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Grove Park, Lewisham

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Grove Park
Grove Park is located in Greater London
Grove Park
Grove Park
Location within Greater London
Population14,648 (2011 census ward) need ref
OS grid referenceTQ404722
London borough
Ceremonial countyGreater London
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLONDON
Postcode districtSE12, BR1
Dialling code020
PoliceMetropolitan
FireLondon
AmbulanceLondon
UK Parliament
London Assembly
List of places
UK
England
London
51°25′53″N 0°01′16″E / 51.4313°N 0.0210°E / 51.4313; 0.0210

Grove Park


Name and Toponomy

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There was a farm named Grove Farm, where Sometrees Avenue is now located, around 400 m (440 yd) north of Grove Park railway station.[1][2][3][4] Grove Farm appeared named on maps from at least 1870,[1] and it is thought this farm gave it's name to Grove Park railway station, Grove Park Road, the road built to join Grove Park to Mottingham,[2] and also gave its name to Grove Park itself.[2][3] It is presumed the word "Grove" in the place name was simply named after a grove of trees in existed in the area.[5] Grove Park railway station opened in 1871; The name "Grove Park" refering to the station, appeared on maps from at least 1884,[4] but the name Grove Park referring directly to the place itself appears on maps slightly later, from as early as 1896.[6]

History

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In the Domesday Book of 1086, the closest places to Grove Park that were recorded were Lee with 15 households to the north[7], Lewisham with 62 households to the northwest[8], Eltham with 63 households to the northeast[9] all within the hundred of Greenwich[10]; and Bromley with 56 households to the south[11], in the hundred of Bromley.[12]

The area covered by the present day electoral ward of Grove Park was historically part of the civil parish of Lee. The parish of Lee was long and narrow at around 2.6 miles (4.2km) long north to south, but much narrower east to west only around 0.6 miles (1 km) across. In John Rocque's work, the area of Grove Park is covered by the map but the name does not appear on it. There is a description of the Lee Parish from around 1741-1745 however in which Grove Park is mention by name

"The ancient parish of Lee was long and narrow, running south to the Bromley boundary at Grove Park, but nearly all the inhabitants lived in the northern quarter. There the houses fell into three groups, around St Margaret's Church on Belmont Hill, along the winding High Road from Lewisham to Lee Green, especially in what is now the Old Road area, and at Lee Green itself. Sir John Lade's house was one of the many country villas that were the main feature of Lee until the 19th century.

John Rocque 1741 - 1745. "


Lee Parish Burnt Ash Station Work House Hospital Water Tower Air strip ww1 TA Centre

Strtfield Wood - Mosel Heath Wood

The area that was later Grove Park had a road running through it connecting Lee to the North with Bromley to the south. Mostly within the Lee parish of the Hundred of Blackheath, but just to the south was the parish of Bromley in the Hundred of Bromley and Beckenham.

Governance and politics

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Geography

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Open spaces

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Boundaries, ward

Chinbrook Meadows, Northbrook Park, Grove Park Nature Reserve, Library Gardens, burnt ash pond, Horn Park, several allot

Green Chain Walk, Capital Ring, Quaggy, height, flat

Demography

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Transport and infrastructure

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Roads, A2212, South Circular, a20 Downham Way, Chinbrook Road, Traffic lights, old ringway proposal Station, sidings, main line, Bromley North Line, year, tph. Bus Station, buses 126 261 124 night bus more Taxis

20 mph limit all lb lewisham exc a20, a205

Post office, post codes, 020,

Train Station, Line built when Chislehurst opened in 18??. Grove Park got a station few years later in 18??. Few years late again Bromley North Line opened in 1???.

