Not many people take much notice of this venerable Oak Tree (Quercus rubor), now isolated on Kentish Way. As a result of building the dual carriageway, and the immediately adjacent Pavilion Sports Centre, its branches and roots were severely reduced, resulting in its rather smaller current appearance. The girth of the twin trunks however gives a clue to its long life, probably of some 300 years. As the plaque mentions it is one of the “Great Trees of London”

Originally part of the Bromley Lodge estate, in 1892 it was to be found in the garden of a large property in Elmfield Road called ‘Sundown’, occupied by a David Israel MA. Just over the wall from the garden was the historic Love Lane. The 1892 map below shows the site, with the approximate position of the Bromley Oak marked by a cross.

So the next time you walk past, please stop to look and admire it, a survivor of an older Bromley with the associated historic Love Lane.