Upper Norwood
Upper Norwood from the air, with theCroydon transmitting station in the centre
Upper Norwood Location withinGreater London
Population	16,082 (2011 Census.Ward)[1]
OS grid reference	TQ329707
London borough	Bromley Croydon Lambeth Southwark
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	SE19
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
UK Parliament	Streatham and Croydon North Dulwich and West Norwood
London Assembly	Bexley and Bromley Croydon and Sutton Lambeth and Southwark
List of places UK England London 51°25′11″N0°05′16″W / 51.4196°N 0.0877°W /51.4196; -0.0877

Upper Norwood is an area of south London, England, within the London Boroughs ofBromley,Croydon,Lambeth andSouthwark. It is north ofCroydon. The eastern part of it is better known as theCrystal Palace area. TheSE19 London postcode covers the entirety of the district.

Upper Norwood is one of the highest areas in London, situated along theLondon clay ridge known as Beulah Hill, which offers panoramic views northwards to central London and southwards to CentralCroydon and theNorth Downs. Most housing dates from the 19th and 20th centuries, with large detached properties along the ridge and smaller, semi-detached and terraced dwellings on the slopes. There are some more modern areas ofsocial housing that date from the 1970s, as well as the recent construction of larger apartment buildings on Beulah Hill.

For centuries, Upper Norwood was occupied by theGreat North Wood, an extensive area of naturaloak forest which formed a wilderness close to the southern edge of the ever-expanding city of London. The name "Norwood" is a contraction of "North Wood" (and should not be confused withNorthwood orNorwood Green, both in west London). Local legend has it that SirFrancis Drake's ship, theGolden Hind, was made from timber cut from trees in this area. The forest was a popular area for Londoners' recreation until the 19th century, when it began to be built over. It was also a haunt ofGypsies, with many local street names and pubs recording the link, notablyGipsy Hill. The area still retains woodland in large amounts for an urban area.

The Beulah Hill ridge was used as a sighting-point for theAnglo-French Survey (1784–1790), which measured the precise distance between theRoyal Greenwich Observatory and theParis Observatory, usingtrigonometry. It was particularly useful for this purpose on account of both its height and its relative proximity to Greenwich.

In 1831, one of England's most prominent architects,Decimus Burton, designed a spa and pleasure gardens below Beulah Hill and off what is now Spa Hill in a bowl of land on the south facing side of the hill around a spring ofchalybeate water. Burton was responsible for the Beulah Spa Hotel (demolishedc. 1935) and the layout of the grounds.[2] Its official title was The Royal Beulah Spa and Gardens. It became a popular society venue attracting large crowds to itsfêtes. One widely publicized event was a "Grand Scottish Fete" on 16 September 1834 "with a tightrope performance byPablo Fanque", the black circus performer who would later dominate the Victorian circus and achieve immortality in theBeatles songBeing for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!^[3] The spa closed in 1856, soon after the opening nearby ofThe Crystal Palace.^[4]

The Crystal Palace was rebuilt nearby onSydenham Hill in 1854, following its success atThe Great Exhibition of 1851 inHyde Park. It was destroyed in aspectacular fire in 1936. The importance of this building and its impact on the locality for decades, led to the area immediately around the palace and its park becoming known asCrystal Palace. The most easterly district of Upper Norwood is now known as Crystal Palace and is the commercial hub of Upper Norwood, known locally as the "Triangle". The most westerly district is known as Crown Point. The central district was once known asNorwood New Town, but this name is now only seen on older maps. The French impressionistCamille Pissarro painted around the area in the early 1870s, including in neighbouringSydenham, producing scenes such as a view fromFox Hill, Upper Norwood, now in theNational Gallery and theCrystal Palace painted from the Parade, now in theArt Institute of Chicago.

In March 1966, shortly before theWorld Cup tournament, theJules Rimet trophy was stolen from an exhibition atCentral Hall Westminster. It was found seven days later in Beulah Hill by a dog named "Pickles". The story made national headlines.^[5][6]

St Joseph's College is a Roman Catholic boys'secondary school which was first established in Upper Norwood in 1855. The school operates a coeducationalsixth form.Harris Academy Beulah Hill was established in the area as Westwood High School in 1958.