Roads

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The main road running through Grove Park is Baring Road, it is part of the A2212 road and passes through north to south.(2 refs) To the south it carries traffic through Plaistow and Sundridge into Bromley, as it passes across the boundary from the London Borough of Lewisham and SE12 postcode area into the London Borough of Bromley and the BR1 postcode area the road changes its name to Burnt Ash Lane.(2 refs) To the north, at a traffic light controlled junction, Baring Road meets the South Circular Road, which runs in an east to west direction,(2 refs) and forms the boundary between the electoral wards of Grove Park and Lee Green.(ref) To the west the South Circular Road is called St. Mildred's Road and takes traffic through Hither Green and Catford, and to the west it becomes a dual-carriageway named Westhorne Avenue and runs through Horn Park toward Eltham.(2 refs) Two smaller main roads connect to Baring Road at traffic light controlled junctions, just to the north of Grove Park railway station, Chinbrook Road, the B226 road, takes traffic to Chinbrook where the road passes through another set of traffic lights and turns northeast toward Mottingham changing its name to Grove Park road.(2 refs) Immediately south of the station Downham Way runs west through Downham to South End where it joins Bromley Road, the A21 road.(2 refs) In 20?? Lewisham Council reduced the maximum speed limit for all public roads in the London Borough of Lewisham including Grove Park from 30 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour; however St. Mildred's Road remains 30 miles per hour, and Westhorne Avenue 40 miles per hour, as the South Circular Road is a primary route and under the jurisdiction of the Highways Agency, not Lewisham Council. (ref)

Buses

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There is a bus station and railway station on Baring Road in Grove Park town centre(refs) where eight Transport for London bus routes serve,(refbusmap) six of which travel to Lewisham, five to Catford, four to Chinbrook, three to Downham; Chislehurst, Lee, Bromley, Plaistow, Sundridge, Mottingham, Eltham each have two bus routes linking to Grove Park, and South End, Bell Green, Petts Wood, St Mary Cray and Sydenham are connected by one bus route.(ref)

Economy and industry

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Shops, and that. sainsbury's local, takaways, tesco esso petrol garage. dairy past

Culture and recreation

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gym, sport, pubs, restaurants, scouts, chinbrook youth club. Ringways centre and education, coral betting.

Health

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Chinbrook docs, baring docs, nearest hospitals bromley and lewisham. Jevington Dentist. Baring Care home. g p pharmacy, baring pharmacy, bA old peoples day centre

Education

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Coopers Lane, Marvels, Baring, Malory, Library


Coopers Lane Primary school on Pragnell Road, 0.5 miles (800m) north of Grove Park town centre,(refAZ)(refonlineAZ)(refofsted)(refCL) is a large primary school with nursery,(ref ofsted)(ref CL) originally opened in 1936 (Ref CLbirthday). Around 500 pupils attend the school, (ref CL)(ref ofsted) almost half of which are of ethnic minorities, especially black Caribbean. (ref ofsted) In 2006 a special unit for deaf pupils was opened,(refcl)(ref ofsted) and in 2017 a London Underground train Passenger car (rail) was installed and converted into school library. (refCL2) Ofsted has given good reports of the school. (refofsted)

Religion

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Churches, St Aug, B A M, St Mil, Chinbrook, northbrook, Downham Way church other, cemetery, hithergreen cem, stats, nunnery

References

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  1. ^ a b Surveyed and contoured by Lieutenant Colonel Bayly, Captain Carey, and Captain Palmer, Royal Engineers. Engraved under the direction of Colonel Cameron, Royal Egineers (Surveyed: 1862 to 1868, Engraved: 1869, Published: 1870) (1870). "Ordnace Survey Map 1870, Kent sheet VIII" (Map). Six inches to the mile Ordnance Survey Map 1870. Six inches to one statue mile, 1/10560. Ordnance Survey office of Southampton: Colonel Sir Henry James for Ordnance Survey. p. Kent sheet VIII. Archived from the original on 30 January 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2022.{{cite map}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b c "History of Grove Park". Ideal Homes, a history of South-east London. www.ideal-homes.org.uk. 29 September 2010. Retrieved 10 April 2022. A smaller farm, near Somertrees Avenue, was called Grove Farm and was to give its name to Grove Park.
  3. ^ a b "Grove Park, Lewisham". hidden-london.tripod.com/. Hidden London. 1 January 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2022. A smaller farm, near present-day Somertrees Avenue, was called Grove Farm."..."In the early 1870s a station was built and a road was constructed to provide a link to Mottingham, and both were named Grove Park, after the farm.
  4. ^ a b Edward Stanford, 55 Charing Cross (21 April 1884). "Map of London and its Environs, Shewing the Boundary of the Jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Board of Works. Also the Boundaries of the City of London, The Parishes, The Districts & The Extra Parochial Places." (Map). Map of London and its Environs. scale not stated. Harvard University, Harvard Map Collection, G5754_L7F7_1884_S3_sh_8631229200. 55 Charing Cross, London: Edward Stanford, 55 Charing Cross. p. Map of London and its Environs. Archived from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.{{cite map}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
  5. ^ Mills, A. D. (2004). Dictionary of London Place Names. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP: Oxford University Press. p. 96. ISBN 0-19-860957-4. Grove Park, Lewisham. First recorded on the Ordnance Survey map of 1905, self explanatory see previous name (from Old English grāf(a) 'a grove or copse'.){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  6. ^ "Ordnance Survey Map London Sheet XVI.NW 1896" (Map). Ordnance Survey Map London Sheet XVI.NW 1896 (1894-1896 ed.). 10560, Six inches to one statue mile, or 880 feet to one inch. London 1894-1896. Southampton: Ordnance Survey Office. 1894–1896. p. London Sheet XVI.NW. Archived from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.{{cite map}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  7. ^ Domesday Book, entry for Lee, Greenwich [accessed 14 April 2019]. from OpenDomesday.org ([1])
  8. ^ Domesday Book, entry for Lewisham, Greenwich [accessed 14 April 2019]. from OpenDomesday.org ([2])
  9. ^ Domesday Book, entry for Eltham, Greenwich [accessed 14 April 2019]. from OpenDomesday.org ([https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ4274/eltham/)
  10. ^ Domesday Book, entry for Greenwich, Hundred [accessed 14 April 2019]. from OpenDomesday.org ([3])
  11. ^ Domesday Book, entry for Bromley, Bromley [accessed 14 April 2019]. from OpenDomesday.org ([4])
  12. ^ Domesday Book, entry for Bromley, Hundred [accessed 14 April 2019]. from OpenDomesday.org ([5])

