In the 8th century, King Æthelbert II of Kent granted 6 "sulings" of land, which came to be known as the Manor of Bromley, to Eardwulf, Bishop of Rochester. In 862 Æthelberht III, king of Wessex and Kent, granted 10 sulings in Bromley to his minister Dryhtwald. In 967, King Edgar I of England again granted 10 sulings of land to Bishop Ælfstanin return for a large sum in gold and silver. In the year 987, a dispute between King Ethelred II and the Bishop of Rochester led to the land being seized and given to one of the king's ministers though a royal act of contrition led to its return in 998. After the conquest, another expropriation was attempted by Bishop Odo of Bayeux and Archbishop Lanfranc had to intervene to restore the land to the diocese. The Manor of Bromley was described as "poor....neither pasture nor arable land being worth much". It is thought that a manor house was first built here around the year 1100. One source claims that the architect was Bishop Gundulph but this seems unlikely because he had a reputation for commissioning buildings of "massive and enduring character" and records show that Bromley Palace had fallen into dilapidation by the time of Bishop Waleran, who died in 1184. As a result, Waleran's successor, Gilbert de Glanville, ordered the manor house to be rebuilt – "in a more commodious manner". A historian had this to say about the original manor house: The grounds of the palace contained a Holy Well and Oratory dedicated to Saint Blaise and the site became a place of pilgrimage for centuries. In 1648, during the English Civil War – and due to an Act of Parliament which ordered the disposal of certain church property – the manor of Bromley was sold to Augustine Skinner. The manor house was again returned to the Diocese of Rochester in 1660, on the restoration of Charles II. In 1669, Bishop Sprat had the existing chapel pulled down and rebuilt, and improvements were made to the grounds of the palace. Further additions and improvements were made to the manor by Bishops Francis Atterbury and Joseph Wilcocks. But by 1774 the palace had fallen into disrepair and Bishop John Thomas ordered it to be pulled down and rebuilt – see illustration. In 1845 the palace passed out of the hands of the Bishops of Rochester when it was sold to Coles Child, a wealthy local businessman. He had the house remodelled in 1863 and 1903/1920s. In the 1920s it became a girls' finishing school and in 1935 Stockwell College of Education, a teacher training college. Extensions were added for this, and again in 1960 when Kent County Council – then the county authority - took control. It became a grade II listed building in 1973. The college closed in 1980 and, as part of a wider regeneration scheme to create a new Civic Centre, the London Borough of Bromley moved their headquarters from the town hall to the palace in 1982. A small area of the original parkland survives immediately around the palace. It comprises lawns, a lake, belts of mature trees, a boat house, pulhamite rockeries, an ice house and a folly.
