Woodland path across Croham Hurst Golf Course

Image: © Marathon Taken: 12 Sep 2012

The top most point of Croham Hurst lies some 477 feet above sea level and has been wooded for at least two hundred years. Croham Hurst became a very popular spot for people to visit in the late 19th century, but few people realised that the facility they freely enjoyed was not public property. In 1898 it became known that the owners, the Whitgift Governors, wished to dispose of the area. The lower slopes were to be developed and the remainder on the top offered to the Council. This proposal would have resulted in half of Croham Hurst being built upon and the rest being enclosed behind a seven foot high fence. A campaign to save the site had strong backing from the papers who published a plan of the proposals which emphasised just how much of the area would be lost. Finally after a campaign, the Whitgift Foundation sold the whole of Croham Hurst to Croydon Corporation and it has since continued as a popular place for local people to visit. The north-western part of Croham Hurst up to the main summit plateau is still wooded while the eastern and southern parts are taken up by Croham Hurst Golf Course. This is the view from the path which runs through a wooded strip between the two parts of the golf course on its way up from Upper Selsdon Road.

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