Bibliography

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history and maps

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  • [6] Domesday Book, Greewich (Blackheath) Hundred
  • [7] Domesday Book, Lee
  • [8] Domesday Book, Bromley
  • Also Eltham and Lewisham too.

[9] 1746 Map by John Rocque. Shows Burndish as a group of buildings and road name is Burndish Lane, it runs from Lee south through Burndish to "Grove Park" but no further. And a Group of unnamed buildings at Somertrees.

  • Short history
  • [10] map description of Lee Parish John Rocque 1741-1745, Ideal Homes
  • [11] OS map c.1900 has Grove Park station
  • [12] map hundred of Blackheath c.1797 (northern Grove Park) contains road named Burnt Ash Lane, with unnamed buildings in the location I call Burnt Ash Green, now the junction of St.Mildred's Road with Westhorne Avenue, Baring Road and Burnt Ash Hill.
  • [13]
  • [14] map of Hundred of Bromley and Beckenham c.1797 (southern Grove Park) shows road (Burnt Ash Hill) unnamed buildings near junction Coopers Lane, Marvels Lane with Bunt Ash Hill, appears to be outside of Lee Parish? would contain location of Grove Park centre.
  • [15] Map of Lee c.1894 shows Burnt Ash Green Development and Lee Station. School without name at Baring. Meth. Church at Burnt Ash Methodist Church location. Winn Road named as such. Burnt Ash Hill named as such, Baring Road is named Bromley Road. St. Mildred's Church and Road, College farm near melrose, Lee Cemetery. Cricket ground at Burnt Ash Green/St. Mildreds's
  • [16] west
  • [17] east - 2 maps on British History online - has railway line but no station dates map to 1869-1871. Shrofield farm near Whitefoot Lane/Verdant lane, Claypit Farm at Chinbrook near marbrook close, Grove Farm at present location of junction Somertrees Avenue, Marvels lane and Burnt Ash Hill. College Farm at Melrose, Bunt Ash Farm at Burnt Ash Green.
  • [18] map 1800-1856??? pre railway names, Horn Park, Shrofield, Middle Park, Mottingham, South End, Hither Green, Burnt Ash Green, Burnt Ash.
  • [19] Not sure what this is, contains text descriptions of many things around Lee, minor mention of Grove Park, appears to go back several centuries, up to about 1908. Many typing/spelling errors, appears to be copied from old published text, need to check more.

Transport

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  • [20] tfl buses from Grove Park.

