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Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace photos (35 available)

Old photo of Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace maps (2 available)

Old map of Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace books (8 available)

Crystal Palace memories

Growing up in Crystal Palace

I was born in Stone Park Hospital Beckenham in 1958 and brought home to No 36 Palace Road.
I went to Anerley Infants and Junior School.
My memories of the surrounding area of Crystal Palace are of the pub on the corner of Palace Road, The Paxton Arms Hotel. The old Victorian railway station that I used to take a short cut through to Crystal Palace park.
I also have vivid memories of the motor car racing on Sundays, it was deafening.
We lived in a Victorian house that was spilt with us having the downstairs, bedrooms on the next floor and some else living on the top floor.
I had a wonderful time growing up in Crystal Palace.
Contributed by Lynn Clemens

London memories

Growing up in Crystal Palace

I was born in Stone Park Hospital Beckenham in 1958 and brought home to No 36 Palace Road.
I went to Anerley Infants and Junior School.
My memories of the surrounding area of Crystal Palace are of the pub on the corner of Palace Road, The Paxton Arms Hotel. The old Victorian railway station that I used to take a short cut through to Crystal Palace park.
I also have vivid memories of the motor car racing on Sundays, it was deafening.
We lived in a Victorian house that was spilt with us having the downstairs, bedrooms on the next floor and some else living on the top floor.
I had a wonderful time growing up in Crystal Palace.
A memory of Crystal Palace contributed by Lynn Clemens

Penge high street

Penge, High Street c1955

I used to work in the florist across the road from the police station. Did a lot of window shopping on the way home.
A memory of Penge contributed by Brenda Shanks

Upper Norwood

Penge, the Recreation Ground 1899

I was born in 1957 at East Dulwich Hospital. Lived on Central Hill, Upper Norwood until 1966. I went to Rockmount Infants and Junior's School. I remember living in a large Victorian house until the council bought the land to build a council estate, poor Mum and Dad were moved to West Norwood to live in an old prefab until 1969, when we moved again. The best years of my young life were in Upper Norwood. I remember my sister used to work in a cafe in Crystal Palace and we use to go there to see her.
A memory of Penge contributed by christina Green

Extracts From Crystal Palace & London books

Crystal Palace, 1890

After the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Crystal Palace was moved to Sydenham in south-east London, where it was filled with lavish displays. The grounds around it were transformed into fantastic gardens with temples, pleasure walks, lakes with islands and fountains, a maze, a grotto, groves and lawns. It became a paradise of leisure for Londoners, who flocked to enjoy the special displays and exhibitions, including firework displays by Messrs Brock that lit up the sky with 5,000 rockets, and an appearance by Blondin, who walked the high wire and cooked an omelette seventy feet up in the air.
An extract from from"Times Gone By".

Crystal Palace, 1890

After the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Crystal Palace was moved to Sydenham in south-east London, where it was filled with lavish displays. The grounds around it were transformed into fantastic gardens with temples, pleasure walks, lakes with islands and fountains, a maze, a grotto, groves and lawns. It became a paradise of leisure for Londoners, who flocked to enjoy the special displays and exhibitions, including firework displays by Messrs Brock that lit up the sky with 5,000 rockets, and an appearance by Blondin, who walked the high wire and cooked an omelette seventy feet up in the air.
An extract from from"Countryside Poems".

Woodmansterne, the Village c1955

Nestled in the rear slopes of the North Downs, the village derives its ancient name from the Saxon word ‘wudmeresthorn’, meaning ‘thornbush by the boundary of the wood’, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book. This 1930s mock-Tudor shopping parade still stands on Rectory Lane as it winds its way south to the junction with the Chipstead Valley Road, where the buildings of the Woodmansterne Treatment Works, belonging to the Sutton and East Surrey Water Company, are just visible.
An extract from from"Around Cheam, including Sutton, Ewell, Banstead and Epsom Photographic Memories".

Banstead, High Street c1955

Much of Banstead High Street was rebuilt during the 1920s with a series of shopping parades. The leafless lime tree in the middle distance occupies the spot where the village pond once existed, while All Saints’ churchyard is concealed behind the trees on the extreme right.
An extract from from"Around Cheam, including Sutton, Ewell, Banstead and Epsom Photographic Memories".

Banstead, the Station c1965

The station, on the branch line from Sutton to Epsom Downs, opened in 1865, and the white stuccoed house, now a builder’s offices, dates from around the same time. The small confectionery kiosk was one of a trio servicing the requirements of commuters, with other branches at Sutton and Epsom. The roof of the station no longer bears the white lettering, and the building is almost a mile from the town centre itself. The road almost immediately makes another sharp bend over the railway line below, before passing the Cuddington Golf Clubhouse and continuing on to East Ewell.
An extract from from"Around Cheam, including Sutton, Ewell, Banstead and Epsom Photographic Memories".