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Alexandra Recreation Ground was laid out by the local council in the late 1880s and opened in September 1891. It is named after Alexandra, wife of the future King Edward VII, who is also commemorated in Alexandra Road that borders the park in the south-east. The original area of the park was what is now north of Maitland Road, the southern part facing Lennard Road was added in 1897. A pond in the south-east corner of the original park pre-dated the recreation ground but was eventually filled in, becoming the site of a bandstand, itself no longer in place. The park was a popular venue for cricket, with Penge Cricket Club playing here.
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Orpington Parish Church of All Saints is a small medieval church mentioned in the Domesday Survey, endowed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1173. The oldest parts of the building have some Saxon remains including a Saxon sundial in the south wall. A much larger building was added to the south in the 1950s. The burial ground now extends around the church and to additional land across Ramsden Road where there is a Memorial Garden, Canadian Corner and Orpington War Memorial.
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Beckenham Cemetery opened in 1876 and originally had two Gothic-style chapels, only one of which survived bombing in WWII. This is now the chapel for Beckenham Crematorium, which established in 1956. An area of artificial rockwork with cascades and pools is located behind the chapel to the west. The cemetery retains its stone gate piers, wrought iron gates and iron boundary railings and has a good collection of monuments, including that of cricketer W.G. Grace and Frederick Wolseley, inventor with Herbert Austin of the Wolseley car.
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Prior to 1857 the land here was open countryside owned by the Cator family. Adjacent to the parish church, the site of Beckenham Green was built over between 1857-90 when the railway arrived; one of the former buildings on the site was the Railway Hotel. In July 1944 major bomb damage was caused to the buildings and the site was cleared in 1946. It remained undeveloped until 1967, when it was grassed with a part dedicated for use by pupils of the adjacent school. In 2005 this area of public open space was renamed Beckenham Green. A small stage was erected in November 2007 for hosting local events.
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Bertie Almshouses were built in 1890 in Arts and Crafts style, at the behest of Mrs Mary Elizabeth Akers of Malling Abbey in memory of her husband Bertie Peter Cator. The small sheltered garden has mature trees, shrubs and back garden now divided in two. A plaque in the porch has the inscription 'AD VSVM PAVPERVM DEI IN MEMORIAM BERTII ET DIANAE MDCCCXC'.
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Bethlem Royal Hospital purchased the Monks Orchard estate in 1924 and built the hospital here, moving in 1930. The former C18th/C19th landscape park of Wickham Park, now overlaid with a comprehensive design of early-mid C20th buildings, had extensive grounds. There remain numerous specimen trees, beech-hedged garden areas to the west, notable limes in the park to the south, and horse chestnuts along Monks Orchard Road, which was once part of the estate. The site is fronted to Monks Orchard Road with railings, and to the north with extensive laurel and rhododendron. There were extensive walled gardens to the west with backsheds including a mushroom house, but this became derelict and a new secure unit was built on the site in
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The land here was once part of Penge Common, dating back to at least the C10th. Betts Park was opened in 1928 when a large Victorian villa and its gardens, including a remnant of the former Croydon Canal, were donated to the people of Penge in perpetuity by local landlord and businessman Frederick Betts for use as a library and park. Additional land was later purchased with funding from the King George's Fields Foundation in 1936 and provided horticultural features and recreation facilities. The park slopes to the south and is almost entirely surrounded by residential housing. Trees include mature oaks, false acacia, holm oak, London plane and a mulberry, and there are remains of a shrubbery with holm oak, laurel and yew. Horse chestnut trees line a tarmac walk from Betts Way south-west across the park. The brick base of an armillary sundial survives to the north and from this point there are views across the surprisingly wooded landscape of Croydon.
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Biggin Hill Cemetery opened in 1930, and has no chapel. Among those buried here are WWII air crew.
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Blake Recreation Ground opened to the public in August 1932, named after the village doctor. It was later renamed Blake Park. The site may have been part of land belonging to Oak Lodge in the C19th, and once part of the Monks Orchard estate now divided from High Broom Wood by Oak Lodge Primary School. The park is a rectangular open space of mown grass with a perimeter tarmac path and is almost completely surrounded by houses, which are largely screened from the site by shrubs and hedges. A children’s playground is situated to the south-east and a sports field to the north. There are a few semi-mature chestnuts, oaks and ornamental pines.
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This site is that of the late C18th/19th landscaped grounds of the former palace and official residence of the Bishops of Rochester, who had been given Bromley Manor in the C10th. The present building was erected in 1775, with later additions made in the 1860s after the Manor was sold to Mr Coles Child, who also made changes to the gardens. Much of the once extensive Palace parkland was eventually sold for housing and road construction, the old Palace became a girls school in the 1930s. In 1982 the site was purchased by Bromley Council for the Civic Centre. What remains of the former park is south of the Old Palace ruins, and includes the lake, once part of the medieval moat, two Pulhamite rockeries and a Folly incorporating medieval stonework created for Child, and possibly an C18th ha-ha, although this may also be the work of James Pulham & Sons.
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Bromley College almshouses were founded under the will of Dr John Warner, Bishop of Rochester (d.1666) to provide a 'hospital or almshouses for twenty poor widows of orthodox and loyal clergy men in a position near to Rochester cathedral'. The almshouses were built in 1670-72 around a quadrangle; a long frontage faced the road, with slightly bigger dwellings forming 2 wings. A second quadrangle was completed in 1805 and Sheppard's College added in 1840. After 1821 the Chaplain and Trustees bought land to the east to prevent building and improvements were made in the grounds. Elms on the north and south lawn were removed along with the rookery and replaced with 4 great cedars; sale of the wood enabled grass plots and gravel walks to be laid out. Over the years commemorative trees have been planted, such as those to mark the Jubilee of King George V in 1935, and a Tree of Heaven planted by The Queen Mother in the Chaplain’s Garden in May 1977 for a rededication ceremony.
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Bromley College of Further and Higher Education was established here as Bromley Technical College in 1959, the college campus set in extensive grounds that are vestiges of the C18th/19th landscape of the Rookery estate. The 1st edition OS Map of 1871 shows the estate and the college campus retains the same shape. Remnants of the former landscape include the lake, boathouse, fishing house, icehouse, and an oak clump in fields to the west of Elmfield House.