Education

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Lewisham Primary Schools
  • [21] Lewisham council primary schools
Coopers Lane Primary School
  • [22] Coopers Lane own site.
  • [23] Coopers Lane at Lewisham council site
  • [24] Ofsted reports of Coopers Lane.
Marvels Lane Primary School
  • [25] Marvels Lane own site
  • [26] Marvels Lane Lewisham council site
  • [27] Ofsted reports of Marvels Lane
Baring Primary School
  • [28] Baring own site
  • [29] Baring Lewisham council site
  • [30] Ofsted reports of Baring
Launcelot Primary School (technichaly in Downham ward but very close to Grove Park centre)
  • [31] Launcelot own site
  • [32] Launcelot Lewisham council site
  • [33] Ofsted reports of Launcelot
Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School (technichaly in Downham ward but very close to Grove Park centre)
  • [34] Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School own site
  • [35] Lewisham council site
  • [36] Ofsted reports of Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School


Drumbeat School (technichaly in Whitfoot ward but very close to Grove Park centre)
  • [37] Drumbeat, a school for special needs, previously named Pendragon School
  • [38] ? previous website-? not sure? - Pendragon special needs school Downham.
  • [39] Drumbeat School Lewisham Council
  • [40] Ofsted reports of Drumbeat School.
Haberdashers' Aske's Knights Academy (primary school) (technichaly in Whitfoot ward but very close to Grove Park centre)
  • [41] Haberdashers' Aske's Knights Academy (primary school) own site
  • [42] Haberdashers' Aske's Knights Academy (primary school) Lewisham council site
  • [43] Ofsted reports of Haberdashers' Aske's Knights Academy (primary school) ?
  • [44] School building was previously used by Merlin Primary School which closed in 2010.
Haberdashers' Aske's Knights Academy (secondary school)

previously Malory Secondary School, closed and changed to new academy and name c.2006 ??, had promlems with crime prejudice etc. Malory had 900-1000 pupils before closing. Hab.... has over 1600 pupils (might inlude primary school?). In Downnham ward Lewisham but on border of Lewisham and Bromley Boroughs.

  • [45] Haberdashers' Aske's Knights Academy (secondary school) own site
  • [46] Haberdashers' Aske's Knights Academy (secondary school) Lewisham Council site
  • [47] Ofsted Report of Haberdashers' Aske's Knights Academy (secondary school)
  • [48] Guardian Report of Violence and Crime in and around Malory
  • [49] BBC news report
Grove Park Pre-School
  • [50] Grove Park Pre-school and Day Nursery own site
  • [51] and [52] Ofsted reports of Grove Park Pre-school and Day Nursery - might be closed not sure

Also Several other preschools I can't be bothered to list. One or more on Somertrees Avenue

Ward Maps

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  • [53]
  • [54] Grove Park ward map at lewisham council
  • [55] Whitefoot ward map at lewisham council
  • [56] Downham ward map at lewisham council





References

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Bibliography

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  • Domesday Book, (1086)
  • The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 1 by Edward Hasted (Canterbury, 1797)
  • Nicholson Greater London Street Atlas Comprehensive Edition ISBN 0-583-33291-9
  • A Dictionary of London Place Names (2001), by A.D. Mills p. 96 "Grove Park, Lewisham" entry ISBN 978-0-19-956678-5


Category:Districts of the London Borough of Lewisham Category:Areas of London Category:Grove Park, Lewisham

Helpful sites for Grove Park Hospital/Workhouse

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The complex is Grove Park Workhouse of the Greewich Board of Guardians. Foundation stone 1899. Opened 1903. Taken over by Army Service Corps 1914 for mobilisation and training. Became Grove Park Tuberculosis Hospital of MAB from 1926. TB gave way to general thoracic surgery in 1950s and went on until 1977. Thereafter the hospital became a home for people with Learning Difficulties. In 1993 it closed but a community clinic (blood tests etc) was opened on Marvels Lane in one of the original buildings. The frontage on Marvels Lane and the main administration building were retained at the insistence of the Grove Park Community Group, the Lewisham Local History Society and others. Apart from the clinic, the remaining buildings were converted for social housing while the other buildings including the ward blocks were demolished to be replaced by social and private housing. The remaining buildings were locally listed by Lewisham Council in 2011.

The drawings of the workhouse were displayed at the Great International Exhibition in Paris in 1900 - the British received a diploma of merit. I believe the photo was taken in the First World War as there appear to be some new structures which were put up by the military in those years. There also to be some vehicles.

There is more info about the history of the workhouse/hospital in my book GROVE PARK : ITS HISTORY REVISITED which was published by the Grove Park Community Group in 2011.

The boundary with Bromley Council is to the left.


