Bromley College

Bromley College is a historic building located on High Street in Bromley. A tablet on the building notes that it was established in 1666 by John Warner, the late Lord Bishop of Rochester, to provide for twenty poor widows of loyal clergymen and a chaplain. The college features two courtyards made of red brick, with the west courtyard dating from 1670 onwards.

The main front of the building faces west and includes a central section flanked by two advanced wings that house the Chaplain's and Treasurer's residences. The structure is two storeys high, with a semi-basement and an attic. The central portion has twelve windows and twelve gabled dormers, while each wing contains two windows and one dormer. A brick stringcourse and a wooden modillion eaves cornice adorn the exterior, topped by a tiled roof. Buttresses support the front between the windows, and the building features casement windows with wooden mullions and transoms.

A wide central gateway leads up five steps, equipped with an iron handrail. This gateway is framed by a rusticated round-headed stone archway with engaged Doric columns, a curved pediment, and a cartouche displaying the arms of John Warner, Bishop of Rochester. The south front of the west courtyard has sixteen windows and ten dormers. The inner face of this courtyard and the opposite north side feature doorways with moulded architrave surrounds and heavy pediment-shaped hoods above, flanked by round windows with round-headed windows above them.

At the center of the east front of the courtyard is the Chapel, which projects into the east courtyard. This chapel was contemporary with the college's foundation but was rebuilt in the Decorated style by Waring and Blake in 1863. The east courtyard is a replica of the west courtyard but lacks the buttresses. It was constructed between 1794 and 1805 using funds left by William Pearce, brother of Dr. Zachary Pearce, Bishop of Rochester, and by Mrs. Bettinson in 1782 and 1788, respectively, to provide twenty additional houses for the same purpose.