Having recently moved into Canonbie Rd, we are very pleased with our new surroundings, but remain a bit confused as to where exactly we are! The people from whom we bought the house thought this was officially Forest Hill, our neighbours say no, it's Honor Oak. Some maps of Forest Hill have us on, others not. Is there any local geographical expert who can give a definite answer? Otherwise we may end up resorting to claiming to live in Dulwich Borders, perish the thought!
I live near the junction of Canonbie/Netherby and have always said Forest Hill, which I am sure is the official address. I can only remember one neighbour (long gone) who always used Honor Oak as he seemed to find it more prestigious. Personally I can't see any problems with either but I do look forward to the heated debate which will inevitably follow!
Very odd as if you goggle the name, you find it is East Dulwich, Forest Hill and Honor Oak, wow - choice of three, have a change every week or so - lol
Canonbie Rd is in Forest Hill - in fact it is the Hill.
Isn't Honor Oak a sub set of Forest Hill as is Canonbie Road of Forest Hill!!
As an add on Forest Hill Road is the boundry between The boroughs of Lewisham and Southwark. Lewisham is on the Canonbie, Netherby Road side, Southwark is on the Brenchley Gardens, Honor Oak Rise side if that helps further.
I doubt whether the good folk of HOP consider themselves as a subset of FH however the comparison is perhaps more akin to Brighton (us) v Hove. (them).
I always thought that Canonbie was in the rather fine locale known as Upper Dulwich Bottom. Not usually found in estate agent- speak however...
I'm still a little bit confused though. Where is Honor Oak really and is it different from Honor Oak Park?
All totally confusing, wish someone would come up with the answers, this is almost as bad as what come first, the chicken or the egg
In relatin to dbboy's post if you live in Southwark then I think the thing we probably do know is that you don't live in either FH or HO/HOP!
Not sure where you do live though as the name for the area of shops on FH Road has always puzzled me?
Well if you are right Michael I do not leave in Honor Oak. I have a SE23 postcode. Wonder where I belong now...
Until Mr Beeching got his way in the 50s, there used to be a railway station where the flats are on FH road, opposite Brenchley Gardens. This was called 'Honor Oak' station and was on the Crystal Palace to Blackfriars line (now, how handy would that have been!)
The no. 63 buses say "Honor Oak" on the front of them, and they terminate further down the hill on FH road, opposite the Turkish supermarket.
Honor Oak Park station is closest to me, and I love the village feel of HOP (with all the nice local shops opening) so I consider that I live in Honor Oak, and that's where I say I live to locals. But to those further afield, I say I live in Forest Hill as they get that (or failing that for North Londoners, 'near Dulwich' seems to work!)
For what it's worth, the map in my head more or less corresponds with Michael's version. I've lived in Honor Oak for about 12 years and grew up down the road in pre-gentrification East Dulwich.
So I'd put Canonbie Road in Forest Hill Road. Just about. Cross Forest Hill Road and you'd be in Honor Oak. East Dulwich ends where the SE22 postcodes run out (Wood Vale?) so we can exclude that possibility. But I can see why the OP is puzzled because the road is close to the junction of three neighbourhoods.
Honor Oak Park is the 'official' name for the Honor Oak area but I never heard a local ever refer to it as anything other than Honor Oak.
(And I can officially confirm that residents might imagine somebody to be either an estate agent or a bit of a **** if they claimed to live in some mythical Narnia called 'Dulwich Borders'! Perish the thought indeed.)
Well if you are right Michael I do not live in Honor Oak. I have a SE23 postcode. Wonder where I belong now...
It is possible you live in what I consider to be Crofton Park or Blythe Hill part of which are in SE23. But if you live there you have more right to define where you live than I do.
I have adjusted my map to include Wood Vale in Forest Hill and Le Querce in Honor Oak (oops).
I'd put your southern border of Honor Oak at least one road further down i.e. to include Dunoon and all its "tributaries". That's me and I'm firmly in the Honor Oak camp.
...and now it's occured to me that the old Honor Oak Baptist Church is on the corner of Mundania Road with a SE22 postcode which might be thought to scupper the postcode theory. (Maybe there was an Honor Oak parish? And maybe our sense of where neighbourhoods begin and end is sometimes influenced by old parish boundaries?) And aren't bits of the Honor Oak Estate in SE4?
I suppose that reinforces what Michael's suggesting. There's an official verdict on where the boundary is between Southwark and Lewisham - so you can't choose where to pay your council tax. But below that level the boundaries of neighbourhoods aren't formalised, and they've probably wobbled around over the decades. In the end it's down to common usage.
It'd be interesting to hear from:
* Anyone from outside SE23 who feels that they're a resident of Honor Oak.
* Any local historians with ideas about where these neighbourhood boundaries came from originally.
SE23 covers the districts of Honor Oak, Forest Hill and Perry Vale.
Honor Oak straddles Lewisham and Southwark with the high street being where Honor Oak Park station is located. The top end of Forest Hill road is in Honor Oak with the lower end towards Peckham Rye in East Dulwich. Canonbie Road is in Forest Hill.
Michael - I think your "mythical boundary" slices straight through my flat
How appropriate for '
Brockley Babe' posting on SE23.com - I think I have got the divide just about right.
Dunoon Road is another difficult call. I know residents in both camps.