THE CHURCH AND MANOR OF BROMLEY. BY W. T. BEEBY, M.D. THE Manor of Bromley has a history. It commences with Ethelbert and Offa, two Saxon kings who gave land in this place to the Church of Rochester. Ethelbert is remembered by the fact of his conversion to Christianity; and Offa by a less auspicious event, viz., that he murdered his son-in-law, and to atone, as he supposed, for his sin, adopted the convenient method of causing his people to pay an annual fine to Rome. Perhaps it was in one of his penitent moods that he conferred land upon the Church. "The place which by the husbandmen is called Bromleg," as the old charters have it, seems to have changed owners repeatedly. In 862 we find the name of Bromleg, indicating a tract of land, which the fourth Ethelbert, king of Wessex, gave to one of his ministers. This gift is recorded as measuring ten carucates or plough lands, and the boundary marks extend into what are now surrounding parishes. There is a difficulty in estimating the real extent of land described in ancient charters, as the amount included in a carucate is said to have varied from forty to a hundred acres. Besides this it seems doubtful whether they always took cognizance of woods and waste lands, which must then have occupied a large area, compared with such portion of the country existing as meadow or actual plough land. Later on, king Edgar granted about the same quantity of land to the Church of Rochester, but his son Ethelred caused it to be laid waste, in consequence of a dispute with the Bishop, giving a portion to his minister. In 998, however, he restored six out of the ten plough lands to the Church, which retained possession until the Conquest, when Odo of Bayeux obtained the manor, together with several others in the county, but they were taken from him in 1076, though it appears only about three plough lands were returned to the Bishop of Rochester, and for those he was taxed at the time of Domesday survey. This area of land was probably somewhere about coextensive with the present parish of Bromley, and from the distribution of bishop's lands marked on old maps, there is reason to believe that this was the case. The Bishops of Rochester then, with interruptions, held Bromley from early Saxon times. It was a poor manor, neither pasture nor arable land being worth much, and hence, soon after the Conquest, portions of it were converted into knights' fees; and while, at the time of the Domesday survey, there is no mention of any owners of land in Bromley besides the Bishop of Rochester, shortly after this date there were several freeholders in the place. It seems probable that the practice of sub-infeudation by lords of manors had become general before the reign of John, inasmuch as he granted a charter with permission to the archbishops of Canterbury to convert into knights' fees any lands of the fee of their church held in gavelkind. Concerning this sub-infeudation and various other matters, I am indebted to information received from the late Coles Child, Esq., owner of Bromley Manor, who kindly allowed me access to his manuscript notes. He says, "There can be little doubt that the Bishops of Rochester, either with or without direct permission from the Crown, had converted portions of their land in Bromley, and elsewhere, into knights' fees, in like manner as the Archbishops had been authorized to do." In less than a century after the Domesday survey, twenty-seven persons held of the bishop by military service. Perhaps the first of these was Welfgeot de Bromlega, who lived before 1189, and was owner of the sixth part of a knight's fee, the same as held afterwards by Walter de Braibroc, and subsequently by de Baacquelle or de Banquell, who was possessed of the Simpsons' estate, or manor, as it has been called, though it is extremely doubtful whether its owners exercised manorial rights. Probably then Simpsons' was the first estate carved out of the bishop's manor. It comprised only a moderate amount of land in Bromley, but those who possessed this place originally held a large tract in the parishes of Beckenham, West Wickham, and Hayes. Indeed this last mentioned portion of the Simpsons' property must have comprised a great part of the land included in the Saxon charter of 862, which was not afterwards conferred upon the church. In 1303 a charter of free warren was granted to John de Banquelle and Cecilia his wife, in all their lands in Lee, Lewisham, and Bromley, and this charter was afterwards transferred to Sir Richard Sturry. Moreover, so late as 1627, a charter of free warren was granted to Sir Humphry Style, of Simpson's Place. In the reign of Henry V, this place passed to one William Clarke, who according to Philipot received licence to crenelate and fortify his mansion. About the year 1450 the property came to John Simpson, and Nicholas