a former vicar to induce a more spiritural feel to the church which was, and remains, very light and airy. It also saved money replacing windows after a V1 landed on the adjacent parsonage during WWll.
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A view down the nave from the font to the east end. It can be seen that the blocked up windows, especially around the chancel, are not obvious from the inside. Unusually, the aisle columns are formed with Aberdeen granite rather than stone.
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The chancel which 42 feet long and has an apsidal end (so I am told). The original windows all round the building are invisible from inside. See the last picture to compare. The simple altar has a pedestal which matches the carving of the aisle columns within the nave.
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One reason why the church looks relatively modern inside is the devastating fire in 1989 which started in the organ at the west end. This spread across the whole roof which collapsed into the church. This is one of the replacement windows.
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On the north side, unusually for a Victorian church can be found the tomb of the Wythes family. It was George Wythes (1811-83), a very successful railway contractor both in England and India, who purchased Bickley Park Hall in 1861 and then set about selling much of the estate for development (of large houses) and erected the church for the new parishoners.
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This inscription can be seen above the Wythes tomb. It mentions the post war repairs but not the 1989 fire which it presumably survived.
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At the back of the church can be found the only Victorian glass window left in the church after the bomb and fire damage. It is quite different in style to the other windows, many of which are simply dedicated to individual saints.
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A view of the east end of the church. The bricked up windows can be clearly seen - this can be compared with the interior picture of the chancel above.
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The final two pictures, from a collection kindly provided by Roger Benoy, are of the old vicarage which was destroyed by a V1 in the Second World War and which blew out all the windows in the church which can be seen in the background.
The card has not been used and has no date.
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This picture is of the east side of the vicarage. It is a shame it has not survived but probbaly the 1960s woudl have seen to it, if Hitler hadn't got there first.
This card has been used and has a date stamp of 30th August 1909. The other card, although a different company appears to be of the same vintage.
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