THE NEWSLETTER OF THE LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY FOR THE LONDON BOROUGH OF BROMLEY

A U G U S T 1987 PRICE 10p Free to Members

Wilberforce and the OakThe Wilberforce Oak, Keston marks the site of an impor­tant historical event which was to have far-reaching con­sequences. William Wilberforce decided to speak against the slave-trade. He was visiting Holwood, the country estate of his friend William Pitt (1759-1806). There is some doubt about the exact year but the meeting is thought to have taken place in May 1787. Wilberforce described the event in his diary thus: “At length I well remember after a conversation with Mr Pitt in the open air at the root of an ~'d tree at Holwood, just above the steep descent into the

s of Keston, I resolved to give notice on a fit occasion in Arte House of Commons of my intention to bring forward the abolition of the slave trade” . A stone seat was erected by the Oak in 1862, inscribed with the above diary entry. To mark the two hundredth anniversary, Bromley Council held a ceremony at Holwood in May 1987. A plaque was unveiled and the stone seat moved into the estate grounds and replaced by a wooden bench.

William Wilberforce was born into a wealthy Hull family in 1759. At Cambridge he enjoyed an idle and carefree life. His personal fortune enabled him to be elected as M.P. for Hull in 1780. Wilberforce had led a comfortable existence until this time. His life, however, was soon to change direc­tion. He was introduced to Isaac Milner, in 1784, an Evangelical Christian and was encouraged by him to fight for the abolition of slavery. Thus the meeting with Pitt came at an important time. Wilberforce’s decision to fight slavery, in Parliament, required a life-time of commitment and could not be treated lightly.

There were numerous setbacks to the anti-slavery cam­paign. Despite the support of influential friends, such as Pitt, Charles James Fox and John Wesley, abolitionists " rtions were defeated in Parliament. Throughout this

e, Wilberforce was associated with the Clapham Sect, me founding of the Church Missionary Society and the Bible Society. He was also involved in work with prisons, schools and hospitals. Years of campaigning had taken their toll as Wilberforce suffered periods of ill-health. He retired from Parliament in 1825, but eight years later Parli­ament abolished all slavery in British territory. A few days after this Wilberforce died on 29th July 1833. The following year 800,000 slaves became free.

A framed inscription at Wilberforce House, Hull sum­marises his life in the following words: “Statesman, orator, philanthropist, saint” .

Today the original Wilberforce oak remains as a hollow trunk, but a new tree is growing inside, grown from an acorn from the first oak.

Sally Adcock

VISIT TO MICHELHAM PRIORY 12th SEPTEMBER 1987Do not miss this opportunity to visit Michelham Priory which will include a guided tour of some of the 13th-16th century buildings and an opportunity to visit the 16th cen­tury Great Barn, gardens and working watermill.

The cost, including coach and cream tea, is £6.50. Book­ings to Tom Hollobone, “Oakwood” , 266D Pickhurst Lane, West Wickham, KentBR4 0HR.

Wilberforce Oak — First black bishop Samuel Crowther in centre.

FUTUREMEETINGS

Thursday 1st October 7.45 p.m.Small Hall, Bromley Central Library

A journey from the Yorkshire Stingo — Public Transport in Londonfrom 1829 by John Wagstaffwho is Vice-Chairman of the Beckenham and Bromley Branch ofthe Historical Association and a noted speaker on public transport.

Friday 30th The Bromley Museum — Dr. AlanOctober 7.45p.m. Tyler, Curator of the Museum.The Museum Orpington Priory

Thursday 3rd December 7.45p.m.Small Hall, Bromley Central Library

An unusual aspect of industrial archaeology — Trevor Woodman.

Coalposts in the Borough —Robin Cooper.

