When
Bromley Common was enclosed in 1821, the Parish of Bromley was allocated
one tenth of an acre on the Westerham Turnpike (now Oakley Road). This was probably to compensate them for the
loss of estovers (the right to gather firewood) for church heating.
In June 1823, a local builder agreed to build six cottages
on the land "in a workmanlike manner with a 9" (23 cm)
wall in brick for the sum of £210. Two rooms to each cottage, one
floored in paving bricks, the other boards."
Presumably
the builder was not very workmanlike because, two years later, it was
reported that the cottages were "very damp and wet" and
the officers of the parish were ordered to enquire as to "the
best means of remedying the defects by draining or putting in some iron
or other spouts to the roof." In the builder’s defence, it
has to be accepted that the whole area was very damp; note the pond
almost against the back wall of the cottages.
According to the map below, there was
a well on the land at the front but no garden at the back.
The two earth closets were probably at the end of the row and shared by all
the inhabitants.
Plan of the Parish Cottages from a map drawn in about 1865. It is not
known which cottages were used by the Bromley Common Infant School between 1837
and 1846.
Click for map of the area in 1841 showing the
cottages.
The
cottages each had two rooms and only cost £35 each to build. They were
used as rented accommodation for the poor, an alternative to the
workhouse. For a short time, between 1837 and 1846, they were home to
the Bromley Common Infant
School.
The Parish Cottages c1893.
A report in The
Bromley Record, dated Feb 1st 1893, tells us that
“The Sanitary Inspector also reported that he had visited the
Parish Cottages, Oakley Road, and found that they were in an insanitary state,
there being only two w.c.’s (sic)
for the six houses and both were in a filthy condition. There was only
sufficient air-space in the sleeping rooms for one adult and one child, whereas
in some of the houses there were four or five inmates which was over crowding.”
The
Cottages were demolished and replaced by two, semi-detached houses named Glebe Field
Villas. They are still
standing. (A glebe was land
used to provide income for a vicar; the Glebe Field was next to the old
vicarage which was built on the workhouse field.)
