Hayes (Kent) History

In 1935 ‘The history of Hayes’, written by Canon Henry Percy Thompson, was published. It was written mainly from the church records available at the time and information from local historians, especially the work of BF Davis.

After Canon Thompson’s death, Hayes started to change substantially. With a local government reorganisation in the 1930s, it lost its Parish Council and instead became part of Bromley Borough.

In 2012 a new history of Hayes was published. All the copies of Hayes, a history of a Kentish Village have been sold but there are copies in Bromley Local Studies Library, Bromley Central Library, West Wickham and Hayes public libraries. The interesting history and growth of Hayes, traced in this two-volume set, was researched and written by local historians, Jean Wilson and Trevor Woodman. They each spent over thirty years researching the local area.

About the Authors

Jean Wilson

Jean Wilson
Jean Wilson

Jean Wilson read history at St Anne’s College, Oxford. She has lived in Hayes since 1974 and has been involved in many local history exhibitions starting in the 1980s. Most recently, she was part of the team that put on the Hayes Remembers. Jean retired in 1998 from her position as Head of History at Baston School. She continued her research into the history of the people of Hayes and has written several local history books and articles, including the Hayes Trail, and is a Vice President of the Bromley Borough Local History Society.

Trevor Woodman

Trevor Woodman

Trevor Woodman had a long and active interest in the history of Hayes and local affairs. He knew the area well as he grew up in West Wickham, where he was born in 1939. Trevor was married with two daughters and lived in Hayes for 41 years before his death in September 2007. Sadly, he never saw the publication of the two volumes.

Trevor took part in archaeological excavations around the local area in the 1960s. He was an early member of the Bromley Borough Local History Society and twice Chairman of Hayes Village Association. Trevor wrote ‘The Railway to Hayes’ and ‘Wartime Hayes’ and was a leading figure in the organisation of the exhibitions to mark the commemoration of these events and the Millennium.