South Norwood
South Norwood
South Norwood is a town comprising a resident population of just over 14,000. A tributary of the River Wandle, which rises in Merton, ends in South Norwood. The north-eastern side of the town is overlooked by the 125 acre country park which opened in 1989. At the other northern end of the town is South Norwood Lake, which was created after the artificial lake for the abortive Croydon Canal went out of use..
It is used by the Croydon Sailing Club and local anglers who fish for carp, freshwater bream and perch.
Together with Norwood New Town, it forms the ward of South Norwood in the local bourgh of Croydon. There are two secondary schools in the area along with a public leisure centre. The town has a high street which forms part of Selhurst Road which includes a number of banks, house agents and a coffee house. It is a commuter town, with many occupants travelling to either the financial and insurance zones of Croydon or London for employment via the large train station.
Handley’s Brickworks’ seven chimneys once commanded the landscape of the area. It has been demolished and the site changed into a park and lake, called Brickfields Meadow. Over 20 pubs were to be found in a 1.5 mile radius, but many of these have shut down. Some of South Norwood’s famous pubs, such as the Jolly Sailor and The Albert, are still busy.
Arthur Conan Doyle lived on Tennison Road in South Norwood, from 1891 to 1894, and used the area as the background for a Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Norwood Builder. D. H. Lawrence taught at Davidson School prior to the First World War. In 1966, a dog called Pickles chanced upon the FIFA World Cup Jules Rimet Trophy under a bush in Beulah Hill which was stolen during a public rare postage stamp expo at Westminster Hall
The area was originally embraced by the Great North Wood which was a natural oak forest that covered four miles of South London. Apart from South Norwood, the wood covered Upper Norwood, West Norwood (known as Lower Norwood until 1885) and the Woodside and Gipsy Hill areas reflect the past history of the area. The wood covered more of Lambeth and Southwark than Croydon, but the name Norwood is itself a reminder that it had closer connection with Croydon than with Lambeth or London. Jolly-sailor station opened in 1839 by the London and Croydon Railway. It was listed as Jolly-sailor near Beulah Spa on fare lists and timetables. The station was renamed Norwood in 1846. The station was immediately adjacent to a level crossing over Portland Road, making it slightly further north than the site currently occupied by Norwood Junction. As part of the construction works for the atmospheric-propulsion system, the worlds first railway overpass (overpass) was constructed at the north end of Portland Road, to carry the new atmospheric-propulsion line over the conventional steam line below. In 1847, the atmospherically propulsion experiment was forsaken.
The Croydon Canal ran from New Cross to the place of West Croydon station. As it passed through South Norwood, pubs sprung up near its course. The Jolly Sailor still stands at the intersection of South Norwood Hill and High Street. The Ship, a few yards to the east, was beside the loading point for bricks from a nearby brickyard across what is now the High Street. The passageway through which bricks passed to the canal is still there. The Goat House pub (which has now been demolished) was said to have been named after an island in the canal on which goats were kept. It was also abode to the famous Ryan Chart.
South Norwood is now unofficially carved up into the less deprived area in the north west side of the railway, which was the location of a private estate, and the commonly more disadvantaged area in the north east. ] In the south east of the borough, where workers for a former brick factory lived, the entrance to the estate was between a pair of columns, though they have long since been demolished. However the capitals were preserved and now sit on the two brick pillars at the Selhurst Road entrance to South Norwood Recreation Ground. In
South Norwood Lake is set in attractive parkland and is the only large expanse of open water in Croydon. The lake is man-made and has an unusual history; it was built to supply a canal.
At the beginning of the 19th century the land now occupied by the lake and cricket field was part of Norwood Common, and the land to the north belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
In 1799 an engineer called Ralph Dodd was authorised to survey a line for a canal to link the busy market town of Croydon to the Thames and to the London market and port. A horse drawn barge would bring general merchandise and coal to Croydon and would return with agricultural produce, lumber and lime.
Dodds’ scheme wasn’t adopted, however in 1800 another engineer, John Rennie, was commissioned. Rennie supplied two alternate schemes based on a line from West Croydon via South Norwood, Penge Woods, Sydenham, Forest Hill, Brockley and New Cross to Deptford. To deliver on cost and water a scheme of inclined planes (instead of locks) was devised and in 1801 the Croydon Canal Act was passed. It was then determined that a canal with locks was executable if two reservoirs were fabricated, one at Sydenham (now not visible) and one dug at Norwood. The reservoirs were to keep the highest of the locks furnished with water. The canal was to be 34 feet wide with locks 60 feet by 9 feet, the barges were to have a capacity of 30-35 tons. On the 22nd October 1809 the 9 1/4 mile canal was opened, a 21 gun salute met the first barge as it entered the canal basin at West Croydon, cheering crowds had gathered and a band played the National Anthem.
The Canal Company owned its own barges, horses and gangs and raised its income by levying tolls on the goods they carried. They also raised money from fishing permits and the sale of Osiers (used for basket work). Unfortunately the company never really flourished and in its last years started to lose money. In periods of dry atmospheric condition there were problems with supplying the higher levels of the canal and the railway was giving greater contest.
The London and Croydon Railway Company purchased the canal in 1836 and used the channel bed for the railway track once it had been drained. West Croydon Station was built in the canal basin and the line was opened in 1839. The lake lay derelict for numerous years following the close of the canal, but in 1881 a sports club was formed and the lake was used for fishing, swimming and skating in winter. The lake is fed by springs rising on the hillside where the geology changes and the gravel meets the London Clay beneath. The water is very deep being about 18 feet at the centre, it has no shallow water. A motor boat called the “Skylark” gave members of the public trips around the lake until 1955. There are still boats on the lake but they’re now controlled by the Croydon Sailing Club.
The history of South Norwood Lake and Grounds is closely associated with Norwood Sports Club. Alfred Steer, Lord of the Manor founded the club having built the clubhouse himself as a residency. He took a rental on 16 acres of land including the lake and cricket field, in 1888 a further 37 acres was leased from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners who had taken over the land of the Archbishops. The Club became the most prominent tennis club in the world with 54 grass courts.
In 1911 the facilities which included bowls, tennis, cricket and the lake were sold to Messrs. Middleton and Bersey who ran it as a club – White Lodge Ltd. During the 1914/18 war a golf course which had been instituted on the land was requisitioned for gun sites and balloons and was gravely damaged. In 1931 Croydon Corporation purchased 16 acres of the ground but the club continued to lease the facilities, the lake and surrounds however were opened to the public. Waterfowl can be seen on the lake throughout the year, some of the birds are resident and others are visitors. The birds include many assortments of Ducks, Geese together with Great Crested Grebe, Coot, Morehen and even Gulls.
