Bromley Civic Centre

An ancient site, Bromley Manor was given to the Bishops of Rochester by King Edgar in the C10th. The Old Palace buildings were demolished when the present building was erected in 1775 for Bishop John Thomas, with later additions in the 1860s after the Manor was sold to Mr Coles Child, a merchant, in 1845. The Palace Park was once extensive, and included the area which from 1900 became Queens Garden (q.v.), separated from the Palace Park by an ancient footpath, Love Lane. Having survived Victorian expansion of Bromley, much of the parkland was sold in the 1930s for housing development and the old Palace became a girls school and teacher training college, Stockwell College. New college buildings enclosed the Palace in the 1960s and encroached on the Park to the north, east and west. In 1982 the site was purchased by Bromley Council who established the Civic Centre here. The west side of the old Park has been encroached by the construction of Kentish Way on the line of the old Love Lane, the multi-storey car park and new Council offices. In 1990 The Glades was built severing the last open green link from Market Square to the Palace lands.

What remains of the Park is found on the south side of the Old Palace, including the lake, once part of the medieval moat around the Old Palace, the site of St Blaise's Well now marked by a modern fountain, adjacent to which is one of two Pulhamite rock features created in 1865 by James Pulham & Son for Coles Child. Below the lake and beside the Ice House is the second, larger rockery intended to have its own waterfall and pool fed by a rock channel from the lake, originally crossed by an ornamental bridge. Beside the Rafford Way entrance is a Folly, incorporating medieval stonework, an arch and column found when Coles Child had the lake dredged; it is assumed to be the design of the Pulhams since they had made their name a few years earlier for the massive medieval folly they designed and built at Bennington Lordship. The low brick wall parallel to the south end of the lake may be an C18th Ha-Ha although the brickwork is similar to that found in the Pulhamite features so may be their work.

Although many C20th buildings now occupy the garden, lawns with mature specimen trees survive and include Lebanon Cedar, lime, beech, holly, yew, and oak, augmented with modern ornamental cypresses.

2006: Bromley Town Centre Area Action Plan proposed vacation of the Civic Centre, the sale of Palace and Park lands for housing and hotel development, and relocation of Pavilion Leisure Centre here. This was opposed by Friends of Bromley Town Parks and Gardens who wish to see the Palace as a public amenity building, and reclamation and restoration of the lost Park. The Pulhamite rockeries were listed in April 2008, following an application by the Friends of Bromley Town Parks, and were subsequently designated as 'at risk' and thereby eligible for a restoration grant from EH. In 2010 the Ice House and Ha-Ha were also listed. Grounds maintenance is undertaken by Thyme-Out, an HLF-funded project for people with learning difficulties, who were awarded a Green Pennant for their work in 2010. Other recent achievements have been tree works to open up areas around the Pulhamite 'cascade' and views of the Palace across the lake and moat.

The grounds of Bromley Palace are now managed by idverde UK, which in June 2015 was contracted by Bromley Council for the management of the borough's parks, green spaces and countryside service, a relationship that was extended in April 2019 for a further 16 years.