BROMLEY is a pleasant, healthy, and respectable market town: the manor was given to the bishops of Rochester by Ethelbert, king of Kent, and is at present in their possession. The old episcopal palace stood here at a very early period: the late bishop Thomas, erected the present edifice, a plain brick mansion, in its stead, about the year 1777. It is the only episcopal residence belonging to the see of Rochester. It stands about a quarter of a mile from the town, and is pleasantly situated on the brow of a hill, looking towards Beckenham and Hayes. In the grounds is a chalybeate spring, called St. BLASE'S WELL, to which was antiently an oratory, dedicated to St. Blasius, formerly much frequented at Whitsuntide; because Lucas, who was legate for pope Sextus IV. granted an indulgence of forty days, enjoining penance to all those who should visit this chapel, and offer up their orizons there in the three holidays of Pentecost. This oratory fell to ruins at the Reformation, and the well was stopped up; but being re-opened in 1754, was, by the bishop's orders, immediately secured from the mixture of other waters; since which, numbers of people, especially of the middle and poorer sort, have been remarkably relieved by it from various infirmities and diseases.

Bromley CHURCH, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, is a spacious building, and consists of a nave, chancel, and aisles, with an embattled tower surmounted by a cupola, at the west end: the north aisle was rebuilt in 1792; to

their Queen. After travelling over various parts of the kingdom, during the greater part of a century, she settled at Norwood; whither her great age, and the fame of her fortune-telling, attracted numerous visitors. From a habit of sitting on the ground, with her chin resting on her knees, the sinews at length became so contracted, that she could not rise from that posture: after her death, they were oblige to inclose her body in a deep square box. Her funeral was attended by two mourning coaches; a sermon was preached upon the occasion, and a great concourse of people attended the ceremony. There is an engraved portrait of Margaret Finch from a drawing made in 1739; and her picture adorns the sign-post of a house of public entertainment in Norwood, called the Gipsey House."-Lysons's Environs, IV. 301,

which

which bishop Thomas contributed 500l. The sepulchral memorials are numerous: here are said to have been buried bishops WARDONE, HENCHE, YONGE, BUCKERIDGE, and PEARCE. Dr. JOHN HAWKSWORTH, author of the Adventurer, &c. and who died in November 1773, aged fifty-eight, has also a monument here: he was long an inhabitant of Bromley. The font is of a square form, the sides ornamented with ranges of plain and semicircular arches.

Bromley COLLEGE was founded in pursuance of the will of the benevolent John Warner, bishop of Rochester, bearing date in 1666, for the residence and maintenance of twenty widows of loyal and orthodox clergymen. The original endowments have been greatly augmented by the gifts of various persons since that period; and in 1756, Mrs. Helen Betenson bequeathed the sum of 10,000 for the purpose of erecting ten additional houses for as many widows of clergymen: a bequest of 12,000l. has been since added under certain limitations, by William Pearce, Esq. brother to bishop Pearce, for the building ten more houses for clergymens' widows; so that this excellent charity is now in a very flourishing state. The widows on bishop Warner's foundation have an annual allowance of 30l. 10s. each, with coals and candles: the others have 201. each. The salary of the chaplain, who must belong to Magdalen College, Oxford, is now about 867. yearly. This institution is under the management of fourteen trustees; seven of them are, the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop of London; the bishop, the archdeacon, and the chancellor of Rochester; the dean of St. Paul's, and the Dean of the Arches for the time being; the others are elective: the college buildings are pleasantly situated at the north end of the town. In Bromley is also a CHARITY SCHOOL for the clothing and education of thirteen boys, and the same number of girls.

The grant for holding the market was obtained by the bishop of Rochester from Henry the Sixth, in the year

1447 or 1448.

CHISLEHURST,

CHISLEHURST, was antiently an appurtenance to Dartford, and descended in the same line as that manor to Sir Thomas Walsingham, of Scadbury. It passed, by heirs female, to the honourable Thomas Townshend, whose grandson, lord viscount Sydney, the present owner, occasionally resides at Frognal, now called SYDNEY's Lodge. The CHURCH, dedicated to St. Nicholas, contains various monuments of the Walsingham, Betenson, Bertie, and other eminent families. The celebrated Sir PHILIP WARWICK, knt. author of the "Memoires;" and who, in 1646, was appointed one of the commissioners to treat for the surrender of Oxford; and Sir RICHARD ADAMS, knt. baron of the exchequer, who died in March, 1774, have also memorials here.

