Keston

"KESTON, a parish in the hundred of Ruxley, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, county Kent, 3 miles S. of Bromley, its post town and railway station on the Mid-Kent line, 2 N.W. of Downe, and 13 from London. The village is situated on an eminence at the head of the river Ravensbourne. About half a mile E. of the parish is Holmwood Hill, the site of an extensive Roman camp, with earthen ramparts and ditches 2 miles in circumference, of which many parts are still remaining. It is supposed to have been the Roman station Noviomagus, and for its exploration a club has been formed designated the "Noviomagian Society of Antiquarians." Here is Holwood House, formerly the favourite residence of William Pitt, and now the seat of Lord Cranworth. Many implements of war have been found here, with Roman coins, &c. The remains of a temple 30 feet in circumference, the walls being composed of flint and stone, were discovered at Lower Warbank, on Blackness farm, in 1828, and in 1854 the remains of a Roman villa. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury, value £235, in the patronage of the archbishop. The church is a small structure. There is a National school; also places of worship for Wesleyans and Independents. Holwood House, Keston House, and Forest Hill, are the principal residences. Colonel Cater Lennard is lord of the manor."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]