High Elms Country Park

History

The history of the High Elms estate can be traced back to the Norman Conquest, when it was given by William the Conqueror to his half-brother, Odo, bishop of Bayeux. For successive generations afterwards the land occupied now by the golf course was given over to farming. In 1809, a wealthy London banker and Member of Parliament, John William Lubbock (2nd Baronet), bought the 260 acres now known as the High Elms Estate as a country residence.

In 1840 it was inherited by his son, the astronomer and banker Sir John Lubbock, 3rd Baronet, who built a grand new mansion in the Italian style. His son, also called John Lubbock, had been born in 1834. When Charles Darwin moved in 1842 into the nearby Down House on the other side of the village of Downe, he had told his sister "The great Astronomer Sir J. Lubbock is owner of 3000 acres here, & is building a grand house a mile off—I believe he is very reserved & shy & proud or fine—so I suspect he will be no catch, & will never honour us". Young John befriended Darwin, and was a frequent visitor to Down House. In 1865 John became the fourth baronet, and in 1900 Baron Avebury.

In 1938 the estate was sold to Kent County Council and the house became a nurses' training centre. In 1965 the area became part of the London Borough of Bromley, and the estate was transferred to the new borough. The land then became public open space, but in 1967 the mansion burnt down.

Listed buildings

There are the following Grade II Listed Buildings in and around the park: :Eighteenth-century gate piers and wrought iron railings :Cuckoo Lodge :Eton fives court, built about 1840 :Grotto, constructed between 1885 and 1896 :Ice well, constructed about 1850 :Old Lodge, early nineteenth-century cottage :Outhouse at the Clock House, probably a granary with a horse gin, early nineteenth century :Stone garden shelter, circa 1913 :The Clock House, early nineteenth-century stables of High Elms converted to a house

BEECHE

Bromley Council has established the Bromley Environmental Education Centre at High Elms (BEECHE) at the park, with environmental programmes for schools and public events in the school holidays.

References

References

1. (5 March 2013). "High Elms". Natural England.
2. "Map of High Elms". Natural England.
3. "Natural England Citation, Downe Bank and High Elms".
4. "London Borough of Bromley, Countryside Service".
5. "History of High Elms Golf Club and Course".
6. "LUBBOCK, John (1744-1816), of St. James's Place, MDX. | History of Parliament Online".
7. "LUBBOCK, John William (1773-1840), of Downe, Kent and Lamas, Norf. | History of Parliament Online".
8. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17119?docPos=2 Timothy L. Alborn, ''Sir John William Lubbock'', Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004]
9. "High Elms Golf Club, Historic High Elms".
10. "Letter no. 637, Charles Darwin to Catherine Darwin (24 July 1842)".
11. "UK Web Archive currently unavailable".
12. [http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=A27&pageseq=199 R. B. Freeman, Charles Darwin, A Companion, 1978, Darwin Online, Sir John Lubbock]
13. [http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-358578-4-gate-piers-and-wrought-iron-railings-b British Listed Buildings, 4 Gate Piers and Wrought Iron Railings, Bromley]
14. [http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-358466-cuckoo-lodge-bromley British Listed Buildings, Cuckoo Lodge, Bromley]
15. [http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-358659-eton-fives-court-orpington British Listed Buildings, Eton Fives Court, Orpington]
16. [http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-506983-grotto-at-high-elms-country-park-orpingt British Listed Buildings, Grotto at High Elms Country Park, Orpington]
17. [http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-358660-ice-well-orpington British Listed Buildings, Ice Well, Orpington]
18. [http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-358463-old-lodge-bromley British Listed Buildings, Old Lodge, Bromley]
19. [http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-358465-outhouse-at-the-clock-house-bromley British Listed Buildings, Outhouse at the Clock House, Bromley]
20. [http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-506981-stone-garden-shelter-at-high-elms-countr British Listed Buildings, Stone Garden Shelter at High Elms Country Park, Orpington]
21. [http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-358464-the-clock-house-bromley British Listed Buildings, The Clock House, Bromley]
22. "BEECHE".