IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
East Dulwich Estate, LONDON, SE22 8AR

Blocks of flats on Dog Kennel Hill.

Looking down Dog Kennel Hill. On the horizon are the twin blocks of Dawson Heights. Dog Kennel Hill is a dual carriageway, this dating from the days of trams. Because of the gradient, two trams were not allowed to be on the same track on the hill at the same time, therefore two tracks were provided in each direction.

Entrance to St Francis Park, next to Sainsbury's on Dog Kennel Hill.

Looking up the hill, which is part of the A2216. When trams ran here, there were four tracks on the hill, the reason being fear of a car running away on the steep gradient.

Once local authorities were empowered in the late 19th century to build housing for rent, the London County Council were quick on the scene. The East Dulwich estate was one of their earliest tenement-style estates (the very earliest were Boundary Street in Shoreditch, and Millbank in Westminster; the earliest cottage-style estate was Totterdown Fields in Tooting). The deep slots on the access balconies are characteristic.

Looking up Dog Kennel Hill (A2216).

Metal sculpture in a shrub bed in St Francis Park, on Dog Kennel Hill.

Leconfield House, the most distant, shows in part. In the 1870s there were huge houses along Champion Hill, behind the camera and to the right, with long gardens stretching downhill. The mature trees are a legacy from that time. By 1896 the largest house had gone. The open hillside sloped down to cricket, lawn tennis and athletics grounds. It may be that King's College Hospital had a hand in all this. The Champion Hill Estate, presumably built by London County Council, first appears on a map of 1954-1960 and is still there after about 60 years.

Or technically on Langford Green, seen from Champion Hill, and looking at first sight much older than the semis behind it, which face Grove Lane. But this lodge-like single-storey house is dated 1968.