Sydenham Hill Wood
Encyclopedia
The nine-hectare
Sydenham Hill Wood, is situated on the northern slopes of the Norwood Ridge in the London Borough
of Southwark
, and is an important wildlife site. Together with the adjacent Dulwich Wood
(which is privately owned and managed by the Dulwich Estate
), Sydenham Hill Wood is the largest extant tract of the ancient Great North Wood
. The two woods were separated after the relocation of The Crystal Palace
in 1854 and the creation of the high level line in 1865.
The land is leased to Southwark Council who have chosen London Wildlife Trust
to manage it as a Local Nature Reserve
since 1982. who had established a school on the site of the tavern.
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After the relocation of the Crystal Palace in 1854, the Dulwich Estate governors, whose responsibility was to use the land in the Manor of Dulwich
to raise money to fund the college, made plots along Sydenham Hill
available on long leases, and a series of very large houses was built. Between the junction with Crescent Wood Road and Cox's Walk there were seven houses. One of the largest was the Hoo, standing almost opposite the present 36 Sydenham Hill. In some of George William Johnson
's horticultural publications from around the 1880s there is mention of a Mr. and Mrs. Richard Thornton of The Hoo, Sydenham Hill and gardeners Mr. Ratty and W. Barrell.
The folly
was in the former grounds of the house Fairwood at 53 Sydenham Hill, built in about 1864. First occupied by Alderman David Henry Stone
, who in 1874 was Lord Mayor of London
. Shortly after moving to Fairwood Alderman Stone commissioned James Pulham & Son to build the folly. Incised lines on the folly's arch simulating stonework are very much like those on the bridge in Buckingham Palace Gardens
. The Pulham catalogue indicates that the firm of James Pulham and Son
worked extensively in the Sydenham
/Dulwich
area in the 1870s. In the grounds in front of Kingswood House
, less than a mile from here, there are some remains of features that were done in Pulhamite
.
In 1862 the London, Chatham and Dover Railway
started construction of the Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway from Nunhead
to serve the Crystal Palace at Sydenham following enactment of the London Chatham And Dover Railway(Metropolitan Extensions) Act. It went through Sydenham Hill Wood, the Dulwich College
estate and two tunnels, to terminate at the west of the Crystal Palace. It opened on 1 August 1865 with one station, Charles Barry
's Gothic
Crystal Palace (High Level)
terminus, but other stations were soon added at Lordship Lane
on 1 September, Honor Oak
on 1 December and Nunhead
on 18 September 1871. Upper Sydenham
station was opened on the 1 August 1884.
In 1871, Camille Pissarro
painted the view down the tracks to Lordship Lane from the wood and brick bridge on Cox's Walk. The image, of a train billowing steam, grasps the optimism of the industrial age
. In 1908 the footbridge was renewed in teak and iron to the same design as the original.
The fortunes of the railway waned with those of the Crystal Palace, declining after the Crystal Palace burned down in 1936. It closed during the war, and the post-war re-opening was unsuccessful, with the Crystal Palace High Level station in a poor state of repair. The last service ran in 1954. The track was lifted in 1956 and the terminus demolished in 1961.
In the 1950s and early 60s, the folly still showed remnants of stained glass in its window, nearby there was an artificial stream that ran down hill and there were greenhouse and potting sheds in the wood, one of which, covered in ivy, was full of clay flower pots of all sizes, still arranged as they had been left by the gardener. The green houses had boiler houses and heating systems with huge hot water pipes all round.
In early 1952 the King Edwards Hospital Fund for London purchased Beechgrove, 111 Sydenham Hill, and equipped it for use as the "Beechgrove Home for the Aged Sick". It was opened by the Countess of Limerick on June 17th 1952 and run by the County of London Branch of the British Red Cross Society to accommodate elderly people discharged from hospitals in Camberwell. It closed in January 1960 when the Fund surrendered the lease to the Dulwich Estate.
In the 1980s the whole of these ancient woodlands came under attack from housing developers, Professor Gordon MacGregor Reid (President of the Linnean Society of London
for 2003–2006), who then worked at the Horniman Museum
, organised the Sydenham Hill Wood Committee of the London Wildlife Trust to campaign against it. Around this time there was also a mention of the situation in Private Eye
. In 1988 there were still many wild rhododendron
s, a lone Monkey Puzzle
, the remains of a formal pool near the Cedar of Lebanon
, fragments of Pulhamite ornaments and the folly.