REGENCY RICHNESS AT BROMLEY HILL

LORD AND LADY FARNBOROUGH-One of Bromley’s most colourful couples

CHARLES AND AMELIA LONG deserve their place in the local history of Bromley. Amelia (1762-1837) ranks high in her own right, gaining an entry in the Dictionary of National Biography as an artist and landscape gardener. Charles Long (1761-1838) was a politician, a Tory, with a special allegiance to William Pitt the Younger; he held office for most of his career, but is remembered chiefly for his interest in the arts. Childless, their home at Bromley Hill was perhaps their greatest creation, for they trans­formed a suburban villa, set in rough woodland, with their fine art collection and their skill as landscape gardeners. The woodland walks and water gardens, the artfully revealed vistas of distant London made Bromley Hill a fam­ous beauty-spot, and it is hard to better the imaginative account which E.L.S. Horsburgh gives of it in his history of Bromley.

With Amelia’s help Charles gained high place in the art world; advising the royal family on the decoration of palaces; becoming a trustee both of the British Museum and the National Gallery, and making the acquaintance of practising artists. One such was George Cumberland, son of a scrivener, and author of books on picturesque land­scapes, and best known for his friendship with William Blake. In 1811 Cumberland wrote his descriptive account of Bromley Hill, as he had earlier done for Thomas Johnes, in his “Attempt to describe Hafod in Cardiganshire” . The account of Bromley Hill may have been written to gain favour for his sons, for Long was then Postmaster General; certainly Cumberland, the friend of radicals like Horne Tooke, did not share all Long’s political views, which seem to have been those of a strict Tory. Nor did another artistic friend, Richard Payne Knight, of Downton in Hereford­shire, a Whig, and cousin of Thomas Johnes who, with his friend Sir Uvedale Price, dominated artistic life in Wales at the beginning of the 19th century.

Knight’s friendship may explain the landscaping at Bromley Hill. The Longs, who married in 1793, were only moderately wealthy, and the new home at Bromley Hill was chosen for its modest size and near distance to Pitt’s home, Holwood in Keston. Other neighbours were the Scotts, local dignitaries who had come to own Sundridge Park. Sir Claude Scott had just pulled down the old man­sion and built and landscaped his new home on the advice of Wyatt, Nash and Humphrey Repton. As Repton in par­ticular was a foe of Payne Knight’s, the Longs may have decided to do their own landscaping, Amelia gaining a reputation thereby almost as great as the distinguished Repton’s.

And indeed, their reputation came to centre increasingly on Bromley. In 1800 it was still the tiny hamlet, dominated by the Bishops of Rochester, that the Pitt family had known for the previous fifty years. Both Prime Ministers lived in the region, ideally placed for transport: only ten miles from London and on the main road to Tonbridge and Hastings. The population was small, only 2,700 in 1800, mostly engaged in agriculture and trade. The climate and the schools were excellent, and the local surgeon, Dr. James Scott, enjoyed a European reputation. There was a good Chalybeate spring, and the Bishops had sought to make Bromley a retirement home for the widows of Anglican clergy. There was a growing local gentry, especially the Wells shipbuilding family and the Norman family (property and banking).

CHARLES LONG was created Baron Farnborough in 1826 and effectively retired from political life, possibly hav­ing fallen out with George Canning. He had spoken rarely in Parliament, and with the rise after 1823 of a new anti-

Amelia Long.

slavery movement the Tories were certainly better off with­out the known pro-slavery views of the Long family^ expressed forcibly by Charles’ nephew, Charles Edward Long.

New leaders and new generations were rising in Bromley too. Thus the young Grotes and Normans and Camerons were now openly radical and Benthamite, supporting a new “godless” University of London, or, in the case of the Camerons, rehabilitating an ancestor executed after the ’45. George Grote Senior had been a Huguenot banker of Threadneedle Street; his sons, born and bred in Bromley, were Benthamite philosophers, though still keeping a love of the classics. Charles Cameron, Governor of the Bahamas, had retired to Bromley where his son, Charles Hay, was born in 1795. The latter became a judge in India and supporter of Benthamite views on education.

