High Elms

Site of Special Scientific Interest
A path through the woodland at High Elms Country Park
Location	Greater London
Grid reference	TQ446625
Interest	Biological
Area	69.1 hectares
Notification	1981; 44 years ago (1981)
Location map	Magic Map

High Elms Country Park is an extensive 250-acre (100 ha) public park on theNorth Downs inFarnborough in theLondon Borough of Bromley. It is aLocal Nature Reserve,^[1][2] and together with the neighbouringDowne Bank, aSite of Special Scientific Interest.^[3] The park surrounds High Elms Golf Course, and has extensive woodland, chiefly oak and beech, chalk meadows and formal gardens. It also has a cafe, a visitor centre, nature and history trails and car parks.

Theidverde Countryside Team, who manage Bromley owned parks, are based at High Elms.^[4]

There is access to this place from High Elms Road and Shire Lane.

The history of the High Elms estate can be traced back to theNorman Conquest, when it was given byWilliam the Conqueror to his half-brother,Odo, bishop of Bayeux. For successive generations afterwards the land occupied now by the golf course was given over to farming.^[5] In 1809, a wealthy London banker and Member of Parliament,John William Lubbock (2nd Baronet),^[6] bought the 260 acres now known as the High Elms Estate as a country residence.^[7]

In 1840 it was inherited by his son, the astronomer and bankerSir John Lubbock, 3rd Baronet,^[8][9] who built a grand new mansion in the Italian style.^[7] His son, also calledJohn Lubbock, had been born in 1834.^[10] WhenCharles Darwin moved in 1842 into the nearbyDown House on the other side of the village ofDowne, he had told his sister "The great Astronomer Sir J. Lubbock is owner of 3000 acres here, & is building a grand house a mile off—I believe he is very reserved & shy & proud or fine—so I suspect he will be no catch, & will never honour us".^[11][12] Young John befriended Darwin, and was a frequent visitor to Down House. In 1865 John became the fourth baronet, and in 1900Baron Avebury.^[10]

In 1938 the estate was sold toKent County Council and the house became a nurses' training centre. In 1965 the area became part of the London Borough of Bromley, and the estate was transferred to the new borough. The land then became public open space, but in 1967 the mansion burnt down.^[7]

There are the following Grade IIListed Buildings in and around the park:

Eighteenth-century gate piers and wrought iron railings^[13]

Cuckoo Lodge^[14]

Eton fives court, built about 1840^[15]

Grotto, constructed between 1885 and 1896^[16]

Ice well, constructed about 1850^[17]

Old Lodge, early nineteenth-century cottage^[18]

Outhouse at the Clock House, probably a granary with a horse gin, early nineteenth century^[19]

Stone garden shelter, circa 1913^[20]

The Clock House, early nineteenth-century stables of High Elms converted to a house^[21]

Bromley Council has established the Bromley Environmental Education Centre at High Elms (BEECHE) at the park, with environmental programmes for schools and public events in the school holidays.^[22]

• Bromley parks and open spaces
• List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in London
• List of Local Nature Reserves in Greater London

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHigh Elms Country Park.

• London Borough of Bromley, High Elms Country Park Local Nature ReserveArchived 2 November 2011 at theWayback Machine
• Welcome to Bromley Environmental Education
• Natural England, Nature on the Map, Downe Bank & High Elms (SSSI)
• Gardens of Kent, High Elms Country Park
• London Borough of Bromley, High Elms TrailArchived 2 April 2012 at theWayback Machine
• Hidden London, High Elms
• High Elms Golf Club, Historic High Elms
• The Friends of High Elms

51°21′04″N0°04′30″E / 51.351°N 0.075°E /51.351; 0.075

• Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Bromley
• Sites of Special Scientific Interest in London
• Country parks in London
• Local nature reserves in Greater London
• Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Bromley

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