Grove Park Hospital opened as a workhouse in 1906 for people who could not get into Greenwich Union Workhouse. It went on to be used as a hospital for people with tuberculosis. London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) holds historical records concerning this hospital. See the LMA online catalogue for details.


LOST HOSPITALS OF LONDON

Grove Park Hospital Marvels Lane, Lee, SE12 9PD Medical dates:

Medical character: 1908 - 1994

Tuberculosis. Later, mental handicap Grove Park Hospital had originally been a workhouse. It was built by the Board of Guardians of the Greenwich Union after they had been refused permission to expand their site at Vanburgh Hill (that workhouse later became Greenwich District Hospital). Instead, Spicers Meadow, a 10-acre site, was purchased in 1896 for £5,050 so that an 'overspill' workhouse could be built. The foundation stone was laid in 1899 and the workhouse completed in 1902, with accommodation for 815 inmates. However, changes in the poor relief system provided more out-relief, with the result that numbers applying for admission to workhouses fell dramatically, and the new workhouse remained empty until 1904. It remained unpopular because of its remote location, but provided the usual work for its able-bodied inmates - breaking up granite which was later sold to councils for road building.

At the beginning of WW1 in 1914 the workhouse was requisitioned by the Army Service Corps. Its occupants were relocated and the buildings were used as a mobilisation training camp.

In 1919 the workhouse was sold to the Metropolitan Asylums Board (MAB) for use as a hospital for TB patients living in south London. But the site's remoteness made staff recruitment difficult and MAB soon decided not to use it. The buildings remained empty until 1926, when they were finally adapted, at a cost of £38,000, as a hospice for TB patients. The workhouse was renamed Grove Park Hospital. It had 299 beds - 117 for males and 182 for females.

The entrance on Marvels Lane was flanked by single-storey buildings. The central administration block had four 3-storey pavilions on either side. Female patients were housed on the south side, and males on the north. All the buildings were linked by covered walkways. The workshops and utilities were located at the northeast of the site.

In 1930 the Hospital came under the control of the LCC, who built a Nurses' Home in 1938.

During WW2, in November 1940, the Hospital was damaged by a high explosive bomb. Two nurses, Mary Fleming and Aileen Turner, crawled through one of the upper windows and across the swaying floor of a ward to reach trapped patients. The floor collapsed a few minutes after the rescue. Both nurses were awarded the George Medal.

By 1945 the Hospital had become a centre for thoracic surgery. It joined the NHS in 1948 under the control of the Lewisham Group, part of the South East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. It had 393 beds for TB and chest cases. The average stay for a patient was 141 days.

In 1952 a new Recreation Hall for the patients opened. It had cost £6,000.

In December 1957 a train crash occurred just outside St John's railway station. The casualties were taken to Lewisham Hospital, St John's Hospital and Grove Park. Ninety two people were killed and 173 injured.

In 1968 a geriatric ward with 30 beds was opened.

In 1974 the Hospital had 316 beds.

It remained a TB and chest hospital until 1977, when it was redesignated as a facility for mentally handicapped patients. It had 168 beds but, as patients were resettled in the community, it had only 62 beds by 1978.

The Hospital closed in 1994 as part of the Regional Health Authority's hospital closure programme.


Present status (February 2008) The site was sold to contractors in 1992 for housing redevelopment and many of the original buildings, which had not been listed by the Greenwich or Lewisham authorities, were demolished. However, some of the workhouse buildings along Marvels Lane survive.

The new road around the former main administration block is named after the architect who designed it - Thomas Dinwiddy Road.


The Board of Guardians of Greenwich Union Workhouse applied for permission to expand the site towards the end of the 1890s but this was refused by the Local Government Board of Greenwich. Spicers Meadow was therefore bought in 1896 for five thousand and fifty pounds and plans were drawn up for Grove Park Workhouse to act as an overspill for the Greenwich Union Workhouse. Thomas Dinwiddy was the architect, his plans were approved in 1897 (the plans were presented at the Paris International Exhibition in 1900 and won a Diploma of Merit). The foundation stone was laid in 1899. The first Master of the Workhouse was Edward Tyler, working for an annual fee of one hundred and twenty pounds. The workhouse had room for 816 inmates whose work was to break up granite that was sold later to local councils. The workhouse, however, had been built in a remote site and the authorities found that they had difficulty recruiting inmates. The remaining story of the workhouse was an ever-changing one. In 1914 the workhouse was used as a mobilisation / training centre by the Army Services Corps. In 1918 the workhouse was sold to the Metropolitan Asylums Board as a hospital for patients with tuberculosis (Grove Park Hospital). The Board soon decided that they did not want this facility and the buildings remained empty until 1926, at which time it once again became a hospital for patients with tuberculosis. A nurses' home was added in 1938. The hospital was bombed on 15th November 1940, two nurses were awarded the George Medal for rescuing patients from the debris. In 1945 the hospital became a centre for thoracic surgery. In 1977 Grove Park Hospital became a facility for patients with mental handicap. Unfortunately, the buildings were not 'listed' by Greenwich or Lewisham authorities so that when the buildings were sold to a private contractor in 1992 much of the original construction was demolished. Only the frontage and main administration building remain (the road around the main administration building was named Thomas Dinwiddy Road, after the architect). The hospital site has now been redeveloped as a residential area.

