THE STORY BEHIND BIGGIN HILL’S VILLAGE SIGN.
BACKGROUND TO THE VILLAGE SIGN.
It was back sometime during the Summer of late 1998 that David Haslam the then Chairman of Biggin Hill and District Residents Association was informed that the Local Authority had access to a source of funding, that was available to support Villages that didn’t have a proper village sign to acquire one. This fund would provide half of the cost of manufacture and erecting of a village sign that had the approval of the Local Authority and the participating community group submitting the design. From memory I believe that the rules recognised request for funding from properly constituted community groups or properly constituted Residents Associations.
The London Borough of Bromley were aware that they had several villages that were part of LB Bromley that didn’t have a Village Sign, Leaves Green was another village close to Biggin Hill that also qualified for a grant towards their village sign. The Council financial offered covered half the cost of manufacture of the sign and its placement; but didn’t include the cost of any proposed design artwork. The sign that you can now see, placed on the Village Green, adjacent to the junction of Jail Lane and Main Road, was officially unveiled by the then Mayor of Bromley on the 31st of October 1998, and was jointly funded by Council grant and Biggin Hill & District Residents Association.
THE PROCESS
As someone involved in the world of architecture, David Haslam realised that a design brief was necessary. David Haslam was at that time, the Chairman of the Biggin Hill & District Residents Association, and a Governor of Charles Darwin Secondary School.(1978 – 2024)
The Biggin Hill Residents Association decided to participate and paid to produce the formal design, by offering a cash prize, which would be paid to the winning individual or team of Charles Darwin pupils/students who produced the winning design.
It was felt by the committee of the Residents Association that there were some key elements which should feature in the finished design. To achieve this David Haslam as chairman produced a Design Brief describing those key elements which should be incorporated in the finished village sign.
THE DESIGN BRIEF
The key elements to be included relate to: –
1 Biggin Hill has for a long time been a community divided geographically between Top and Bottom, with a Top Plateau, and the Valley, these two elements are represented by a valley with a sunset sporting three rays of sunlight, radiating outward.
- Biggin Hill’s long association with RAF Biggin Hill dates to January 1917, whilst its main claim to fame was during the Battle of Britain. Those three rays of sunlight with the silhouette of aircraft stand as reminders of those times, the two outer rays each baring an image of a Hawker Hurricane fighter, whilst the central ray sports an image of a Supermarine Spitfire fighter. This directly reflects the number of Hurricane to Spitfire fighters deployed during the battle, there being twice as many Hurricane squadrons as Spitfire squadrons during the Summer of 1940.
- Another key element that is basic to Biggin Hill’s story, is St, Marks Parish Church, known locally as the Moving Church. During the early days of Biggin Hill (1900-1950) Church goers would walk to Cudham Parish Church on a Sunday, however, with the rapid growth of Biggin Hill’s population a ‘Tin Tabernacle’ was used as a local church, this had been constructed from corrugated iron sheets, hence the name. As the Population grew from approximately 4.370 in 1951 by 93% by 1971, it was thought that a new bigger church was required. However, following World War II, there was a national shortage of building materials. The then Vicar of St Marks – Rev Vivian
Symons (appointed 1951) had learned of a disused, bomb-damaged church, All Saints in North Peckham, Vivian Symonds decided to demolish All Saints church with the help of his parishioner’s and a lorry, they moved load after load of salvaged materials. The St. Marks church shown on the village sign is that church. - Another iconic symbol of Biggin Hill is the Ceder of Lebanon, which still stands close to the junction of Church Road and Village Green Avenue. This tree is listed as one of the great trees of London, the other significance of this tree is that it helps us to locate the site of the old Apperfield Manor House. A photograph can be found in the Book published by Harry Nelson – Grandfathers Biggin Hill, this shows the tree standing close to a Victorian Structure that had replaced a much older manor house. The tree has been identified as having stood in the courtyard of the Victorian manor house.
- One of the other elements that recognises the rural nature of Biggin Hill is a fox, representing the frequent evening sightings of these creatures – out hunting.
- There is another native creature depicted, – a Badger, whilst the badger shown on the village sign shows up as black, being part of a metal cut-out design, to David Haslam this creature represents a beautiful albino badger frequently spotted around the Lusted Hall Lane and Polesteeple Hill area during the late 1980’s, sadly killed by a careless driver.
THE COMPETITION – CHARLES DARWIN SCHOOL.
As a governor of Charles Darwin School, at the time. David Haslam persuaded the Committee of the Biggin Hill & District Residents Association, that the production of the final design artwork, incorporating all the various elements of the ‘design brief’ should be offered to Art Students of Charles Darwin School as a competition, with a cash prize being awarded to the winning team, the design which most closely satisfied the design brief was that produced by Paul Cassy and his friend (whose name I can’t remember).
Their design along with all intellectual rights to manufacture or reproduce the sign was vested in Biggin Hill & District Residents Association as the original commissioners of the design Brief.
The cost of manufacturing and erecting the sign was shared equally between London Borough of Bromley and the Biggin Hill & District Residents Association.
David R Haslam – Honorary Alderman,
Honorary Life President BH RA