The trackbed was built on in some places but in others it has been allowed to revert to nature. Part of the route adjacent to the Horniman Museum and Gardens is now a 'Railway Nature Trail', maintained for the museum by the Trust for Urban Ecology. In Sydenham Hill Wood its path can be followed from the footbridge on Cox's Walk to the entrance of the Crescent Wood tunnel. The tunnel emerges again in the north west corner of Wells Park.
To the west of and parallel with the trackbed, there is a small stream in the woods called the Ambrook, a tributary
of the River Effra
feeding a pond in the neighbouring Dulwich Wood. From here it flows across the golf course, then alongside Cox's Walk, under Dulwich Common and into the lake in Dulwich Park
. In wet weather it rises above the drains and flows along the road around Dulwich Park by Frank Dixon Way.
garden survivors, and recent woodland, it is one of the closest ancient woods to central London and is home to over 200 species of trees and flowering plants. A multitude of fungi, rare insects, birds and elusive woodland mammals including the Wood mouse
are also present.
Mostly sessile oak
-hornbeam
woodland, with a wide variety of other tree and shrub species, including numerous exotics planted when the wood included parts of large gardens. The flora includes numerous indicators of long-established woodland; ramsons (Allium ursinum), wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa
), lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) and hairy wood-rush (Luzula pilosa
). The last two of these are uncommon in London. All three British Woodpeckers breed, along with nuthatch
, treecreeper
, tawny owl
, kestrel
and sparrowhawk
. Hawfinch
es are recorded occasionally and may also breed. Invertebrates are well recorded and include the purple hairstreak
and speckled wood
butterflies, several nationally scarce bees and wasps, and stag beetles. Fungi are also well recorded (174 species) and mosses include Mnium punctatum at its only known London locality.
There is only one small pond in Sydenham Hill Wood which tends to dry up in summer, so there are no frogs or toads on any regular basis.
Of the bat species using the wood, there are records of common
and soprano pipistrelles
, noctules
(which are in decline nationally) at least one species of the myotis bats
, and brown long-eared bat
s (the only site in Southwark where these have been recorded).
and there is another entrance by the footbridge on Cox's Walk. By public transport the Crescent Wood entrance can be reached by bus 356
from Forest Hill
station alighting at the 'Crescent Wood Road' stop. Buses on route 363 from Crystal Palace also pass near the entrance at an adjacent 'Crescent Wood Road' stop. The wood can also be reached from Sydenham Hill railway station
. From the station turn right a short distance along College Road, past St Stephen's church, then through the white gate on the opposite side of the road into Low Cross Wood Lane and on the left just ahead is a gate to Dulwich Wood. In Dulwich Wood follow the path straight ahead until turning to the right just before the pond. This will bring you out close to Crescent Wood tunnel in Sydenham Hill Wood. If the gate into Dulwich Wood is locked follow the steeply upward sloping lane onto Crescent Wood Road, turning left at the top and following the road will bring you to the Crescent Wood Road entrance.
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
Sydenham Hill Wood, is situated on the northern slopes of the Norwood Ridge in the London Borough
London borough
The administrative area of Greater London contains thirty-two London boroughs. Inner London comprises twelve of these boroughs plus the City of London. Outer London comprises the twenty remaining boroughs of Greater London.-Functions:...
of Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
, and is an important wildlife site. Together with the adjacent Dulwich Wood
Dulwich Wood
Dulwich Wood together with the adjacent Sydenham Hill Wood is the largest extant part of the ancient Great North Wood. The two woods were separated after the relocation of The Crystal Palace in 1854 and the creation of the high level line in 1865...
(which is privately owned and managed by the Dulwich Estate
Dulwich Estate
The Dulwich Estate is a registered charity in England, one of the successors to the historic charity Alleyn's College of God's Gift, founded in 1619...
), Sydenham Hill Wood is the largest extant tract of the ancient Great North Wood
Great North Wood
The Great North Wood was a natural oak forest that covered most of the area of raised ground starting some four miles south of central London, covering the Sydenham Ridge and the southern reaches of the River Effra and its tributaries...
. The two woods were separated after the relocation of The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
in 1854 and the creation of the high level line in 1865.
The land is leased to Southwark Council who have chosen London Wildlife Trust
London Wildlife Trust
London Wildlife Trust was founded in 1981. It is one of 47 members of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts , each of which is a local nature conservation charity for its area....
to manage it as a Local Nature Reserve
Local Nature Reserve
Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...
since 1982. who had established a school on the site of the tavern.
