St Marks Church Bromley
Another in the ever expanding Church Micro Series, started by Sadexploration.
The first St Marks Church was a second-hand iron church, which was erected in what is now St Mark’s Road on Masons Hill in 1884, and was used until 1898. The current site, a very rural one at the time, was bought for £500 and the plans for the new church were drawn up by Mr Evelyn Hellicar, who was the son of the Vicar of Bromley. The church was Perpendicular Gothic in design, and furnished in classic High Victorian style. It was consecrated on 22 October 1898.
Only the bottom part of the tower was built originally, housing the main porch. The tower was raised to its full height in 1903. It was built of brick, faced with red bricks from Dunton Green, and decorated with Doulting Stone from Shepton Mallet in Somerset. The tower measures 94 feet from the floor to the top of the pinnacles and the base is 21 feet square exclusive of the buttresses.
From 1898 the former church was used as a church hall. It was replaced by a new church hall on the same site in 1930. Services resumed in the church hall when the new church was destroyed in the Second World War.
On Wednesday 16th April 1941, Bromley suffered a violent air raid attack in which the church was struck by a combination of incendiary and high explosive bombs. Only the tower was left undamaged. Many of the original features were lost as a result.
The new church was designed by T. W. G. Grant and built by David Nye and Partners. The original foundations were reused, preserving the previous dimensions and shape, and the nave arcades were incorporated into the new structure. The lower part of the chancel arch was also saved, along with the Victorian carved capitals, the choir stalls and sedilia. On 3rd June 1952 H. R. H. The Duchess of Kent laid the corner stone for the reconstruction, and in 1953 St Mark’s was rededicated.
More information can be found on the related web page.
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The cache, a nano tube, is not at the given coordinates, which are close to the church. ** 1 November 2020 New Formula **. On the new single storey part of the church there are 4 sets of windows visible from the given coordinates. Three of them have A panes of glass and one has B panes. On the grass opposite them there are C benches. To find the location of the cache you will need to solve the calculation below:
N51 23.(A+B) (B-C) C
E0 0.(A+C) (A-C) (A+C)
The formula has been changed twice on this cache as the green box which was originally used in the calculation has been removed and then the notice board has been covered up.
This cache replaces an earlier one for this church (GC285RP) by Beetstarz, which has now been archived.
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the
Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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