Bromley Common ( ) is the area centered at the road of the same name stretching between Masons Hill at the south end of Bromley and Hastings Road, Locksbottom. The area borders on other suburbs of the London Borough of Bromley such as Petts Wood and Orpington.

Although mostly used as a vehicular thoroughfare, the surrounding area does boast Chatterton Road, home to an intriguing range of charity shops, Liddon Road, and the newly opened Bishop Justus Church of England (secondary) School.

Now awarded Village status, which means that there is village sign complete with a quill, and lots of village lamp posts, some still requiring the pavement to be repaired, also a village notice board, situated outside the Bakery in Chatterton Road, the area still looks as though it has seen better times, due too the close down of useful village shops, such as a hardware shop, butchers, florist, green grocers. How long will the post office remain ?

New additions include the new mural, sited on the side of the Co-op, and a newly revamped Whitehall Recreation Ground, complete with flower beds, seating, picnic area, wildlife pond, and refurbished childrens play area. All this is thanks to Bromley Council, Parks Department.

Cricket venue

The first definite mention of the Bromley area in a cricket connection is a 1735 match on Bromley Common between Kent and London Cricket Club. Kent won by 10 wickets after scoring 97 and 9-0 in reply to London's 73 and 32.

The report of this match states that a large crowd attended and a great deal of mischief was done. It seems that horses panicked and riders were thrown while some members of the crowd were rode over. One man was carried off for dead as HRH passed by at the entrance to the Common. "HRH" was Frederick, Prince of Wales who was a keen patron of cricket.

The common was used for major cricket matches on at least dozen occasions between 1735 and 1752, a period which coincided with Bromley Cricket Club having one of the strongest teams in England during the career of Robert Colchin.

The last major match known to have been played there was Bromley v London on 30 June 1752. It was drawn.

References

1. H T Waghorn, Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730-1773), Blackwood, 1899
2. G B Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935

External links

• From Lads to Lord's; The History of Cricket: 1300 – 1787
• Bromley Common and its Schools