Above all, the new power in Bromley by the 1820s was the Norman family. Small local gentry, perhaps of Quaker origin, they had begun to acquire large holdings on Brom­ley Common with the coming of enclosures. They con­tinued the high cultural traditions of the past, but theirs was more muscular Christianity, being ardent cricketers and active in social welfare locally. George Ward Norman (1793-1882) followed local tradition as a banker, possibly the most influential to have lived at Bromley, being a Director of the Bank of England from 1821 to 1872. A

friend of young George Grote, he had liberal views, though he seems not to have championed the abolition of Negro slavery. But as a free trader, an opponent of excessive taxa­tion and an advocate of decimal coinage, his influence was real.

How far change, especially in Benthamite views, impinged on the Longs of Bromley Hill is not clear. Charles died in 1838 almost exactly a year to the day of his wife’s death. To the end they were a devoted couple, and in 1830 he had written: “Never to thwart a woman’s will/Succeeds so well at Bromley Hill” , and it is fitting to end on this tran­quil domestic note. They were buried fittingly at Amelia’s home in Hertfordshire, some of their treasures going to the

National Gallery, others, including rare Jamaican items, to join the Egerton Manuscripts bequest in the British Museum library. Despite building developments, their Bromley Hill still stood in 1860 and one visitor, Samuel Loyd Jones, Lord Overstone, a banker friend of G.W. Nor­man, remarked that “the place is indeed a marvellous exhibition of what may be done by invention and taste in making a great deal out of little means” .

Dr. Clare Taylor, 1987

Reproduced by kind permission of the author, and the Editor of the “Beckenham Historian” .

“Rows of Suburban Housing”Most people who live around Bromley live in what we think of as typical suburban houses — semi-detached, rather similar not very exciting affairs even if relieved by the odd timbered gable end and bay windows, but home. But how did this uniformity of design and detail come about?

Medieval housing in lowland Britain was almost alwayswood. Then, from Tudor times, the use of brick slowly

spread down the social scale. Throughout the Georgian period the universal admiration for classical proportion resulted in buildings of simple elegance with muted decora­tion. This was out of keeping with the new exuberance of the Victorian age.

The first half of the 19th century saw many re-creations of Tudor and Jacobean and even Gothic architecture applied to housing, but these were all grand creations scaled down. It took the vision of George Devey (b.1820) to turn back back to timber-framed and the smaller houses of the 17th century for inspiration. Picturesque asymmetry with due consideration for the placing of rooms and amenities could combine comfort and convenience with display. Philip Webb adopted this approach and is hailed as a pioneer of modern architecture. Some 15 years after building his famous Red House at Bexleyheath in 1859 for William Morris, he built the Oast House in the middle of Hayes Common, “like an overgrown village school” . His younger contemporary, Richard Norman Shaw, who some consider the most brilliant of all later Victorian architects, has two houses in the Borough of Bromley. Opposite the

wan at West Wickham is an early (1870) example of his - Queen Ann” style — now converted to shops but with a give-away roofline visible above — while at 114 Shortlands Road stands the house he built for Mrs. Craik the novelist a year or two before. One of the first to be tile-hung with only a last hint of Gothic (in spite of Mrs. Craik’s comment

W ICKHAM HOUSE. Corner o f High Street and Wickham Court Road, West Wickham.

114 Shortlands Road.

that “We shall be Gothic to within an inch of our lives), the red-brick walls with red tile-hanging above, the steep roofs and dominant chimney stacks, says John Newman,* are all meant to suggest warmth and homeliness.

Chief assistant to Norman Shaw from 1876-79 was Ear­nest Newton, who lived at Bickley, and Newton has many houses to his credit in the Bromley area— at Camden Park, Chislehurst; in Bromley Road, Beckenham; in Plaistow Lane, Bromley; around Bickley Point; and he reconsti­tuted Bullers Wood, now the girls’ school. He extended the use of tile-hanging, gables and bays, big exterior chimney stacks, generous windows and important doorways — while he also began a return to Georgianism which con­tinued this century. But his achievement, says Newman, was to find the perfect formula for the commuting stockbroker’s house. Newton himself said “the small house is in many ways more difficult to design than the large one, for while every part must be minutely schemed, nothing should be cramped or mean looking, the whole house should be conceived broadly and simply, and with an air of repose, the stamp of home” .

