Bromley St Leonard, Middlesex Genealogy

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BROMLEY-ST.-LEONARD, a parish in Poplar district, Middlesex; on the river Lea, the Limehouse cut, and the North London and Eastern Counties railways, near Bow and Stratford stations, 3¾ miles ENE of St. Paul's, London. It has a post office,‡ of the name of Bromley, under Bow, London, E. Acres, 619. Real property, £81,313. Pop., 24,077. Houses, 3,407. Part of the land is disposed in market gardens. Many of the inhabitants are employed in calico print works, mills, a pearlash factory, a brewery, a distillery, and the East and West India docks. The limits include part of the city of London workhouse, and part of Tower Hamlets cemetery. A Benedictine nunnery, dedicated to St. Leonard, was founded at Bromley, in the time of the Conqueror, by William Bishop of London; and given, at the dissolution, to Sir Ralph Sadler. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of London. Value, £300.* Patron, J. Walter, Esq. The church belonged to the nunnery, and has Norman traces. The vicarage of St. Michael and the p. curacies of St. Leonard's chapel, St. Gabriel, and St. Andrew are separate benefices. Value of St. M., £300;* of St. G. and St. A. each £200. St. M.'s church was built in 1866-8; and is in the early English style. St. A.'s and St. G.'s were built in 1869. There are a Wesleyan chapel, public schools, almshouses, and some charities.

[John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72); from: www.visionofbritain.org.uk]