Chislehurst Recreation Ground: Rubbish Dump?

A couple of years ago when it was decided to "renovate" the gravel pit - the children's playing area - behind Chislehurst C of E Primary School, there was consternation when shards of glass were found in a consignment of top soil; playtime in "the pit" was suspended, the annual "Party in the Pit" was put back until the Autumn, and a team of volunteers combed the pit to extract every single piece of glass.

Now we appear to have the problem all over again down the road.

Back in June work commenced to drain and level Chislehurst Recreation Ground following Bromley Council and F C Elmstead receiving a grant of £49,349 from the Football Foundation, the UK’s largest sports charity.

At that time Bromley Council issued a press release which stated, "Ensuring the pitches are fit for purpose throughout the season will secure the long-term use of the recreation ground for sport and recreation and enable the [F C Elmstead] club to develop and grow at the Recreation Ground. The improvements will also enable the club to introduce new opportunities for mini soccer, girls’ football and senior football.”

Unfortunately no one thought to inform Bromley Council that in the 18^th or 19^th century the Lord of the Manor, Lord Sydney, is believed to have used the recreation ground as a rubbish dump, glass works or something similar. In the early 20^th century the land had been inherited by Robert Marsham-Townshend who started selling off much of his estate. In the early 1900s the land in question became a recreation ground and the “rubbish” has lain undisturbed for 100 years.

Until now.

All the digging and turning over of the recreation ground has revealed dozens of pieces of glass on and around the pitches, rendering them completely unsafe to use as anything other than, well, a rubbish dump.

One Chislehurst resident who did not wish to be named said, “If you go into the recreation ground at night and shine a torch onto the pitches, they sparkle like a Christmas tree”.

The Chislehurst Village News team like a stroll, so today some of them went to take a look. At first glance it looks as though the contractors have done a great job. The land is level, the grass has grown substantially in the last few weeks and there’s a pile of sand at one end, presumably to fill in any small dips in the ground. However, it didn’t take us long to find a number of pieces of glass both at the sides of the recreation ground and amongst the grass.

A spokesman for Bromley Council has said “The area remains fenced off both for safety reasons and to allow the grass to establish”.

Chislehurst Village News has asked Bromley Council when they expect the recreation ground to be ready; when we receive a response we’ll let you know.

Given the ground's present parlous state we’ll probably be putting baubles on it at Christmas instead of playing football.

www.fcelmstead.co.uk

www.chislehurstvillagenews.co.uk