The separate publications of Beckenham's roads, Rivers and Memorials were out of print by 2008 and so I decided to combine them in a Trilogy that has been well received. Beckenham's Conservation Areas has been added to the section on Roads, the map of the Rivers appears on the back cover and the Memorials section has been extended to include Beckenham's Blue Plaques, the notables Robert Borrowman, Charlie Hoare, Percy Jones, the Bakers, Arthur and Alfred and the families Crease and Manger.
This book was compiled for the Friends of the recreation ground in celebration of its 120 years existence in 2011. It will not be generally available as hard copy but can be ordered on CD for use on a computer. It includes a taste of history, a month by month record of the most notable trees and shrubs through the year, all in full colour, three walks to identify the trees and shrubs with plans of the shrubberies and a Latin/ common name index.
This book celebrated the 90th anniversary in 2009 of the present Langley Park School for Girls that started as the Beckenham County School for Girls in Lennard Rd, Beckenham in 1919.
Populated from the late Bronze Age, the area of Monks Orchard & Eden park was favoured for its gentle wooded hills and numerous north-flowing rivers. Then in the late 1700s, its proximity to London began to draw rich landowners keen to establish their mansions here to the Manors of Beckenham and Foxgrove to the north and the estates of Burrell and Langley to the south.
Today Beckenham is one of the five districts comprising the London Borough of Bromley but from 1935 to 1965 it was a borough in its own right, running its own affairs. It had an exceptional fire service that was recognised during the London blitz as much better than those of the surrounding districts. Ironically this led to the eventual amalgamation of all those districts into the London Boroughs and Beckenham's consequent loss of control of its own affairs.
Beckenham Green occupies an area of two acres of open land near Beckenham Junction station. This oasis of calm was created from the destruction caused by two flying bombs in July 1944 and the post-war havoc that thwarted efforts to rebuild what had been the shopping centre of Beckenham for the previous 40 years. The book's 36 pages contain many images and in addition there are 4 pages in full colour in the centre.
This book tells the story of life on the Home Front in Beckenham and Penge during WWII through the eyes of local people who have contributed their memories. Their brief sketches throw a brilliant light on the courage and perseverance of the people. Fireman's widow Mollie Bowles says 'I think we were all aware of the danger the firemen faced. The bombs fell virtually every night and the men were constantly on duty tackling fires, saving people.
The Harvington Estate on South Eden Park Rd, Beckenham, grew from a mainly Victorian group of large houses with their stables and entrance lodges that were built in the 1870s. There were also two earlier houses constructed in about 1834 to the north. These were Eden Lodge and Eden Cottage, later called Eden Manor. Of these seven houses only one, Oakfield, remains today although there are four of the lodges; the gate lodge of Eden Lodge, Harvington, Homewood and Chalfont.
