Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BECKENHAM

BECKENHAM, a village and a parish in Bromley district, Kent. The village stands on a small tributary of the Ravensbourne river, close to a junction of several railways, 3 miles SE of the Crystal Palace, and 2 W of Bromley; has stations on the railways, and a post office under London, SE.; and is rapidly becoming a suburb. The parish comprises 3,875 acres. Real property, in 1865, about £40,000. Pop. in 1861, 2,124; in 1865, about 3,500. The property is subdivided. Beckenham Place is the seat of A. Cator, Esq.: Kelsey Park, of P. R. Hoare, Esq.; Old Manor House, of H. Fortescue, Esq.; and Langley Park, ofGoodheart Esq. Beckenham was the residence of Brandon, Duke. of Suffolk, when visited by Henry VIII.; and Clay-Hill here was the residence of Edward King, author of the "Munimenta Antiqua," who died in 1807. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £900.* Patron, J. Cator, Esq. The church was built about the beginning of the 16th century; has a lofty white spire, rebuilt in 1796; and contains monuments of the Styles, the Burrells, the Hoares, and others, and a tablet to Captain Hedley Vicars, who fell at Sebastopol. The ancient lich-gate, for setting down corpses at funerals, still stands. The p. curacies of a. St.-Paul and Shortlands are separate charges, both of them constituted in 1868. There are endowed national schools with £42 a year, and other charities £68. Dr. Assheton, prolocutor in convocation, who died in 1711, was rector.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Beckenham AP/CP       Bromley RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place: Beckenham

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