IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Woodcote Place, LONDON, SE27 0UQ

Looking east from Knight's Hill. The road is named after a now-demolished large house called Burton Dassett. These houses were probably built in the second half of the C19th. The development of West Norwood began with the breaking up of Lord Thurlow's estate after his death in 1806, but it accelerated greatly with the arrival of the Crystal Palace railway in 1856; between 1851 and 1901 the population of the district of St. Luke's, Norwood increased from around 4,000 to around 36,000. In the distance are trees in Norwood Park and the Crystal Palace television mast.

The long terraces of pleasing but modest, plain brick houses are not typical of West Norwood, being more redolent of workers' housing in industrial areas. The development of West Norwood began with the breaking up of Lord Thurlow's estate after his death in 1806, but it accelerated greatly with the arrival of the Crystal Palace railway in 1856; between 1851 and 1901 the population of the district of St. Luke's, Norwood increased from around 4,000 to around 36,000.

Quite a small rectangle of grass, some trees (mostly planes) and a playground, bounded by Dassett Road (N), Tivoli Road (E), Furneaux Avenue (S) and Knight's Hill (W). A Lambeth Council sign records that it was formed from part of the grounds of Holderness House, built in 1839 and demolished in 1919. The Norwood Society has some gossip: apparently it was so ugly that the owner of Portobello House opposite planted a belt of evergreen trees to hide it from his view. The Crystal Palace television mast soars in the distance.

This is the A215 looking north towards central London.

This thing stands on the east side of Knight's Hill near the entrance to Tivoli Park. Is it an ancient fire hydrant? The hole at the top is full of rubbish but may have been where a winding handle was inserted. On the side is the outlet and a curious loop below it.

West Norwood's new fire station opened in November 2014, replacing the previous one on Norwood Road. It cost £5 million and was built on the site of a residential facility owned by a local NHS trust. The far cranes belong to this: Image

A row of what look like mid-C19th houses on the east side of Knight's Hill. The development of West Norwood began with the breaking up of Lord Thurlow's estate after his death in 1806, but it accelerated greatly with the arrival of the Crystal Palace railway in 1856; between 1851 and 1901 the population of the district of St. Luke's, Norwood increased from around 4,000 to around 36,000.

A house dating probably from the early C19th. The development of West Norwood began with the breaking up of Lord Thurlow's estate after his death in 1806. Much of this initial phase has since been swept away by subsequent development which accelerated over the second half of the C19th and during the C20th, but there are pockets of houses surviving from the early days, mostly around Knight’s Hill, Norwood High Street/Elder Road and the area between them.

From the car I'd never really registered this patch of green, and even if I had I would not have thought it worthy of being dignified with the name 'wood'. On foot it's a different matter and I'm glad I noticed it because according to a Lambeth Council sign it is a "valuable pocket of woodland" containing exotic trees such as Deodar, Weymouth pine (Image]) and Holm oak. The wood was saved from redevelopment in the 1980s and is all that remains of the grounds of Portobello House, demolished in the 1940s to make way for the Portobello Estate.