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Friends of Havelock Rec

About the brick pit of Coles-Child Lord of the Manor

Our park is locally known as the ‘Brickfield’, so it’s not at all surprising that it’s the site of an ‘extensive’ brick works, from the Victorian era, right through to 1934.  It was on the southern boundary of the estate of Coles-Child, Lord of the Manor (not sure if that was meant to be complementary), who had bought the Manor of Bromley from the Diocese of Rochester and expanded the pit from the small one (about where the ‘dell hole’ or dip is now) into it’s present site.

.o peills brick pit half mile SW Bickley Stn looking S 16386_synch-l

They extracted the London Clay (initially) for brick making, and when this was exhausted, the underlying gravels and sands, of the Lambeth group, but also called ‘Woolwich and Reading Beds’, for local construction.  In the first half of the 1800’s the local supply of bricks had been from more and smaller local pits (no-one carried clay or bricks further than they needed to); there are several marked in the area on the 1868 map.

1858ish ivy_bridge_bickley The ill-fated ivy bridge in about 1858, thanks to Bromley Local History society (link http://www.bblhs.org.uk/)
1905_bromley_market_sq 1908_market_sq_market_day
The “new” town hall in Bromley Market Square.  Thanks to https://www.facebook.com/bromleytown/?fref=photo for these photos.

 

Though the mid-1800’s Bromley expanded enormously, as it was transformed from a market town into a desirable location for a suburban villa. This expansion only increased after the railway came in 1858, and during this time there was a ready market for bricks, as well as sands and gravels, for the local construction industry; not surprisingly, the brickpit here expanded accordingly.
Bricks from this brickworks were used in the construction of the railway – it was a condition of it passing through Coles-Childs land that it had to built on brick arches from his bricks (presumably including the ill-fated ivy bridge ). It seems that these arches were buried/replaced by an embankment when the 2nd line went through.
As Coles-Child funded the replacement of the timbered town hall with the “new town hall”, this was also built from ‘his’ bricks, from our brick-pit. And the “new” brick town / market hall built with our bricks was then demolished in 1933: “A timber-framed market house was replaced by a Gothic red brick building financed by Mr Coles Child in 1863. The building included the town hall and police station. This was demolished in 1933 and replaced with the current neo-tudor buildings.” from london-footsteps

1853 amend brickfield history cards Record of the ownership of the brickpit from the rate cards.  In the 1850s and 60s, Homesdale Road was known as Brick Kiln Lane (we’re told there was an brick kiln on the Homedale Road/Havelock Rd corner in addition to the Brickpit).  There are other brick/tile works not just at Widmore Green (see ) but at “Chistlehurst West”.The 1930s entry shows James John Peill as the proprietor, which allows it to be tied to the BGS photos on our working-photos-page .  Thanks to Felix for locating them in the local archives.Below, the census record is thanks to the Chatterton Road History Society,Daniel Bentley, contribution from the facebook page:
Census record for 162 Homesdale Road, James John Peill:
Name: James John Peill
Age in 1911: 39
Estimated birth year: abt 1872
Relation to Head: Head
Birth Place: Bromley, Kent, England
Civil Parish: Bromley
Street address: 162 Homesdale Road, Bromley, Kent
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Manager of Brick Works
Registration District Number: 42 Bromley
Sub-registration district: Bromley
ED, institution, or vessel: 19
Household schedule number: 46
Piece: 3648
Household Members:
Name Age
James John Peill 39
Eliza Jane Peill 39
Margery Peill 12
Winnifred May Peill 1
Eliza Elizabeth Peill 25

 

(interesting side note: according to this article on the Bromley Palace gardens, Coles Child was a wealthy coal merchant when he bought The Lord of the Manor of Bromley from the Bishops of Rochester in 1845 – see Pulham Legacy Bromley Palace Park)

1880s_bromley_gardens-ice-houseIce House of Bromley Palace Gardens, from Pulham page.

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Local History, Photos & Reminisces

Browse our collection of remarkable local reminisces in our oral history pages look at the park's previous incarnation as a working brickpit or a summary of it all here.

See also:

  • Bromley Civic Society
  • Friends of Whitehall Rec
  • Bromley Friends Forum
  • London Friends Network

Check out the Gallery

Early morning landscape by Jon Emmanuel
Landscape by Jon Emmanuel
IYellow Lab Daphne playing with her friend Molly
It's snowing!
evening light over our park
snow angel!
2008 double rainbow brickfield
IMG_1001-3
snowmen and snow forts in 2009
10422371_10152598816492595_4131414265842496626_n
2002jul02 tansy with little cricket bat
HotBalloon060630-3
033 field water fight
dragging the sledge back up the dip
The firemen parachuted in to raise money in 2005
fun-in-the-snow
fun-in-the-snow2
fun-in-the-snow3
fun-in-the-snow4
fun-in-the-snow snowman making
sledging-the-dip
dog in the snow
15jul01_sunset_over_brickfield_havelock_rec.jpg
14jun08 50490 view pink clouds brickfield.JPG
15feb28 dog walkers in field.jpg
andy_loakes_snow_on_the_brickfield.jpg
P1090838.JPG
15mar14-brickfield-bulbplanting.jpg
16jul18 bug-day-tent-view.jpg
14jun08 50495 view sunset brickfield.JPG
15jun29_4567-brickfield-field-bindweed-768x1024.jpg
15jun29_4583-brickfield-elderflower-768x1024.jpg
15mar14-di-and-felix-litterpicking-brickfield.jpg
16jan18_volunteers-planting-hedge-brickfield.jpg
16jun12 big-lunch-tug-war.jpg
16sep12-hoedown-2.jpg
17sep09-brickfield-hoedown-20059-baker-girl-beauty-dancing-1024x768.jpg
17sep09-brickfield-hoedown-20064-andy-emma-connie-pimms-tent-768x1024.jpg
17sep09-brickfield-hoedown-20071-girls-umbrella-rainbowjpg-1024x768.jpg
1924 o-peills-brick-pit-half-mile-SW-Bickley-Stn-looking-S-16386_synch-l.jpg
1940 havelock-rd-bomb-damage-1940-4-e1437292677505-1024x699.jpg
P7190918-3rd-bromley-on-brickfield-1024x768.jpg
see our photos in full size..

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