Iron Gates To Queen'S Gardens

785/1/10147 KENTISH WAY 30-APR-08 Iron gates to Queen's Gardens

II Iron gates and gate screen of 1850s; manufacturer not known; moved to this location in 1990.

DESCRIPTION: Queen's Gardens occupies a small, square, railed-off area closely overshadowed along its west side by the Pavilion Leisure Centre and Lownds Court and bounded to the east by the Kentish Way dual carriageway. The iron gates which are the subject of this note stand on the south west side of the park. They comprise taller double gates on piers to the centre, with short screens and pedestrian wickets off to each side. The main piers, 2.5m high, are hollow squares with decorative curvilinear panels and solid ogee heads set around with squat spikes. To either side of the main gate are 3m railed screens, at the end of which are the side wickets which carry on the line of the screens and are hung on decorative cast-iron posts with acorn heads. A horizontal rail runs approximately 0.5m above the ground across the whole gateway, holding beneath it intermediate rails. This is topped with spearhead spikes, as is the top rail. Although not monumental the gates are imposing, and provide an appropriate architectural announcement of the main entrance to Queen's Gardens as well as one of the main means of controlling access to what was a highly formalised and regulated designed landscape.

HISTORY: In 1897 Coles Child donated two fields north west of his home, a former palace of the bishop of Rochester, for use as a public garden. It was originally named Victoria Gardens to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee; later it became known as Queen's Gardens. Previously this was the White Hart Cricket Field, where county matches had been played until 1847. A typical municipal layout of paths and planting was created. In the earlier C20 this become enveloped on three sides by the then rapidly-expanding Bromley, while towards the end of the century the road down the east side of the park was expanded into the Kentish Way dual carriageway. The park was refurbished c.2000 and remains in public use.

The iron gates which are the subject of this note date from the 1850s and originally stood in front of Plaistow Lodge, London Lane, Bromley. They were given by its owner, Lord Kinnaird, to form the principal entrance of Queen's Gardens at its establishment. In 1990 they were moved from their initial location to where they now stand when a small part of the north west corner of the park was lost to the Glades Shopping Centre.

SOURCES: ELS Horsburgh, History of Bromley (1929) REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: The iron gates in Queen's Gardens are listed for the following principal reasons:

• They are a good example of mid C19 iron casting and of a multi-element gatescreen ensemble * They have been a prominent part of this town centre municipal garden since its creation in 1897