The Cedars School andThe Laurels School are Roman Catholic independent schools located on the former site of Virgo Fidelis Convent Senior School on Central Hill, founded in 1848. They occupy an eighteenth-century grand house, once the home of the notable socialite and courtesanMary Nesbitt.

TheChurch of England ParishChurch of St John the Evangelist on Sylvan Road, completed in 1887, is a notable example of the work of the architectJohn Loughborough Pearson. Designed in theGothic Revival style, thisGrade II* listed red brick building features some significant interior stone decoration and a stained glass window byNinian Comper, who lived in the area.^[7]

Upper Norwood Library in Westow Hill, the only independent public library in the UK, was built in 1899 by joint agreement of the London Borough of Croydon and the London Borough of Lambeth. The library holds a Local History Collection of the Upper Norwood district and the Crystal Palace.

A notable park in the area isUpper Norwood Recreation Ground. Its 19-acre (77,000 m²) site is part of the Harold Road Conservation Area. Its boundary is defined by Chevening Road, Hermitage Road, Eversley Road and Harold Road. One of London's hidden rivers,River Effra flows under the park and at the Harold Road end a wellhead exists. It was covered in the 1940s. The Upper Norwood Recreation Ground was a location inPatrick Keiller's 1983 film,Norwood, and inChris Shepherd's 2010 filmBad Night for the Blues.^{[citation needed]}

TheCroydon transmitting station, a TV transmitter tower, stands on the hill at Upper Norwood and a second larger TV transmitter, theCrystal Palace transmitting station, stands in Crystal Palace Park. Together these make the district a landmark location, visible from any part of the London area.

In 1985 aSafeway supermarket opened on Westow Street. In 1990 the exterior of this branch featured in a clip of the television drama seriesGrange Hill.^[8] The store was acquired byMorrisons in March 2004, who closed it in November 2005. The lease of the vacant store was purchased bySainsbury's in August 2006.^[9]

The hilly nature of the land has restricted the construction of railways through the district. The former branch line terminus atCrystal Palace High Level railway station which opened in 1865 closed in 1954, and the remainingCrystal Palace railway station is some distance below Upper Norwood, and approached by many steps. However, Crystal Palace Parade remains an important bus interchange and many residents are instead reliant on local bus routes to travel toWest Norwood,Tulse Hill,Streatham,West Dulwich orNorbury railway stations. The significant disconnection from the capital's rail/tube network, and lack of high street, shops or amenities in its western half, has led to it having lower house prices than other areas possessing scenic views of London.