Dulwich
Dulwich is an area of South London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth...
to raise money to fund the college, made plots along Sydenham Hill
Sydenham Hill
For other uses of 'Sydenham', see Sydenham .Sydenham Hill is a hill or ridge and a locality in South-East London and the name of a road which runs along the northern eastern part of the ridge and forms the boundary between the London Borough of Southwark and the London Borough of Lewisham. The...
available on long leases, and a series of very large houses was built. Between the junction with Crescent Wood Road and Cox's Walk there were seven houses. One of the largest was the Hoo, standing almost opposite the present 36 Sydenham Hill. In some of George William Johnson
George William Johnson (writer)
George William Johnson , was a British writer on gardening.-Early life:Johnson, born at Blackheath, Kent, was younger son of William Johnson, proprietor successively of the Vauxhall distillery, of the Coalbrookdale china-works, and of salt-works at Heybridge in Essex.At Heybridge Johnson and his...
's horticultural publications from around the 1880s there is mention of a Mr. and Mrs. Richard Thornton of The Hoo, Sydenham Hill and gardeners Mr. Ratty and W. Barrell.
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
was in the former grounds of the house Fairwood at 53 Sydenham Hill, built in about 1864. First occupied by Alderman David Henry Stone
David Henry Stone
Alderman David Henry Stone born in 1812, died 26 February 1890. His family were the owners of a large amount of land near Lewes for at least three centuries. He was the nephew of Thomas Farncomb the Lord Mayor of London of 1849. Educated at St Olave's Grammar School, in Southwark...
, who in 1874 was Lord Mayor of London
Lord Mayor of London
The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...
. Shortly after moving to Fairwood Alderman Stone commissioned James Pulham & Son to build the folly. Incised lines on the folly's arch simulating stonework are very much like those on the bridge in Buckingham Palace Gardens
Buckingham Palace Gardens
The garden at Buckingham Palace is situated at the rear of Buckingham Palace. It covers much of the area of the former Goring Great Garden, named after Lord Goring, occupant of one of the earliest grand houses on the site...
. The Pulham catalogue indicates that the firm of James Pulham and Son
James Pulham and Son
James Pulham and Son was a firm of Victorian landscape gardeners and terracotta manufacturers which exhibited and won medals at London's Great Exhibition of 1851 and 1862 International Exhibition.-History:...
worked extensively in the Sydenham
Sydenham
Sydenham is an area and electoral ward in the London Borough of Lewisham; although some streets towards Crystal Palace Park, Forest Hill and Penge are outside the ward and in the London Borough of Bromley, and some streets off Sydenham Hill are in the London Borough of Southwark. Sydenham was in...
/Dulwich
Dulwich
Dulwich is an area of South London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth...
area in the 1870s. In the grounds in front of Kingswood House
Kingswood, Dulwich
Kingswood House, formerly known as King's Coppice, is a Victorian mansion in West Dulwich at the southerly tip of the London Borough of Southwark, England. It is a Grade II listed building. In 1811 William Vizard was granted a 63 year lease for Kingswood Lodge...
, less than a mile from here, there are some remains of features that were done in Pulhamite
Pulhamite
Pulhamite was a patented anthropic rock 'material' invented by James Pulham of the firm James Pulham and Son of Broxbourne.Pulhamite, which usually looked like gritty sandstone, was used to join natural rocks together or crafted to simulate natural stone features. The recipe went to the grave...
.
London, Chatham and Dover Railway
The London, Chatham and Dover Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1859 until the 1923 grouping which united it with other companies to form the Southern Railway. Its lines ran through London and northern and eastern Kent to form a significant part of the Greater London...
started construction of the Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway from Nunhead
Nunhead
Nunhead is a place in the London Borough of Southwark in London, England. It is an inner-city suburb located southeast of Charing Cross. It is the location of the Nunhead Cemetery. Nunhead has traditionally been a working-class area and, with the adjacent neighbourhoods, is currently going...
to serve the Crystal Palace at Sydenham following enactment of the London Chatham And Dover Railway(Metropolitan Extensions) Act. It went through Sydenham Hill Wood, the Dulwich College
Dulwich College
Dulwich College is an independent school for boys in Dulwich, southeast London, England. The college was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, a successful Elizabethan actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of "God's Gift". It currently has about 1,600 boys,...
estate and two tunnels, to terminate at the west of the Crystal Palace. It opened on 1 August 1865 with one station, Charles Barry
Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry FRS was an English architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsible for numerous other buildings and gardens.- Background and training :Born on 23 May 1795 in Bridge Street, Westminster...
's Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
Crystal Palace (High Level)
Crystal Palace (High Level) railway station
Crystal Palace railway station was a station in the London Borough of Southwark in south London. It was one of two stations built to serve the site of the 1851 exhibition building, the so-called Crystal Palace, when it was moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill after 1851.-History:The Crystal...
terminus, but other stations were soon added at Lordship Lane
Lordship Lane railway station
Lordship Lane railway station was a station in Dulwich, south London, on the Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway, built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway in 1865 It was closed during the first world war between 1917 and 1919. It was closed again on 22 May 1944 after the station...
on 1 September, Honor Oak
Honor Oak railway station
Honor Oak railway station was a station opened in December 1865 in Honor Oak, London by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway on the Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway...
on 1 December and Nunhead
Nunhead railway station
Nunhead railway station is a railway station in the Nunhead area of the London Borough of Southwark. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Southeastern...
on 18 September 1871. Upper Sydenham
Upper Sydenham railway station
The Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway was authorised to build a line from Peckham Rye railway station to a terminus at Crystal Palace in 1862, in order to serve the attraction of the Crystal Palace.- History :...
station was opened on the 1 August 1884.
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
painted the view down the tracks to Lordship Lane from the wood and brick bridge on Cox's Walk. The image, of a train billowing steam, grasps the optimism of the industrial age
Industrialisation
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...
. In 1908 the footbridge was renewed in teak and iron to the same design as the original.
The fortunes of the railway waned with those of the Crystal Palace, declining after the Crystal Palace burned down in 1936. It closed during the war, and the post-war re-opening was unsuccessful, with the Crystal Palace High Level station in a poor state of repair. The last service ran in 1954. The track was lifted in 1956 and the terminus demolished in 1961.
In the 1950s and early 60s, the folly still showed remnants of stained glass in its window, nearby there was an artificial stream that ran down hill and there were greenhouse and potting sheds in the wood, one of which, covered in ivy, was full of clay flower pots of all sizes, still arranged as they had been left by the gardener. The green houses had boiler houses and heating systems with huge hot water pipes all round.
In early 1952 the King Edwards Hospital Fund for London purchased Beechgrove, 111 Sydenham Hill, and equipped it for use as the "Beechgrove Home for the Aged Sick". It was opened by the Countess of Limerick on June 17th 1952 and run by the County of London Branch of the British Red Cross Society to accommodate elderly people discharged from hospitals in Camberwell. It closed in January 1960 when the Fund surrendered the lease to the Dulwich Estate.
In the 1980s the whole of these ancient woodlands came under attack from housing developers, Professor Gordon MacGregor Reid (President of the Linnean Society of London
Linnean Society of London
The Linnean Society of London is the world's premier society for the study and dissemination of taxonomy and natural history. It publishes a zoological journal, as well as botanical and biological journals...
for 2003–2006), who then worked at the Horniman Museum
Horniman Museum
The Horniman Museum is a museum in Forest Hill, South London, England. Commissioned in 1898, it opened in 1901 and was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Arts and Crafts style....
, organised the Sydenham Hill Wood Committee of the London Wildlife Trust to campaign against it. Around this time there was also a mention of the situation in Private Eye
Private Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
. In 1988 there were still many wild rhododendron
Rhododendron
Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...
s, a lone Monkey Puzzle
Araucaria araucana
Araucaria araucana is an evergreen tree growing to tall with a trunk diameter. The tree is native to central and southern Chile, western Argentina and south Brazil. Araucaria araucana is the hardiest species in the conifer genus Araucaria...
, the remains of a formal pool near the Cedar of Lebanon
Lebanon Cedar
Cedrus libani is a species of cedar native to the mountains of the Mediterranean region.There are two distinct types that are considered to be different subspecies or varieties. Lebanon cedar or Cedar of Lebanon Cedrus libani is a species of cedar native to the mountains of the Mediterranean...
, fragments of Pulhamite ornaments and the folly.
The trackbed was built on in some places but in others it has been allowed to revert to nature. Part of the route adjacent to the Horniman Museum and Gardens is now a 'Railway Nature Trail', maintained for the museum by the Trust for Urban Ecology. In Sydenham Hill Wood its path can be followed from the footbridge on Cox's Walk to the entrance of the Crescent Wood tunnel. The tunnel emerges again in the north west corner of Wells Park.
