Editing Beckenham (section)

==History==
[[File:Beckenham2.jpg|thumb|left|Central Beckenham, flooded in 1878.]]

Although early written history tells little of the area we have the entry in the Domesday Book of 1086 and various records in Court Rolls, Feet of Fines and other historical documents. Thomas Philipott recorded it in his Villare Cantianum in 1659 based on the research of his father John Philipott. Hasted wrote about it in 1778 in his History and Topography of Kent based on Philipott's material. Others like Lysons and Ireland continued to record Beckenham Manor, Foxgrove Manor, Kelsey and Langley estates and Kent House Farm. Several other local historians updated the account based on more recent events and developments of Beckenham. Revisiting the history and collating the historical documentary evidence has revealed a more detailed early history showing how the manors and estates changed hands through families such as Rokele, Bruyn, Bardolf, Langley, Style, Kelshulle, Brograve, Raymond, Leigh, Burrell, Cator and various yeoman property owners like Kempsall, King, Batt  etc. Archaeological evidence at nearby Holwood Park, where [[Stone Age]] and [[Bronze Age]] artefacts have been found, reveals some evidence of early settlers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Beresford |first1=Frank |title=The Palaeolithic Sites in the Upper Ravensbourne Area, Bromley, Kent |journal=Lithics, the Journal of the Lithics Studies Society 35, 54-58 |date=1 February 2015 |url=https://www.academia.edu/11179036}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last1=Beresford |first1=Frank R. |date=2015 |title=A re-examination of Late Nineteenth-Cenyury Palaeolithic Finds in the Upper Ravensbourne Area, Bromley |url=https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/sites/default/files/archcant/2%20A%20Re-Examination%20of%20the%20Late%20Nineteenth%20Century%20Palaeolithic%20Finds%20in%20the%20Upper%20Ravensbourne%20Area%2C%20Bromley.pdf |access-date=26 January 2023}}</ref> A [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] camp was sited here, and a [[Roman roads in Britain|Roman road]], the [[London to Lewes Way (Roman road)|London to Lewes Way]] passed through the district.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.beckenhamplaceparkfriends.org.uk/index.html|title = Home Page Friends of Beckenham Place Park - Beckenham Place - History}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Self published|date=January 2023}}

By the time of the arrival of the [[Normans]], the manor of Beckenham encompassed much of what is modern Beckenham, with other areas covered by the estates of Foxgrove Manor, Kelsey and Langley. Although William the Conqueror's half brother, Bishop Odo, was overlord of all of Kent the manor of Beckenham was held or enfeoffed to Anschil of Rochester.<ref name="Lysons1811">{{cite book |last1=Lysons |first1=Daniel |title=The Environs of London: pt. 2. Hornsey-Wilsdon |date=1811 |publisher=T. Cadell and W. Davies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CSkGAAAAQAAJ&dq=Manor+of+Beckenham&pg=PA409 |language=en}}{{rp|409}}</ref>  The manor became divided but eventually rejoined under the St. John family until Frederick St. John, 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke sold most of the manor to John Cator the younger in 1773. The manor house  and its grounds had been exchanged with [[Peter Burrell, 1st Baron Gwydyr|Peter Burrell, Lord Gwydir]] in 1757.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} 

Beckenham remained a small village until well into the 19th century. The beginning of its growth began after 1825 when the estates of [[John Barwell Cator]] and Lord Gwydir began to be developed.{{r|Lysons1811}}{{rp|411}} if  In 1760 John Cator the younger built Beckenham Place and became lord of the manor in 1773 after purchasing the manor of Beckenham from Frederick St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke.<ref name="Friends">{{cite web|title=Beckenham Place Park|url=http://www.beckenhamplaceparkfriends.org.uk/about.htm|website=Friends of Beckenham Place Park|access-date=2 April 2016}}</ref> After Cator died in 1806, his heirs under his nephew John Barwell Cator became aware that an area in such relative close proximity to London was ripe for development, especially once the railway had arrived in 1857, and large villas began to be built around the new station.<ref name="Willey"/> Wide roads and large gardens epitomised these properties, often built by developers who acquired land from the Cators. Lord Gwydir died in 1820 and his estates were split up, sold and developed.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} 

The manor of Foxgrove was owned by the Leigh family for some generations but purchased into the ownership of Lancelot Tolson circa 1716, his heirs divided it and it was acquired in part by John Cator and Jones Raymond. Raymond's part passed on to the Burrells and a land exchange in 1793 made the northern parts of the manor John Cator's and the southern parts absorbed into the Burrells Langley and Kelsey estates.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} What is now Beckenham Place Park is almost entirely parts of Foxgrove manor. Now it is part of the London Borough of Lewisham after boundary changes in the 1990s.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

The Kelsey Estate, named from a manorial estate, Kelsies, recorded in 1479. The estate was granted to William Kelshulle in 1408.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mills |first1=Anthony David |title=A Dictionary of London Place-names |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-956678-5 |language=en}}</ref> Peter Burrell the first bought Kelsey in 1688 and a house which had belonged to John Brograve was on the site.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} In the mid 18th Century a mansion was built overlooking the lake in Kelsey Park. This was later rebuilt, extended or altered circa 1835 to replace an earlier structure, though it was itself demolished in 1921 and the grounds turned into [[Kelsey Park]].<ref name=beck>{{cite web|url=http://www.beckenhamhistory.co.uk/kelseyestate.html|title=Kelsey Estate|publisher=Beckenham History|access-date=3 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bromleytimes.co.uk/news/beckenham_s_kelsey_park_prepares_to_mark_100_years_of_opening_to_the_public_1_2214063|title=Beckenham's Kelsey Park prepares to mark 100 years of opening to the public|publisher=Bromley Times|date=29 May 2013|access-date=3 February 2014}}</ref> The only surviving buildings are the two Grade II listed lodge cottages at the entrance, which are over 200 years old.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-358444-two-lodges-to-beckenham-place-bromley|title=Two Lodges to Beckenham Place - Bromley - Greater London - England - British Listed Buildings|author=Good Stuff|work=britishlistedbuildings.co.uk}}</ref>

In 1876 [[Beckenham Crematorium and Cemetery|Beckenham Cemetery]] opened (originally Crystal Palace District Cemetery), located south of the town in Elmers End.<ref name="Dignity">{{Cite web|url=http://www.dignityfunerals.co.uk/crematoria/index.asp?pageid=26&fd=602|title=Beckenham Cemetery|date=2016|website=dignityfunerals.co.uk|access-date=18 September 2016}}</ref>

===Modern Beckenham===
[[File:Kelsey Lodge (I).jpg|thumb|right|The late nineteenth-century Kelsey Lodge in Beckenham, now a Grade II listed building]]
Today Beckenham is an outer London suburb, though it has maintained its own identity and forms a town in its own right. It is centred on its non-pedestrianised curving high street. Further rows of shops run east from the town centre along Bromley Road, south along Croydon Road, and west along Beckenham Road around Clock House station, where the town's library can be found.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.better.org.uk/articles|title=Beckenham Library|website=www.better.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2020-02-20}}</ref> To the north lies the New Beckenham area, essentially a residential suburb of Beckenham proper.