This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Upper Norwood" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• Ira Aldridge (1807–1867), American and British playwright and mainly Shakespearean actor lived at 5 Hamlet Road from 1861 to 1862 with his wifeMargaret Gill. A blue plaque unveiled in 2007 commemorates Aldridge as the "African Roscius".
• Thomas Attwood (1765–1838), pupil of Mozart and organist at St Paul's Cathedral, lived inRoselawn, a large house on Beulah Hill near the junction with Hermitage Road. He played host to the composerFelix Mendelssohn in 1829 and 1832.
• Admiral SirRobert Lambert Baynes KCB (1796–1869), Royal Navy officer; Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station; credited with adopting a policy of non-intervention that helped defuse the San Juan Boundary Dispute of 1859 between Britain and the United States of America.
• Raymond Chandler (1888–1959), the author of American noir detective novels lived as a boy in the area especially atMount Cyra, 110, Auckland Road, from 1900 to 1905. The house now has aBlue Plaque.^[10]
• Sir John Ninian Comper (1864–1960), one of the greatGothic Revival architects of the 20th century, lived at The Priory, 67 Beulah Hill (now demolished). His sonNicholas Comper (1897–1939) was an aviator who designed theComper Swift monoplane in the back garden.^[11]
• Edward Elgar (1857–1934), composer, and his wifeCaroline Alice Elgar (1848–1920) lived at Oaklands, Fountain Road in 1889, soon after they were married, so that they could be near theCrystal Palace Concerts.
• Bernard Fagg (1915–1987), archaeologist and museum curator, was born in Upper Norwood.
• Robert FitzRoy (1805–1865), captain ofHMS Beagle, second governor of New Zealand, and inventor of the weather forecast, lived during the last years of his life at Lyndhurst House, 140 Church Road and is buried in front of All Saints' Church.
• SirTheodore Ford (1829–1920),chief justice of the Straits Settlements, lived in Upper Norwood from his retirement in 1896 to his death in 1920.
• Walter Franklin (1891–1968), first-class cricketer, who played for theMCC.
• Simon Friend, multi-instrumentalist in the alternative rock bandThe Levellers founded in 1988.
• Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (1807–1894), sculptor of the famousdinosaurs in the park, lived at Fossil Villa, 22 Belvedere Road.
• Anthony Ludovici (1882–1971), philosopher, and his wife the writerElsie Finnimore Buckley (1882–1959) lived at 35 Central Hill, soon after they were married in 1920.
• G. E. Moore (1873–1958), philosopher, who was the father (withBertrand Russell) of analytic philosophy.
• Mary Nesbitt (1742/3–1825), an 18th-century courtesan who became involved in political intrigue, lived at Norwood House off Central Hill. The house is now part ofThe Cedars School andThe Laurels School.
• Charles Patteson (1891–1957), clergyman, first-class cricketer and international hockey player.
• Joseph Paxton (1803–1865), famed designer of the Crystal Palace, lived in a house called Rockhills at the top of Westwood Hill.
• Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), the impressionist painter, moved with his family to the area upon the outbreak of theFranco-Prussian War.
• Troy Southgate (b.1965), far-right political activist, lived in Gipsy Hill and grew up on the Central Hill Estate.
• Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) highly influential English Particular Baptist minister known as thePrince of Preachers was Pastor ofMetropolitan Tabernacle from 1854 to 1892 and lived in Upper Norwood atWestwood on Beulah Hill from 1880 until his death. The namesake ofSpurgeon Road.^[12]
• Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (1840–1929), suffragette and Shakespearean scholar, organized cultural groups in Upper Norwood in the 1880s.
• Marie Stopes (1880–1958), daughter of the above, a botanist and birth-control advocate who opened the first birth control clinic in Britain.
• Sir William Treloar (1843–1923), a Sheriff andLord Mayor of London lived at Grange Mount, a house situated at the junction of Grange Road and Beulah Hill.
• SirFrancis Wyatt Truscott (1824–1895), Lord Mayor of London 1879–1880, lived at Essex Lodge on Central Hill.
• SirGeorge Wyatt Truscott (1857–1941), son of the above, also Lord Mayor of London 1908–1909, lived at Emilena House, Central Hill.
• Charles Umney FIC, FCS (1843–1916), Director of Wright, Layman & Umney, Ltd. manufacturers of Wright's Coal Tar Soap. He was recognised for his pioneer work in bringing trained technical knowledge into the wholesale drug trade, and he became one of the most prominent wholesale chemists and druggists of his day. He lived at Eardley House, 2 (later 81) Lawrie Park Road, Sydenham.
• Émile Zola (1840–1902), French novelist, lived in exile at the Queen's Hotel on Church Road, here from October 1898 to June 1899.

• Crystal Palace railway station (East London Line services from 2010)
• Gipsy Hill railway station
• West Norwood railway station
• Norwood Junction railway station
• Thornton Heath railway station

• Alan R. Warwick;The Phoenix Suburb: A South London Social History; Publisher: Crystal Palace Foundation;ISBN 0-904034-01-1 / 0904034011
• Ben Weinreb &Christopher Hibbert (eds.);The London Encyclopedia; London: Macmillan, 1983.ISBN 978-0-3333-0024-4
• Brewer's Britain and Ireland, compiled by John Ayto and Ian Crofton,Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005,ISBN 0-304-35385-X
• J. B. & H. A. Wilson;The Story of Norwood, London Borough of Lambeth, 1973.ISBN 0-9501-893-4-0

Wikimedia Commons has media related toUpper Norwood.

• Upper Norwood Library – Independent Public Library
• Virtual NorwoodArchived 8 October 2023 at theWayback Machine
• Norwood Society
• www.uppernorwood.com

• Areas of London
• Districts of the London Borough of Bromley
• Districts of the London Borough of Croydon
• Districts of the London Borough of Lambeth
• Districts of the London Borough of Southwark
• District centres of London

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