Simpson, who was barber to Henry VIII, conveyed it to Sir Humphry Style. The ruins of this moated dwelling, situated by the Ravensbourne, have but lately disappeared, being supplanted by modern bricks and mortar. More important than the last mentioned place is Sundridge, now held by Edward H. Scott, Esq., the owners of which place have always enjoyed manorial rights, though they originally owed suit and service to the Bishop. This manor was first passed to the family of Blund, and Peter le Blund, Constable of the Tower of London, was lord in the reign of Henry III, holding it by the fourth of a knight's fee. Another estate which was separated from the chief manor at an early date was Blakebrok, or Blackbrook, as it is now called. Blackbrook was held by Sir Thomas Latymer, to whose father a charter of free warren was granted in 1329, and the Latymers conveyed the estate to Richard Lacer and Juliana his wife. In the Close Roll, 7th year of Edward III, are two deeds recording the transfer of Blackbrok and other lands in Bromley to Richard Lacer, who also possessed property in Deptford. He was Mayor of London, and assisted in punishing the abettors of the rebellion under the Earl of Kent. Lacer married a second time, and there is a memorial brass in Bromley Church to his wife Isabella, who died 1361. As applied to a spot near Blackbrook, we find marked on old maps and inserted in ancient charters the names of South-barrow, and South-borough. For many years a residence has been so indicated, which formerly was inhabited by a certain Andrew Beadle, one of whose family is mentioned in the forty-third year of Elizabeth. It has from time to time received various additions, and is now in the possession of Archibald Hamilton, Esq. At a short distance is a place of considerable antiquity, called Turpington Farm, which tradition points out as the site of the court house of the first lords of Blackbrok. Writing in 1797, Wilson in his history of Bromley says, "I heard this place was famous for having been an ancient barony of one of the feudal lords; was shewn a farm-house that had been the barons' court-house; another which had been the jail." Northwards, from the above-mentioned place was Crossin-hand; it is shewn on Rocque's map published 1741, and various entries appear in the parish register, of deaths occurring about this period, at Cross-in-hand. Further northwards is Widmore, Wigmore, Windemere, or Wymere. In the Exchequer Subsidies, county Kent, under the Hundred of Bromley, occur the names of Symon de Blackbrok, Thomas de Wyndemere, Henry de Hoke, etc. The last probably lived at what is now called Hook farm, Bromley Common. At Widmore is a picturesque cottage, with a gate-way bearing the initials, A. B. and date 1559. In the possession of Miss Ellis is a print of it engraved 1714, in which a notice hangs from the arch, "J. Curtis, licensed to let Post-Horses." In 1813 it was still inhabited by a Curtis, but had ceased to be a posting house. In 1861 the Misses Telford had the floors relaid, when a number of coins were found which had dropped between the boards. There were two silver sixpences of Queen Elizabeth, and coins of almost every reign since, also a quite fresh copper token of the White Hart, Bromley, dated 1660, a hart being engraved on one side. Besides these, several Roman Catholic, Latin and English books, and some manuscript sermons, were discovered, all concealed in the floors or wainscoting. Written inside one of the books is a copy of verses, which convey a Roman Catholic or Protestant sentiment, according as the lines are read from top to bottom, or from left to right. The verses are as follows: "I hold as faith What Rome's church saith The people are blest He is but an asse That shunnes the masse What England's church allowes The church can have noe blame At an early period, then, the population of the manor of Bromley seems to have had three chief centres, the district from Blackbrook to Widmore, the ancient hamlet of Plaistow, and the neighbourhood of the London Road, which last soon became the town of Bromley, where we find the ancient market place, the church, and rectory. In various Inquisitions we find names of persons holding land in Bromley in early times, but they cannot generally be identified, or connected with known families or estates; thus in the year 1480 there is an Inquisition upon Bernard Cavell, who is reported as dying seised of "one messuage and sixty-one acres of land in Bromlegh, of which three acres are called Wellfield, and four acres of wood." In the Patent Roll 4th Ed. II, part 1, memb. 17, 1310, is a license to crenelate, granted to William de Bliburgh. It runs thus: "The King to his bailiffs and faithful men, greeting. Know ye that we of our special grace have granted to our beloved clerk, William de Bliburgh, that he may strengthen |