SCADBURY, though now occupied as a farm, was the birth place of those eminent statesmen, Sir FRANCIS WAL SINGHAM, (son of William Walsingham, Esq. by Joyce, daughter of Sir Edward Denny), and Sir NICHOLAS BACON, lord keeper to queen Elizabeth.

CAMDEN PLACE, had its name from the famous historian and antiquary, William Camden, who is said to have composed his Annals of Elizabeth, while resident here. He died at Chislehurst, in November, 1623; and was carried with great solemnity to the place of his interment in Westminster Abbey. The estate is the property of earl Camden.

Having passed the CRAYS, we arrive at ELTHAM, a considerable village, situated on the high road between London and Maidstone, and extending about three quarters of a mile in length. The antient name of this place was EALDHAM, the old mansion or dwelling. John de Vesci, one of its lords, procured a grant of a market for this manor: the markets appear to have been discontinued when the palace ceased to have any conveniences for its royal visitors.

This PALACE was, however, for several centuries a favourite retreat of the English sovereigns, to which, probably, its vicinity to the metropolis not a little contributed, as well as the pleasantness of its situation. The manor had belonged

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belonged to the crown, even in the times of the Saxoils: William the Conqueror granted it, with many other estates in this county, to bishop Odo; after the confiscation of whose possessions, by William Rufus, the manor was divided between the sovereign, and the noble family of the Magnavilles. Edward I. granted his moiety to John de Vesci, who afterwards obtained the whole by exchange. His son, William de Vesci, had a natural son, also named William, to whom he devised this manor, with the greater part of his other estates; but having appointed Anthony Bec, the warlike bishop of Durham, a trustee under the will, that haughty prelate betrayed his confidence, and obtained possession of Eltham; where he died, in the year 1311. William de Vesci, the younger, was slain at the battle of Strivelin, in Scotland. It was afterwards said to have been given to Isabel, consort to Edward II. Since that period it has been occasionally granted, and is now held under a lease from the crown by Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart.

When the palace was originally built is unknown; it must, however, have been prior to 1270, when Henry III. kept a grand public Christmas here, accompanied by his queen, and all the great men of the realm. It was the birth place of John of Eltham, son of Edward II. Edward III. held a parliament here in 1329, and another in 1375, when the Commons petitioned him to make his grandson, Richard de Bourdeaux, prince of Wales; and most of the succeeding sovereigns, till the reign of Henry VIII. resided in this palace: on the rise of Greenwich, it was gradually deserted. Edward IV. repaired the palace at great expence; and in the year 1483, kept his Christmas in it in a very magnificent and costly manner, two thousand persons being daily fed at his charge. His daughter Bridget, a nun at Dartford, was born here.

"The change which the palace of Eltham has undergone, is exceedingly striking. This edifice, the abode of sovereigns, and the birth-place of princes, is now a farm; and the beautiful great hall, where parliaments were held,

and

and entertainments given in all the pomp of feudal gran. deur, is used as a barn for the housing and threshing of corn. The area in which the buildings stand, is surrounded by a high stone wall, that has been partially repaired and strengthened by arches, &c. of brick, and a broad and deep moat, over which are two bridges, nearly opposite to each other, on the north and south sides. The hall is a * most noble remain, measuring one hundred feet in length, by fifty-six broad, and about sixty high. The windows have been extremely elegant, but are now bricked up. The roof is of timber, curiously wrought in the manner of that at Westminster Hall, and richly ornamented with finely carved pendants. Three parks, well provided with deer, and including together upwards of one thousand two hundred acres, were formerly connected with his palace.”*

The CHURCH, dedicated to St. John Baptist, contains various monuments, but none remarkable. Under the north aisle is the burial place of Sir JOHN SHAW, by whom this part of the edifice was built in the year 1667; he also rebuilt the roof of the nave, which had fallen in whilst the workmen were employed in digging the family vault. In the church-yard is the tomb of the excellent divine, Dr. GEORGE HORNE, bishop of Norwich, who died in 1792. The parish register records the burials of THOMAS DOGGET, the eminent low comedian, who, dying in 1721, bequeathed a coat and silver badge to be rowed for annually on the 1st of August; and Sir WILLIAM JAMES, bart. of whom an account is given under Shooter's Hill.

The road from Eltham lies through Lee and Lewisham, (already described) to the Kent Road, and to the metropolis; which ends the first portion of the Circuit.

SURREY.

THE COUNTY OF SURREY, has not an equal boast with that of Kent, either in the nature of its soil, its beauties,

* Beauties of England.

VOL. V. No. 113.

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