To the west of and parallel with the trackbed, there is a small stream in the woods called the Ambrook, a tributary
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of the River Effra
River Effra
The River Effra is a river in south London, England. It is now mainly underground. The name cannot be traced back much earlier than 1840 , so speculation that it came from a Celtic word for torrent is unwarranted...
feeding a pond in the neighbouring Dulwich Wood. From here it flows across the golf course, then alongside Cox's Walk, under Dulwich Common and into the lake in Dulwich Park
Dulwich Park
Dulwich Park is a 29 hectare park in Dulwich in the London Borough of Southwark, south London, England. The park was created by the Metropolitan Board of Works from former farmland and meadows. While the initial design was by Charles Barry , it was later refined by Lt Col J J Sexby...
. In wet weather it rises above the drains and flows along the road around Dulwich Park by Frank Dixon Way.
Wildlife
Now a unique mix of old woodland, VictorianVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
garden survivors, and recent woodland, it is one of the closest ancient woods to central London and is home to over 200 species of trees and flowering plants. A multitude of fungi, rare insects, birds and elusive woodland mammals including the Wood mouse
Wood mouse
The wood mouse is a common murid rodent from Europe and northwestern Africa. It is closely related to the yellow-necked mouse but differs in that it has no band of yellow fur around the neck, has slightly smaller ears, and is usually slightly smaller overall: around 90 mm in length...
are also present.
Mostly sessile oak
Sessile Oak
Quercus petraea , the Sessile Oak, also known as the Durmast Oak, is a species of oak native to most of Europe, and into Anatolia.-Description:...
-hornbeam
Hornbeam
Hornbeams are relatively small hardwood trees in the genus Carpinus . Though some botanists grouped them with the hazels and hop-hornbeams in a segregate family, Corylaceae, modern botanists place the hornbeams in the birch subfamily Coryloideae...
woodland, with a wide variety of other tree and shrub species, including numerous exotics planted when the wood included parts of large gardens. The flora includes numerous indicators of long-established woodland; ramsons (Allium ursinum), wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa
Anemone nemorosa
Anemone nemorosa is an early-spring flowering plant in the genus Anemone in the family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe. Common names include wood anemone, windflower, thimbleweed and smell fox, an allusion to the musky smell of the leaves...
), lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) and hairy wood-rush (Luzula pilosa
Luzula pilosa
Luzula pilosa is a species of flowering plant in the rush family....
). The last two of these are uncommon in London. All three British Woodpeckers breed, along with nuthatch
Nuthatch
The nuthatches are a genus, Sitta, of small passerine birds belonging to the family Sittidae. Characterised by large heads, short tails, and powerful bills and feet, nuthatches advertise their territory using loud, simple songs...
, treecreeper
Treecreeper
The treecreepers are a family, Certhiidae, of small passerine birds, widespread in wooded regions of the Northern Hemisphere and sub-Saharan Africa. The family contains ten species in two genera, Certhia and Salpornis...
, tawny owl
Tawny Owl
The Tawny Owl or Brown Owl is a stocky, medium-sized owl commonly found in woodlands across much of Eurasia. Its underparts are pale with dark streaks, and the upperparts are either brown or grey. Several of the eleven recognised subspecies have both variants...
, kestrel
Kestrel
The name kestrel, is given to several different members of the falcon genus, Falco. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour which is to hover at a height of around over open country and swoop down on prey, usually small mammals, lizards or large insects...
and sparrowhawk
Accipiter
The genus Accipiter is a group of birds of prey in the family Accipitridae, many of which are named as goshawks and sparrowhawks. They can be anatomically distinguished from their relatives by the lack of a procoracoid foramen. Two small and aberrant species usually placed here do possess a large...
. Hawfinch
Hawfinch
The Hawfinch, Coccothraustes coccothraustes, is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. Its closest living relatives are the Evening Grosbeak from North America and the Hooded Grosbeak from Central America especially Mexico.This bird breeds across Europe and temperate Asia...
es are recorded occasionally and may also breed. Invertebrates are well recorded and include the purple hairstreak
Purple Hairstreak
The Purple Hairstreak Neozephyrus quercus is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae distributed throughout much of Europe. North Africa, Asia Minor, Caucasus and Transcaucasia....
and speckled wood
Speckled Wood
The Speckled Wood is a butterfly found in and on the borders of woodland throughout much of the Palearctic ecozone.In North Europe, Central Europe , Asia Minor, Syria, Russia and Central Asia where subspecies P. a. tircis occurs it is brown with pale yellow or cream spots and darker upperwing...
butterflies, several nationally scarce bees and wasps, and stag beetles. Fungi are also well recorded (174 species) and mosses include Mnium punctatum at its only known London locality.
