Forest Hill and Sydenham

Forest Hill and Sydenham are situated at the southern end of the London Borough of Lewisham. The most well-known landmark is Crystal Palace Television Transmitter (see image) which can be seen right across London. It lies just outside the boundary of the two areas, just within the London Borough of Bromley.

As the name implies, Forest Hill is an area with several hills with residents who live on top of them enjoying some of the finest views anywhere in London.

Going back in time, most of the land was covered by a dense forest, called the Great North Wood. Over the centuries the trees were cut down although both areas remain remarkably leafy even today.

Forest Hill and Sydenham are situated on and around an extensive ridge of hills. In Forest HIll, notable high points are One Tree Hill, the humped hill crossed by Canonbie Road and, thirdly, the hill crossed by Horniman Drive and partly covered by Horniman Gardens. Sydenham is situated on a long slope, rising from low ground at Bell Green, leveling off around Sydenham Station before rising again via Westwood Hill and Kirkdale to join different parts of a  road known as Sydenham Hill. That road is almost level  for most of its length, running along the top of a long ridge. It is still quite leafy. At one time the Great North Wood covered almost all the land.

The Extent of the Two Areas

Forest Hill, as a place name, is not very old. The earliest reference to the name was in the 1790s. The name applied to a group of large houses, which are still to be seen, gathered around the T-junction of Westwood Park and Honor Oak Road.

Today, the name 'Forest Hill' covers quite a large area of land. It was given the Postcode SE23 in the 1920s. That boundary extends north to the boundary with Brockley, where Stondon Park joins onto Brockley Road; east to the little park called Blythe Hill and the road called Perry Hill; south to include Dacres Road and half of Dartmouth Road; west to part of the road called Sydenham Hill and the long road called Wood Vale; and NW as far as the little park called One Tree Hill.

Until 1900, Forest Hill was divided by the Surrey-Kent boundary, running through land now covered by Horniman Gardens. Most of Forest Hill was in the County of Kent, with a small part lying in Surrey.

Sydenham was first mentioned in the 14th century. As a community, Sydenham is therefore much older than Forest Hill. The centre of the village of Sydenham was around the junction of Sydenham Road with Trewsbury Road (see map), with further houses dotted along Sydenham Road. The centre today would probably be described as being around Sydenham Station.

An Outline History

The areas are not famous for great events in history but there are plenty of interesting events that took place. We cannot claim that Shakespeare was born here it was known to the diarist John Evelyn. There was no palace here but there are connections with royalty. It did not have a major Roman settlement on the land but it was crossed by a Roman road.

In its own humble way there is planty of local history in both areas which not only relates to the immediate localities but also relates to the 'bigger picture' of the history of London. We will take a look at some of the more important dates which give a brief chronology of the area.

AD 100 - a Roman Road ran from the Old Kent Road (a more famous Roman road) to Lewes, via Keston. Its line crossed Blythe Hill.

AD 957 - The Great North Wood (see image) was described in the Anglo Saxon Charter as being 'wood pasture'. It was also mentioned in 1086 in the Domesday Book. It was a large forest extending along a SW to NE axis, from Crodon all the way to New Cross.

1309 - Sydenham was first mentioned by name.

1606 - Attempts to enclose Sydenham Common led to the longest legal trial in the history of the Courts in England.

1640 - Sydenham Wells were first 'discovered'. They are now covered by Sydenham Wells Park.

1746 - Still mainly woodland, the areas of Forest Hill and Sydenham are shown on the first large scale map of what we now refer to as Greater London. Known as 'John Rocque's Small Scale Map of London' it shows the land of Forest Hill as just uninhabited woodland. The name of Sydenham appears on the map along what is now Sydenham Road.