The builder-developers of suburban estates in the 1920s and 1930s were seeking an irresistable formula to sell their houses, which they found in watered-down versions of these Victorian architects. We can decide for ourselves whether we prefer the timbered gables and bay windows, or the more severe lines of recent neo-Georgian.

Note — Can anyone add to the lists of houses of any of these famous architects in Bromley which is given in *The Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald” , by John Newman.

Patricia Knowlden

ENVIRONMENT WEEK

The Society co-operated with ENBRO again this year dur­ing National Environment Week in April. The theme this time was “Walking into History” . Appropriately, several of our members led walks through diverse parts of the Borough from Crofton to Plaistow, — and the Society would like to thank them for giving of their expertise and their time for something which is, among other things, good publicity.

We also staged the major part of the Exhibition in the Central Library, which it is hoped was seen by a good number of members. To justify the title a search was made for suitable historical quotations, such as from Jerrold’s “Highways and Byways of Kent” published-in 1908: from Farnborough “a pleasant road or pleasanter footpath takes us to Downe” . These were illustrated by photographs, some old and some new, and the opportunity taken to point out some things worth looking for when on a walk, such as brick bonds or field shapes. Maps and walks leaflets were added in. Every part of the Borough was represented in some degree. ENBRO themselves put on a display on Bromley’s commons and it seemed appropriate to invite the St. Mary Cray Action Group to cover the Crays. The Local Studies Section allowed us to copy several old prints and photos. The rest was supplied by our membership, and many thanks to those whose work was included. We must also thank ENBRO for their financial contribution.

We are left with material which can be used again and if anyone has a local function coming up and would like to borrow their local sheets — or more — please do let us know..

Patricia Knowlden

LOCAL HISTORY COURSEYour Chairman, Patricia Knowlden, has given up teaching Local History in Bexleyheath for London University to take over a class in Bromley for the W.E. A. She has called it “Bromley — Quaint, Dull and Respectable?” It is to be held on Monday afternoons at 1.30pm at Aylesbury Road School, beginning on September 14th. She says that she is hoping to see some familiar faces!

Retracing Canals to Croydon and CamberwellPrice £2.40 (£2.70 from Living History Publications, 17 Hillary Close, East Grinstead, West Sussex) 84pp.; 13 repros of old paintings and photos; maps and line drawings. Paperback.

Local historians are forever trying to “see” how places looked in times past. Here is a guide to both the past and the present of something which had a great deal of influ­ence on the development of S.E. London, which will appeal especially to canal and railway enthusiasts. Begin­ning with sections about the building and operation of both canals and the railway which later followed — more or less — the line of the Croydon Canal, the reader is taken along their routes by way of then and now maps, and descrip­tions. He will find these fascinating and easy to follow — although in several instances orientation and scale could have been made more nearly comparable — and will be eager to set out booklet in hand to explore for himself. It is moreover gratifying to find answers to such conundrums as just how the canal and railway routes crossed each other at right angles at Anerley Station, and exactly what happened to the basin at West Croydon.

There could have been more guidance to, especially, the primary sources, and an index would have been welcome Nevertheless, a very good buy and a useful addition to th Living History series produced by Brian Salter.

BOOK REVIEW

THE CROYDON CANAL

OUR LOCAL LIST —to recommend for the Borough’s: do not forget to send your suggestions, whether from your own area which you know best, or something you spot as you travel around the Borough. We have had some good suggestions already, from the old Medhursts building in the Market Square to a timber and glass workshop behind Westmorland Road. Some buildings nave come up more than once, others may be listed already, it does not matter because we can check them in our copy of the Appraisal Report. So keep sending them in — you may know of something interesting which has always been missed. Remember it is not only buildings, but trees and woodland, ‘furniture’ and areas o f‘landscape value’.

Designed and produced by Raven Studios Ltd., 4th Floor, Kelsey House, 77 High Street., Beckenham, Kent BR3 IA N on behalf o f The Local History Society for the London Borough o f Bromley. Editorial contributions to: J.M. Wilson, 8 Redgate Drive, Hayes, Kent BR2 7BT.