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Friends of Bromley Town Parks & Gardens |
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Promoting Bromley’s green centre. |
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Pulham Rockeries and Queens Gardens Gates listed. |
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In January 2007 the Friends applied to English Heritage for Listing of the Pulham Rockeries at the Civic Centre and also drew attention to the importance of the ornamental gates in Queens Gardens. The Friends had ‘re-discovered’ the two overgrown rockeries in 2006 and undertook exploratory clearance of the waterfall group followed by major clearance by Council contractors of both the Waterfall and Fernery in 2007. Our research in 2006 made it clear these Rockeries, constructed in 1865, were of historic importance. They had been badly neglected since coming into Council ownership in 1982 with self sown trees splitting some rocks and the linings of the pools broken. By co-incidence our application for listing co-incided with English Heritage producing a comprehensive study of the work of James Pulham & Son. The firm had come to be regarded as of national importance in Victorian garden landscape design and their work had been featured in a number of TV programmes. The Rockeries were inspected and recommended for listing by English Heritage in October 2007 which has now been finally approved by the Secretary of State together with listing of the historic Gates in Queens Gardens. Listing means the structures are regarded as of historic interest as part of the National heritage and they are now fully protected. As site owners of the Bishop's Palace and its lands and the legal guardians of the Borough's heritage this ought to have ensured the future protection of this historic site and its features but the Rockeries were not only neglected but also not even locally listed. Even worse the Council's Town Centre Area Action Plan had two maps showing the site of the rockeries as suitable for blocks of flats part of the AAP proposed sell off of this historic site. The Friends objected to the principle of this proposal and the Council revised the AAP with an assurance that any new building on the Civic Centre Site would now only be on the footprint of existing buildings. Listed status of the Pulham Rockeries now, at least, means the Council is under a legal obligation to ensure the protection and preservation their settings for the future. Our group will work with the council and English Heritage to obtain funding to preserve theses historic features for future generations. |