There is only one small pond in Sydenham Hill Wood which tends to dry up in summer, so there are no frogs or toads on any regular basis.
Of the bat species using the wood, there are records of common
Common Pipistrelle
The Common Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus is a small pipistrelle bat whose very large range extends across most of Europe, North Africa, southwestern Asia, and possibly into Korea. It is one of the most common bat species in the British Isles....
and soprano pipistrelles
Soprano Pipistrelle
The Soprano Pipistrelle is a small bat that was only formally separated from the Common Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus in 1999....
, noctules
Common Noctule
The Common Noctule is a species of bat common throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The UK distribution can be found on the National Biodiversity Network website ....
(which are in decline nationally) at least one species of the myotis bats
Mouse-eared bat
The mouse-eared bats are a diverse and widespread genus of bats within the family Vespertilionidae.-Relationships:Myotis has historically been included in the subfamily Vespertilioninae, but was classified in its own subfamily, Myotinae, by Nancy Simmons in 1998...
, and brown long-eared bat
Brown long-eared bat
The brown long-eared bat or common long-eared bat is a fairly large European bat. It has distinctive ears, long and with a distinctive fold...
s (the only site in Southwark where these have been recorded).
Access
There is a map and numbered trail from the entrance on Crescent Wood off Sydenham HillSydenham Hill
For other uses of 'Sydenham', see Sydenham .Sydenham Hill is a hill or ridge and a locality in South-East London and the name of a road which runs along the northern eastern part of the ridge and forms the boundary between the London Borough of Southwark and the London Borough of Lewisham. The...
and there is another entrance by the footbridge on Cox's Walk. By public transport the Crescent Wood entrance can be reached by bus 356
London Buses route 356
London Buses route 356 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Stagecoach London.-History:The first route 356 ran from Tatsfield and Biggin Hill directly into Croydon....
from Forest Hill
Forest Hill railway station
Forest Hill railway station is situated in Forest Hill, part of the London Borough of Lewisham. The station is located on the South Circular Road ....
station alighting at the 'Crescent Wood Road' stop. Buses on route 363 from Crystal Palace also pass near the entrance at an adjacent 'Crescent Wood Road' stop. The wood can also be reached from Sydenham Hill railway station
Sydenham Hill railway station
Sydenham Hill railway station is in the London Borough of Southwark in south London. The station serves Sydenham Hill and parts of Sydenham and Dulwich. It is in Travelcard Zone 3, and the station and all trains are operated by Southeastern...
. From the station turn right a short distance along College Road, past St Stephen's church, then through the white gate on the opposite side of the road into Low Cross Wood Lane and on the left just ahead is a gate to Dulwich Wood. In Dulwich Wood follow the path straight ahead until turning to the right just before the pond. This will bring you out close to Crescent Wood tunnel in Sydenham Hill Wood. If the gate into Dulwich Wood is locked follow the steeply upward sloping lane onto Crescent Wood Road, turning left at the top and following the road will bring you to the Crescent Wood Road entrance.
External links
- About Lordship Lane station
- Pictures on Flickr
- The Dulwich Society
- Sydenham Town Forum
- Dulwich and Sydenham Hill Woods on London Wildweb
- london-footprints.co.uk
- The Pulham Legacy About the Victorian firm James Pulham and Son, which may have built the folly and other garden features.
- The London Wildlife Trust
- The London Wildlife Trust's Sydenham Hill Wood page.
- The London Wildlife Trust's What's On page.
Further reading
- The Great North Wood - A brief history of ancient woodlands from Selhurst to Deptford by LSC Neville, London Wildlife Trust, 1987 Booklet (Now out of print)
- The Great North Wood the woodlands of the Norwood and Sydenham ridge by Mathew Frith, London Wildlife Trust, 1996 Leaflet.
- Crystal Palace (High Level) and Catford Loop by V Mitchell & K Smith, Middleton Press, 1991
- The Railway through Sydenham Hill Wood, From the Nun's Head to the Screaming Alice by Mathew Frith, The Friends of the Great North Wood and London Wildlife Trust leaflet 1995.
- London's Local Railways by A A Jackson, David & Charles, 1978
- The Crystal Palace (High Level) Branch by W Smith, British Railway Journal 28, 1989
- Durability Guaranteed - Pulhamite Rockwork pdf file on the English HeritageEnglish HeritageEnglish Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
website.