Bromley Holy Trinity, Kent Genealogy

A guide to genealogy in the ecclesiastical parish of Bromley - Holy Trinity in Kent with information on where to find birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial records; census records; wills; cemeteries; maps; etc..

Bromley Holy Trinity is an ecclesiastical parish within the town of Bromley in Kent, England.

Parish History
Bromley Common Holy Trinity was created as an Ecclesiastical parish in 1842 (built from 1839) to relieve pressure upon Bromley St Peter and St Paul. The District Church was built on the Commons land which had been enclosed by Enclosure Acts of 1764 and 1821. The Bishops of Rochester as Lords of the manor had owned much of the Commons Land; in the period from 1843 land was purchased by prominent families. The church with graveyard was built of flint in Gothic style on junction of the Tunbridge Turnpike Road (later Hastings Road) and the Westerham Turnpike Road (nowadays Oakley Road) The total cost of the church and the later addition in 1843 of the tower are recorded in the Burial Register front page. The District was assigned by an order in Council 10 June 1843 under 59 Geo, III 134 section 16.

The Norman family who purchased most of the land of the Common area and major houses were the major benefactors for the church including an entire re-roofing of the church and gift of a large parcel of land to extend the graveyard. Only part of the land formed an extension the remaining land was never utilised for burials but forms allotment gardens to the present day.

Bromley St Peter and St Paul formed an ancient parish in the Bromley and Beckenham hundred and the Sutton-at-Hone lathe of Kent. In 1840 it became part of the expanded Metropolitan Police District. The parish adopted the Local Government Act 1858 and a local board was formed in 1867. The board was reconstituted as Bromley Urban District Council in 1894 and the parish became Bromley Urban District. It formed part of the London Traffic Area from 1924 and the London Passenger Transport Area from 1933. In 1934, as part of a county review order, the borough was expanded by taking in 1,894 acres (7.66 km2) from the disbanded Bromley Rural District; an area including parts of the parishes of Farnborough, Hayes, Keston and West Wickam. Bromley became part of the newly-created Greater London in 1965, in the new London Borough of Bromley.


 * See also Kent Churches website
 * See also Bromley page at North West Kent Family History Society

Civil Registration

 * See Bromley

Church Records
Bromley Holy Trinity parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Kent Online Parish Clerks have undertaken complete transcripts for the Parish of Holy Trinity. Completed transcripts cover all deposited records at Bromley Archives and other items with generous assistance from the rector. All Bromley parishes are on a single page at /http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Bromley.html

Deposited Parish registers are held at Bromley Archives reference P 47C 1843-1976

Bromley Central Library Telephone: 020 8461 7170 Fax: 020 8466 7860 e-mail: localstudies.library@bromley.gov.uk

Family History Library film numbers Bromley Holy Trinity

The extent of the Parish boundary from central Bromley to include Page Heath part of Bickley, Southborough the ancient hamlet of Skim Corner and as far south as the Keston parish boundary to include Sheepwash Cottage and the course of the adjacent River Ravensbourne as well as the Bromley Parish Boundary to include Barnet Wood the Rookery and parts of Hayes Lane, Masons Hill, Waldo Road was extensive and the growth in population of the parish was rapid as these areas became developed into adopted streets and roads.

The 1801 census of Bromley hints at the low population of this area; John Dunkin an author wrote in 1815 that there were 25 houses on the common and its borders but noted that by 1850 the population of Bromley as a whole had increased from over 2,000 to more than 4,000. Bromley South Railway Station on the site of a former gravel pit was operating in 1858.

Frank Jessup's History of Kent records that from 1851 population of 4,100 by 1871 had risen to 10,700 and in 1881 to 15,200 and 1901 27,400.

Holy Trinity registers reflect this growth the address of "Builder's Field" denotes the building of roads of houses; Skym or Skim Corner ceases to be a hamlet and is part of Jackson's Road (named after the eponymous George Jackson shopkeeper) replacing the earlier 1st Skim Corner Road and 2nd Skim Corner Road found as abodes in the early years registers.

The Commons included Shooting Common (originally for archery contests) and that part of Coopers Farm which formed Bromley Race Course; other references are to Bromley Common Village. To the South east of the Church Brewery Road adjacent to Pembury House introduces a growth in trades from maltsters (implying a malting floor) Brewers, Coopers and dray-men reflecting another growth in local housing.

1801 census
The transcript of a rare 1801 census for Bromley is now online at Kent Online Parish Clerks Bromley page

Websites

 * Kent Online Parish Clerks are in process of transcribing the complete parish register series in partnership with Bromley Archives and the local Archdeacon on behalf of the Diocese. The completed Bromley Holy Trinity transcripts are online Kent Online Parish Clerks Bromley page
 * Henry Mantell's blog
 * Bromley on GENUKI