Aerodrome

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It was almost certainly in response to the Gotha raids that an Emergency Landing Ground (ELG) for the use of a Home Defence squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was opened at Grove Park that summer. It was actually located across the Bromley boundary, although it was generally known as the Grove Park Aerodrome. It consisted of 51 acres on the top of Powster’s Hill which rose above the Searchlight station, and lay about half a mile to the south of the railway station and west of Burnt Ash Lane. A nursery separated the landing area from the main road. The area was later covered by a small reservoir, Westminster School’s playing fields and houses.

The Emergency Landing Ground was prepared by soldiers of the Canadian Forestry Corps, who had arrived in Britain the previous year with a remit of clearing areas of forest and woodland in order to produce timber as the traditional overseas supplies had been disrupted by the war. The Canadians did a lot of valuable work for the RFC by clearing sites for new aerodromes of which Grove Park was just one. Certainly the clearance of the trees on Powster’s Hill provided a useful supply of logs for local residents, although sometimes one of the young Fawcitt boys who lived in the Mews behind Baring Hall Hotel would be told to ‘clear off’ when the Canadians were about to blow up a tree at the roots.

The ELG became operational on 1 July 1917. It included two wooden sheds which accommodated aviation fuel and two or three aircraftmen who were necessary to re-start the engine of any aircraft landing there by swinging the prop. No aircraft was based at Grove Park which was a satellite of Sutton’s Farm near Hornchurch in Essex, the home of 39 Squadron — one of the busiest home defence units. The aircraft which landed at Grove Park were mainly Bristol Fighters, Avro 504s and Sopwith Camels but occasionally there were RE8s and once a Pusher FE2B.

There were occasional ‘emergency’ landings but more often they were ‘cross-country’ or perhaps just social. Sometimes the ELG was used by raw pilots for routine ‘circuits and bumps’ away from the critical eyes of instructors or squadron leaders. The military authorities designated Grove Park as a Class 2 Landing Ground (Unlit).

The next raid on London by Gothas was on Saturday 7 July. It was almost certainly this raid that was witnessed by the young Steve Clark of Butterfield Dairy. From Southbrook Road he witnessed what he thought at first were birds until he was told they were Gothas, thirty to forty of them. He later recalled the time was about 11 30 by which time they were probably returning after disgorging their bombs on the East End where over fifty people were killed. The number of Gothas was probably only about twenty at this stage, but it was difficult to make an accurate count as machines of the RFC and Royal Naval Air Service were challenging them, albeit unsuccessfully. Whether Big Bertha had any influence on the progress of the Gothas is not clear, but Steve later recalled that when it went off, it scattered the Gothas like flies.


History

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At the outbreak of the war in 1914, Grove Park was still a young community. It had started some forty years earlier following the opening of Grove Park station in 1871. From a small number of villa-type houses in Baring Road (then known as Bromley Road) and Chinbrook Road, the district expanded slowly. After the 1890s, the houses built tended to be more modest, although most of them were still aimed towards the middle classes. From 1883 the community was served by a Methodist Church in Burnt Ash Hill and from 1886 an Anglican Church, St Augustine’s in Baring Road. There was also a cluster of shops surrounding the station and a hostelry, the Baring Hall Hotel. The district was very select and, not surprisingly, there was some opposition in the 1890s to the building of a workhouse for Greenwich; but it was built.

In 1914 Grove Park was still growing. Its centre was, of course, the railway station which, a few years earlier, had been enlarged to permit the doubling of the main line to the coast. H C Trigg, the Station Master, lived in a house adjoining the station yard.

