| Tulse Hill | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Holy Trinity Church, Tulse Hill (built 1855–6) | |
  Tulse Hill Location withinGreater London | |
| OS grid reference | TQ315735 |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | SW2 |
| Postcode district | SE21, SE24, SE27 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°26′43″N0°06′33″W / 51.4452°N 0.1091°W /51.4452; -0.1091 | |
Tulse Hill is a district in theLondon Borough of Lambeth inSouth London that sits onBrockwell Park. It is approximately five miles (8 km) fromCharing Cross and is bordered byBrixton,Dulwich,Herne Hill,Streatham andWest Norwood.
The area known as Tulse Hill is part of the formerManor or Manors ofBodley, Upgroves and Scarlettes whose precise boundaries are now uncertain. The name of the area comes from the Tulse family who came into ownership of farmland in the area during the period of theCommonwealth in the 1650s.[1]Sir Henry Tulse wasLord Mayor of London in 1683 and his daughter Elizabeth marriedRichard Onslow, 1st Baron Onslow.[2] The land remained in Onslow ownership until 1789 when most of it was purchased by William Cole. The estate was further divided on Cole's death in 1807.
The western part was left to "Mercy Cressingham, spinster" (now commemorated by theCressingham Gardens estate in the area) and the eastern part -now mostly occupied byBrockwell Park - was left to Richard Ogbourne who promptly sold it on to John Blades.
In 1810 Tulse Hill Farm was the only building in the western part of the area. Theenclosure of land in the parish ofLambeth in 1811 led to the construction of Effra Road in the area immediately to the north. Together with improvements to Brixton Road by the localturnpike trust this greatly improved road communications with central London, and the value of the local landholdings.
Mercy Cressingham eventually married Dr Thomas Edwards, who took the initiative in buying extra land to make an access fromBrixton Hill in 1814 and laying out two new roads, Lower Tulse Hill Road (now known simply as Tulse Hill) and Upper Tulse Hill Road (now Upper Tulse Hill), by 1821. A plan of 1821 in theRIBA Library shows a proposed speculative development of both the Edwards estate and the adjacent Blades estate with large detached villas, although only the former actually came to fruition. The new roads were adopted by the parish in 1822.
An 1832 map shows that Tulse Hill still had only a few buildings on the new roads in contrast to nearby recently developed areas inBrixton andNorwood and the longer established hamlet ofDulwich.[3] However, by 1843, there was a continuous line of houses, predominantly detached and usually with separate coach houses along the full length of Lower Tulse Hill Road from Brixton to the top of the hill.[citation needed]
Development of the area to the east of this road commenced in 1845 when Trinity Rise was built to connect Upper Tulse Hill with Norwood Road. Holy Trinity Church on Trinity Rise was built in 1855-6 and is nowgrade II listed.
Major development of the area further east did not come until the opening of theHerne Hill andTulse Hill railway stations in the 1860s.
Most of the original villas with large gardens on the original Edwards-Cressingham landholding have been redeveloped at much higher densities forcouncil housing since the 1930s.
The most prominent survival of 19th century Tulse Hill is Berry House, later called Silwood Hall, and now forming the front part ofSt Martin-In-The-Fields High School for Girls, aChurch of England secondary school which outlasted the nearby 1950s schools before its closure in 2024.
The redevelopment of Tulse Hill afterWorld War II by theLondon County Council had included the construction of two large secondary schools -Tulse Hill School andDick Sheppard School (originally for girls only). Both schools have now closed, and their sites have been redeveloped for housing of very contrasting types. The Dick Sheppard School site was redeveloped as Brockwell Gate,[4] a gatedRegency style with houses and apartments overlooking Brockwell Park. The site of Tulse Hill school was redeveloped as affordable housing.
Tulse Hill is represented on theLambeth London Borough Council by councillors for the Brixton Rush Common, St Martin's, and West Dulwich wards.[5] All three wards are held by theLabour Party although the ward now known as West Dulwich was historically aConservative ward until the2014 Lambeth London Borough Council election. Tulse Hill is represented in the London Assembly byMarina Ahmad and in Westminster byHelen Hayes andBell Ribeiro-Addy.
In March 2022 Lambeth Council initiated a consultation with residents as to renaming the area, to avoid a possible association withHenry Tulse who was once a board member of theRoyal African Company, a slave-trading concern in the seventeenth century.[6]
The area is served byLondon Buses routes2,68, 196, 201, 322, 415, 432, 468 and P13.
Tulse Hill railway station (Zone 3) is served by theSouthern Metro viaPeckham Rye line (toLondon Bridge) and theThameslinkWimbledon loop (toSt Albans viaBlackfriars,City Thameslink,Farringdon, andSt Pancras). The railway bridge over the A205 was frequently subject to vehicle strikes until a new warning system was installed in 2017.[7]
Nearby stations provide services toVictoria fromHerne Hill andWest Dulwich (via theSoutheastern MetroBromley South line) and fromWest Norwood (via the SouthernCrystal Palace line).
The nearestLondon Underground station isBrixton on theVictoria line.
At the southern end of Tulse Hill is a major road junction between theA204 (Tulse Hill),A205 (South Circular) and theA215 (Norwood Road) where the historic Tulse Hill Hotel stands.[8]
The "Tulse Hill Parliament", a political club, features inP. G. Wodehouse's comic novelPsmith in the City. The author attendedDulwich College, which is in the vicinity.[9]
Noel Streatfeild's novel "Tennis Shoes" (1937) is written about a family who live in Tulse Hill.[10]
Samson Young, protagonist inMartin Amis'sLondon Fields goes to Tulse Hill to buy drugs.[11]
Jason Strugnell, a fictional poet inWendy Cope'sMaking Cocoa For Kingsley Amis, lives in Tulse Hill and mentions it a couple of times in "his" poems.[12]
Tulse Hill and its surrounding areas are locations inMark Billingham's crime novel "In The Dark".[13]
