SE23 Forum

Does anyone remember the name of the man that Steve talked about that sent all the postcards? The man who posted himself? Thanks.

W Reginald Bray, the autograph king!

Thank you!

The full presentation is now available at http://foresthillsociety.blogspot.com/20...ndley.html

Apologies for not posting earlier.

excellent .. thanks for that

I really like seeing pictures/photos and writing about Forest Hill, as it used to be/from years ago, and close surrounding areas, on this site and others. I am sorry that I could not attend the last meeting regarding the History of Forest Hill, but hope there will be others in the future, because I would definitely like to attend.

The pictures of Forest Hill Station, particularly "got me" and many others have too - what a wonderful looking place FH used to be - still is is, in some ways, but, oh it could look so much better!

I AM a "Forest Hill Interested Person" FHIP, so please keep on promoting/ publicising our wonderful "village/town/home" - in retrospect or for the future

On the subject of the canal: I was looking at a local map from the 1890's and it shows a short section of the canal still there on land then yet to be built on but now Boveney Road. A quick look at Google Maps suggests that (sadly) it is no longer there. But can Boveney residents cast any light on the matter - a large trench running through their back gardens perhaps?

As an aside I note, from the same map, that the road running south along the eastern edge of the sports ground at Catford Bridge has had it's name changed. It's currently called Canadian Avenue. But what was it called previously?

Canadian Avenue was called Berlin Avenue from about 1879. It was changed, for obvious reasons, in 1917. The choice of Canadian Avenue was apparently because of the the Canadian troops billeted in the area.

In Sydenham both Hanover Street (now Halifaxt Street) and Hamburgh Place (now Suncroft Place) were renamed at about the same time.

Thanks Steve
Thankfully Tannsfeld escaped the name changing.

St German's Road managed to hold on to it's name. Although I am sure it should be called St Germain's Road like the pub used to be.

Actually not. A pedant would insist that it be called "St Germans Road", and if there were an apostrophe it should be after the "s". The name appears in various parts of Lewisham, particularly Blackheath.

At one time the earls of St Germans owned much land in Lewisham. They take their title from the small village of St Germans in Cornwall. The earls' family name is "Eliot" and this also crops up in various parts of the borough, as in "Eliot Bank".

The other principal noble landowners in Lewisham were the earls of Dartmouth who have also left their legacy in our street and pub names.

Any ideas on the naming of Ewelme and Benson, two adjacent roads which apparently are named after villages in the Cotswolds.?

Not to mention Dunoon, which is in Scotland (och aye, Dunooooon!)

Usually such names (Dunoon, Ewelme, Benson) are chosen by the builder/ developer, and referred to places that were significant to them for some reason. The best I can come up with is the Dorrell Brothers, who were responsible for the development on London Road either side of Taymount Rise. The also built the large houses in Ewelme Road (?29-39) in the early 1880s. Their family came from Slough, maybe 30 miles from Benson, so probably irrelevant.

As for Tannsfeld, that is claimed in one source to be a field name that first appeared in 1608.

It's just occurred to me that there may be another explanation. Ewelme and Benson are in Oxfordshire, a few miles SE of Oxford. They are within 10-15 miles of the village of Forest Hill and also the hamlet of Sydenham (see Google maps). Could this be coincidence?

Posted by brian - 11-01-2009 09:37 AM
Thanks Steve
Thankfully Tannsfeld escaped the name changing...

but the Royal family did not.

How do you embed a previous mail in a response??

There may be an easier way to do it, but I use a small bit of code. For example, to get the above I used:

(quote=PVP)How do you embed a previous mail in a response??(/quote)

You must replace the the curved brackets "()" with square brackets "[]". I used curved brackets to stop it appearing as another quote.

It you don't want to mention the person you are quoting, just don't use the "=PVP" or replace PVP with whatever you like.

Is Dacres just german for The Crescent?
The road is nothing like a crescent (now) but is odd in that it has a T-junction with itself....

I've mostly pronounced it "acres" with a "D", which of course was a minor hit for Liza Minnelli in the early 1970s.

But I should I be saying Da® Cres?

Interesting Perryman. Does anyone know the answer.
I know I put it into Google once and only one in whole of UK.

Regarding the T junction I always assumed Silverdale was a later addition. I remember in the very early 60's when they were building the flats opposite the school they knocked down some lovely old buildings

Dacres Road, along with Mayow Road, Wynell Road and Adamsrill Road, is named after the family that once owned the land.

In the 1770s a vast estate, extending from Sydenham Road to Perry Vale and bordered on either side by the present Mayow Road and Dacres Road/Silverdale, was bought by Mayow Wynell Mayow. His daughter married William Dacres Adams and their son, who inherited the estate, was Mayow Wynell Adams.

Originally farmland, building began during the 1870s. At this time several fields were made available to create the Sydenham & Forest Hill Recreation Ground (now Mayow Park, and don't forget to vote).

And you're right, Brian, Silverdale was a later addition.