The train service was operated by steam locomotives at approximately half-hourly intervals with a scheduled time of 18 to 20 minutes to London Bridge. A coal distribution business was operated by George Hind froma wharf at the station. Adjoining the station frontage onto Baring Road in what was known as Grove Park Terrace, was the estate office of Charles Durbin, the drapers Vincent & Radford and newsagent/tobacconist John Dowden. Adjoining the station on the north side, but with the frontage on Chinbrook Road, was Grove Park House where the former Superintendent of the Line of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company, William Thomson, resided.

Facing the station was the Baring Hall Hotel which was adjoined by the baker Bert Ewens, the dairy shop of Edwards & Sons and the Sub-Post Office under George Jordan. The post was collected eleven times a day between 08 20 and 23 50; post boxes were also situated in Chinbrook Road and Somertrees Avenue. Next to the post office came the grocer H W Ford, greengrocer Caleb Hawes and the office of local builder Albert Durbin (he was the father of Charles whose office was nearly opposite).

The houses stretched from the shops southwards towards, but not reaching, the boundary with Bromley. In Chinbrook Road houses lined both sides of the road. Amblecote Road, a turning off Chinbrook Road, was still being developed and some of the newer houses were still vacant. Luffman Road (then Fairfield Road) was still only partly developed and among its residents were local builders Edward Wooton and Thomas Backhouse. To the north side of the station, there were a number of big houses on both sides of Baring Road, but they were not continuous and stopped on the brow of the hill as if to suggest that the communities of Grove Park and St Mildred’s did not want to meet yet. There were still fields in Baring Road and these were used to graze the cattle of Edwards & Sons who controlled Burnt Ash Farm at the northern end of Baring Road and Thomas Clark whose Butterfield Dairy, also in the adjoining parish of St Mildred’s, lay nearby in the street of that name that was later to be renamed Waite Davies Road.

Marvels Lane had not been developed for residential purposes in the same way. Apart from the group of several dwellings called Sydenham Cottages and the fewer Claypit Cottages on the other side of the road, there were none of the villa-style houses. A major departure had been the flats opposite the Workhouse.

Rather ugly, by 1914 they were still not all occupied. There were also some shops in Marvels Lane opposite Sydenham Cottages. There were two farms in Marvels Lane, Durham Farm and Hope Farm Dairy, the latter being quite small. There was also Somertrees Avenue with big houses and parallel to Baring Road.

The two communities were separated by fields which included those of Melrose Farm whose farmhouse stood (and still stands) in what later became Ashdale Road. There were, however, a small number of more modest houses adjoining the Methodist Church in Burnt Ash Hill. Of the two roads linking Baring Road and Burnt Ash Hill, Coopers Lane, although a long-established road, had only recently had houses built along it; several were still not occupied in 1914. Heather Road was also a recent development. The houses were modest in style but still aimed at the middle classes. In 1914 the two churches, St Augustine’s in Baring Road and the Methodist in Burnt Ash HiII,were both very much at the centre of Grove Park life. Certainly the activities at St Augustine’s were flourishing and typical of a village with numerous committees and Societies. Some Grove Park people still went down the hill to St Mildred’s while the Baptists went to the South Lee Tabernacle.

There were also some educational institutions in Grove Park. The main school was Mayfair House, being basically a primary school and private, but there was also a small one under the guidance of Mrs Pamflett at Stokesby in Chinbrook Road, otherwise known as Sally Bugs. Probably not many of the children in Grove Park went down the hill to Baring Road to the London School Board school next to the Baptist Church and Burnt Ash Farm; it did not enjoy the best of reputations. For secondary education, many of the Grove Park children went down the hill to the private Modern High School in Burnt Ash Hill near the Crown public house but in the adjoining parish, to Quernmore at Sundridge Park, or to Eltham College in Mottingham. The latter community was similarly separated from its neighbour by fields either side of Grove Park Road which had not long been made up. The only other educational institution was St Michael’s in Baring Road, one of the original big houses and for some years a National Society Hostel for Church of England students. The students, thirty in number and all girls, were training at Goldsmith’s College, New Cross.


More history

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Lots of info lots of years

1991 LB Bromley, boundary with the LB Lewisham

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Borough boundary altered to fix anomalies where the boundary crossed single properties, or groups of properties considered the same development. [67]


References

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