IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Wood Vale, LONDON, SE23 3DT

Possibly a deodar (Cedrus deodara).

The blocks of the Dawson Heights development frown out over more traditional housing on Belvoir Road below. Apparently, we are supposed to be thinking "Italian Hill Town" here, according to this piece from 2012. http://www.c20society.org.uk/casework/dawsons-heights-the-italian-hill-town-in-dulwich/ when there was an application for listing made. It was turned down by the Secretary of State. From the link :- "English Heritage disagree. They emphasise the architectural and design interest of the site: ‘The dramatic stepped hilltop profile is a landmark in SE London, and endows the project with a striking and original massing that possesses evocative associations with ancient cities and Italian hill towns." Err....Which Italy would that be, then....? In fact, browsing some of the other pictures from round here, I saw this one which suggests Brazil might be a better comparison. Image

Victorian tea trader Frederick John Horniman began collecting specimens and artefacts from around the world in the 1860's. He opened part of his family house to the public so they could view the riches he had collected, and eventually commissioned construction of a new museum, which opened in 1901. Entrance to the Museum and Gardens is FREE - and highly recommended! See www.horniman.ac.uk.

The southern entrance onto Wood Vale. The green signpost is a way mark for one of the Green Chain Walks, which goes through the cemetery.

A Daimler 2.5 V8, outside one of the shops in the parade.

Underhill Road, heads from Lordship Lane towards East Dulwich. Melford Road leads left towards Lordship Lane, Dulwich Park and right to Wood Vale.

An interesting, if somewhat confusing, scene. A Ford Consul Mark II, plus a Daimler 2.5 V8 partially hidden by the telephone box. The shop signwriting suggests that the shop was previously a family-run butchers. However, the dust-covered displays, inside the shop, indicate that it has been an interesting car-orientated 'junk' shop for a number of years. Then there are the window stickers, 'Approved Stockists of Quality Standard Lamb', the most recent being dated 2020. Update October 2022: this shop is still trading as a butchers, and was open as I passed.

This scene is probably little changed in 50-odd years – well, anyway, since 1982, the date on the shopfront sign.

View of the City with Swiss Re and the Natwest Tower with the new Shard taking place to the left. Dawson Heights flats in the middle distance. A temperature inversion has trapped the pollution in the lower air levels and this can be seen as the brown tint near ground level.

Built between 1964 and 1972 to design by architect Kate Macintosh of the London Borough of Southwark. An account of the building of this housing estate may be found at this https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2014/11/25/dawsons-heights-east-dulwich-an-example-of-the-almost-lost-art-of-romantic-townscape/. View from Horniman Gardens.