The History of the Harvington Estate

HARVINGTON ESTATE Cont'd...

They dedicated the St John the Baptist stained glass window in the church in Eden Park Ave to their parents, Bertrand Theodore and Florence Ada Petley. Both the boys married and had children but only Hugh’s family had children in their turn. There were two girls and one son, Roddy, who took over his father’s house at Heathfield. Sadly, not long before she died, Florence had to submit to the compulsory purchase of 20 acres of her land along Village Way and Eden Park Avenue. To help solve an acute housing shortage at the end of the war, Beckenham had 165 prefabricated houses to place in the borough.

At first it was requested that the land should be available on lease but Mrs Petley contested this because it was agricultural land. She offered to sell the land to the Council on condition that on her death it would be held as open space for the benefit of the people of Beckenham for all time but the Council would not agree to this. They acquired the land by compulsory purchase.

By September 1946, the site drainage was prepared and the bungalows were in place. Florence died shortly afterwards. The prefabs were vacated between October 1967 and July 1968 having doubled their proposed life span of ten years. In their place were built old people’s flats and two and three bedroomed houses.

Roddy Petley, Florence’s grandson, tells me that all the Petleys that he meets own signet rings bearing the family crest. There were Petleys in the Kent village of Downe over 600 years ago and there is still an early eighteenth century flint and red brick house, with white doorway and cornice, called Petleys.

The manor of Downe Court belonged to Richard de Downe and was taken over by the Petles of Trowmer. John Petle in the reign of Henry III bore the arms argent, two bends engrailed, a canton sable and descendants continued into the reign of Henry VIII. Then John Petle left four daughters, the eldest of whom, Agnes, married John Manning.

Petleys, now the red brick and flint house, was the seat of these ancient Petleys probably also the house Trowmers opposite. Today Petleys is owned by Mr & Mrs James Roe who are maintaining its period features. The side wing is early Tudor, the front Queen Anne and the rear early Victorian. The breakfast-room is notable for its Elizabethan window. It has large baker’s ovens that would have been used to bake huge quantities of bread.

The entrance hall has enormous log cupboards to fuel the ancient black fireplace with its hand-painted tiles. From the large cellars there is said to have been a passage connecting to Trowmers. In the garden is a well 172 ft deep constructed in 1878. Its water depth is some 22 ft. 10 in.

At one time Sarah Wedgewood, Mrs Charles Darwin’s aunt and younger daughter of Josiah Wedgewood, lived there. The Darwin children frequently played in Petleys’ gardens

Burials in the Downe churchyard and cemetery are only permitted for people with connections with Downe, but the Beckenham Petleys were still buried there suggesting that they believed that they were related to the early holders of the name.

REFERENCE. The History Of Monks Orchard And Eden Park. Published by Halsgrove ISBN 1 84114338 3. For sales please ring 01823 665294. www.halsgrove.com