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THIS Castle stood on the north side of the town, behind the principal street. Of its ancient history we know but little, and of its original foundation still less. The slender, accounts of it that have reached our times, ascribe its origin to some of the earlier earls of Warren and Surry. Certain it is, that under the earls of Warren here was a castle of considerable note, which seems to have been one of the capital seats of their barony in England. William earl of Warren, who possessed it in king John's time, is the first of his family spoken of by Dugdale as the proprietor, who, however, acknowledges his title to it to have been derived from his earliest ancestors.

The site of this structure is now the property of lord Somers. It is an eminence, surrounded by a ditch of considerable breadth and depth on the south and west sides. On the summit of the hill, which contains an area of an acre and thirty-eight poles, and is formed into a lawn of a very fine turf, is erected a summer apartment, in a taste corresponding with the original desigh of the spot; and on the east side, without the ditch, is a gateway of the antique form, with the following inscription

over it:

NE.

Will'i comitis Warren
Veteris hujusce loci incolæ
Fidique libertatum nostrarum Vindicis

MEMORIA
Temporum injuria
cum ipso Castello
INTERCIDERET
Propriis R. B. impensis
H. S. E.

Anno MDCCLXXVII.

In the centre of the area is the entrance, by a flight of steps covered with a small building of a pyramidical form, into a cave or room 123 feet long, thirteen wide, and eleven high to the crown of the arch; in one part of which is a crypt nearly fifty yards in length, with a seat of stone at the end, which extended the whole length of the room on both sides. This cave served probably the different purposes of its lords, as a repository for their treasures and military stores, and a place of safe custody for their prisoners. The arch is broken and the cavity stopped, which is supposed to have made a private communication with the town. In 1802 a spur of an extraordinary size was found here at the depth of three feet in the ground.

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BROMLEY is a healthy and respectable markettown, and derives its name from the Saxon word Brom-leag, signifying a field, or pasture of broom; and the great quantity of that plant on all the waste places near the town, sufficiently corroborates this etymology. The manor of Bromley was given to the bishops of Rochester in the eighth century, by Ethelbert, king of Kent, and, with some little interruption about the period of the Conquest, and during the Protectorate, has continued in their possession till the present time. These prelates had a palace here at a very early period, which was pulled down by the late bishop, Thomas, who erected the present edifice, a plain, brick mansion, in its stead, about the year 1777. This is now, and has been for a long period, the only episcopal residence belonging to the see of Rochester: it stands about a quarter of a mile out of the town, on the brow of a hill, looking towards Beckenham and Hayes. In the grounds is a chalybeate spring, called St. Blase's Well, which anciently had an oratory attached to it, dedicated to St. Blasius, which was much frequented at Whitsuntide, because Lucas, who was legate for Sextus IV. here in England,

granted an indulgent remission for forty days enjoined penance, to all those who should visit this chapel, and offer up their orisons there in the three holidays of Pentecost. After the Reformation, the oratory fell to ruins, and the well was stopped up, but, being re-opened in 1754, was, by the bishop's orders, immediately secured from the mixture of other waters, since which, numbers of people have been remarkably relieved by it, from various diseases.

The church is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and consists of a nave, chancel, and aisles, with an embattled tower. The sepulchral memorials are numerous among these is an ancient tomb, in the north wall of the chancel, under a recessed pointed arch, with many mouldings springing from two beautifully slender pillars on each side, with heavy ornamented capitals. The upper portion of the arch and east side of the monument are mutilated. The person whose memory this tomb was intended to commemorate is unknown, but was conjectured by Weaver to be Richard Wendover, bishop of Rochester and minister of this town; but this prelate, who died in 1250, was, according to Dart and Godwin, buried in

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