Bromley Palace (also known as the Bishop's Palace) is a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

London Borough of Bromley The London Borough of Bromley () is the southeasternmost of the London boroughs that make up Greater London, bordering the ceremonial county of Kent, which most of Bromley was part of before 1965. The borough's population is an estimated 332,336 ...

; and was the residence of the

Bishops of Rochester A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

from the 12th century to 1845. The building, which is now part of Bromley Civic centre, is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History of the site

In the 8th century, King Æthelbert II of Kent granted 6 "sulings" of land, which came to be known as the Manor of Bromley, to

Eardwulf Eardwulf or Eardulf is an Anglo-Saxon male name. Notable people with the name include: * Eardwulf of Northumbria, (floruit late 8th/early 9th century), ruler of Northumbria * Eardwulf of Kent (floruit middle 8th century), ruler of Kent * Eardwulf, ...

, Bishop of Rochester. In 862 Æthelberht III, king of Wessex and Kent, granted 10 sulings in Bromley to his minister Dryhtwald. In 967, King Edgar I of England again granted 10 sulings of land to Bishop Ælfstan in return for a large sum in gold and silver. In the year 987, a dispute between King Ethelred II and the Bishop of Rochester led to the land being seized and given to one of the king's ministers (Æthelsine) though a royal act of contrition led to its return in 998. After the

conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

, another expropriation was attempted by Bishop Odo of Bayeux (half-brother of

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

himself) and Archbishop Lanfranc (of Canterbury) had to intervene to restore the land to the diocese. The Manor of Bromley was described as "''poor....neither pasture nor arable land being worth much''". It is thought that a manor house was first built here around the year 1100. One source claims that the architect was Bishop Gundulph but this seems unlikely because he had a reputation for commissioning buildings of "massive and enduring character" and records show that Bromley Palace had fallen into dilapidation by the time of Bishop Waleran, who died in 1184. As a result, Waleran's successor, Gilbert de Glanville, ordered the manor house to be rebuilt – "in a more commodious manner". A historian had this to say about the original manor house: :''The first house and gardens probably did not cover a larger space than two acres, and were surrounded by a moat. The masonry supporting the ancient drawbridge, the remains of which consisted of a rude mass of flint and chalk, cemented together by mortar which had become as hard as stone, was discovered....about forty-five yards north of the present house; and....to the south....foundation walls, the lower portions of which were constructed of blocks of chalk.'' The grounds of the palace contained a

Holy Well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christian or pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualities, through the numinous presence of its guar ...

and Oratory dedicated to

Saint Blaise Blaise of Sebaste ( hy, Սուրբ Վլասի, ''Surb Vlasi''; el, Ἅγιος Βλάσιος, ''Agios Vlasios''; ) was a physician and bishop of Sebastea in historical Armenia (modern Sivas, Turkey) who is venerated as a Christian saint and m ...

and the site became a place of pilgrimage for centuries. In 1648, during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

– and due to an Act of Parliament which ordered the disposal of certain church property – the manor of Bromley was sold to Augustine Skinner. The manor house was again returned to the Diocese of Rochester (and its rightful incumbent, Bishop John Warner) in 1660, on the restoration of Charles II. In 1669, Bishop Sprat had the existing chapel (which was "''wainscotted eight foote high with oake''") pulled down and rebuilt (the new chapel was consecrated in 1701), and improvements were made to the grounds of the palace. Further additions and improvements were made to the manor by Bishops

Francis Atterbury Francis Atterbury (6 March 1663 – 22 February 1732) was an English man of letters, politician and bishop. A High Church Tory and Jacobite, he gained patronage under Queen Anne, but was mistrusted by the Hanoverian Whig ministries, and ban ...

(served 1713–1723) and Joseph Wilcocks (served 1731–1756). But by 1774 the palace had fallen into disrepair and Bishop John Thomas ordered it to be pulled down and rebuilt – see illustration. In 1845 the palace passed out of the hands of the Bishops of Rochester when it was sold to Coles Child, a wealthy local businessman. He had the house remodelled in 1863 (reputedly by

Richard Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...

) and 1903/1920s (reputedly by

Ernest Newton Ernest Newton (12 September 1856 – 25 January 1922) was an English architect, President of Royal Institute of British Architects and founding member of the Art Workers' Guild. Life Newton was the son of an estate manager of Bickley, Ke ...

). The 107th edition of

Burkes Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great ...

, (2003), states the Coles were Lords of the Manor of Bromley, and lived in the Palace. The actor Sir Coles John

Jeremy Child Sir Coles John Jeremy Child, 3rd Baronet (20 September 1944 – 7 March 2022) was a British actor. Early life Coles John Jeremy Child was born on 20 September 1944 in Woking, Surrey, son of Foreign Office diplomat Sir Coles John Child, 2nd ...

, (1944-2022), was a member of the family. In the 1920s it became a girls' finishing school and in 1935 Stockwell College of Education, a

teacher training college A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

. Extensions were added for this, and again in 1960 when

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs most of the county of Kent in England. It is the upper tier of elected local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council h ...

– then the county authority - took control. It became a grade II

in 1973. The college closed in 1980 and, as part of a wider regeneration scheme to create a new Civic Centre, the

moved their headquarters from the

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

to the palace in 1982. A small area of the original parkland survives immediately around the palace. It comprises lawns, a lake, belts of mature trees, a boat house,

pulhamite Pulhamite was a patented anthropic rock material invented by James Pulham (1820–1898) of the firm James Pulham and Son of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire. It was widely used for rock gardens and grottos. Overview Pulhamite, which usually looked ...

rockeries, an

ice house (building) An ice house, or icehouse, is a building used to store ice throughout the year, commonly used prior to the invention of the refrigerator. Some were underground chambers, usually man-made, close to natural sources of winter ice such as freshwate ...

and a

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

References

External links

{{Commons category, Bromley Palace

(Old b/w photograph).
Bromley Palace
(Photo taken in 1990). Country houses in London Houses in the London Borough of Bromley Episcopal palaces in London Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Bromley

History of the site

See also

References

Further reading

External links