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WHAT HAPPENED IN ? An Introductory Chronology

Pollards Hill Recreation Ground Fountain & former Age Concern UK office

Norbury Library

Norbury Park

Sean Creighton

History & Social Action Publications 2017

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Introduction

Norbury is a district in North with borders with the district of the Boroughs of and with parts of .

The name ‘Norbury’ is an abbreviation of ‘Northborough’. ‘Borough’ originally meant a certain manor or district. What became Croydon contained several boroughs. Reference to these was dropped when Croydon was incorporated as a in 1888.

This chronology has been compiled to help stimulate interest in Norbury’s history. The first modern history of the area A History of Norbury by David Clark was published by the Streatham Society in 2013. It has been through several reprints but is now out of print. It can be read at Norbury Library.

David occasionally gives talks about Norbury’s history and leads walks in the area.

I am a historian whose interests include Croydon and Norbury, where I live. History & Social Action Publications is my publishing imprint. I am an individual member of the Croydon Local Studies Forum, and co-ordinator of the Croydon Radical History Network.

I hope that this introduction will inspire readers to research aspects of interest to them. One of the easiest ways is to look at the local newspapers from the 1860s at Croydon Museum’s Local Studies Research Room at the Clocktower at complex in Katharine St.

Sean Creighton February 2017 [email protected]

Prehistoric Period 1459. contained a 92 acre wood. In Pollards Hill a series of low banks suggest that there may have been a prehistoric The Tudor & Stuart Period earthwork but no conclusive finds have been dug up. 1539. Accused of high treason Manor taken off Nicholas Carew by Henry VIII and Roman Period beheaded. The Manor then belonged to the Crown and under Edward VI transferred to The Roman Road from London to the . through Norbury, largely along what is now London Rd. 1556. Queen Mary returned Manor to the Carews. Medieval Period 1583. Palmers Fields of 75 acres (now 1264. Battle of Norbury between Henry III Norbury Park) purchased by executors of and Simon de Montford’s troops. Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury (1575- 1583) for benefit of Bees Green Grammar 1269. Norbury Manor sold by John de School in Cumberland. Mortimer to Richard de Gravsende: 91 acres arable land in Pollards Hill, 30 acres in 1606. Palmer’s Field leased to Pembroke Grandon () and 136 acres of College, Cambridge for 1,000 years. pasture, heathland, woodland and meadowland. The stood close The Georgian Period the junction of today’s Kensington and 1772. 200+ year old Wooden Hermitage Norbury Avenues. Bridge rebuilt and widened. 1337. Manor granted to Nicolas de Carreu 1800. Croydon Parish Act allows enclosures. (Carew), who also owned Manor. 2

1802. The ‘Norbury Hall’ house was built for 1856. Prince’s Head regained its licence and William Coles, a tenant farmer of the renamed King William IV. Carews. In 1805 John Malcolm wrote that Coles fattened ‘a large quantity of stock; his 1859. Charles Hallowell Carew, Benjamin’s arrangements for this purpose are on a very son and a naval officer, sold Norbury Manor extensive scale. He confines himself to no to William Goldsmith. Lord of Manor title particular breed, but buys such as he thinks ceased to exist. The Goldsmiths lived there most likely to pay him; however the larger until his death in the 1870s. proportion is of the Holderness breed. Their To-mid 19thC. Only building was ‘Norbury food is oil-cakes and hay, of the former he Hall’. Its lodges were at the entrance to the has consumed this season about 30,000, and lane leading to Norbury Manor Farm, one as his intention is to lay all his home ground serving Hermitage Farm and the turnpike down to grass, I have no doubt, when he has cottage near the Streatham boundary. effected it, that he will fat more stock than any man in the county with the exception of 1859. Norbury (Midway) Villa and Norbury the distilleries.’ Coles was also praised for Lodge on the corner with Pollards Hill North. fatting his cattle with oil-cake and hay by William Anderson in 1809. 1866. Croydon Board of Health approved plans by the Metropolitan Land Co. to 1817. Prince’s Head public house lost convert the Pollards Hill Estate into building licence for nearly 40 years due to use by plots criminals. 1867. Croydon Steeple Chase and Hurdle 1820. According to John Bew ‘Norbury Hall’ Races Committee purchases 100 acre was now being leased from William Coles by Lonesome Farm. Richard Sanderson, a merchant and citizen of London, who added a lake and an 1867. Metropolitan Land Co. purchases c300 ornamental bridge. young oak trees for the Pollards Hill estate.

1825. Coaches already operating from 1868. First Streatham Horse Race meeting Croydon to the City and West End. with the horses being brought to Station. 1826. Mary, the wife of Richard Sanderson died on 24 September aged 68 and was 1861. Railway constructed with bridge. buried at St. John’s Church (Croydon 1862. Stanford’s map shows: Norbury Lodge ). and Norbury House off London Rd, Norbury 1828. Former Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell Farm, the Streatham Toll Gate, Bridge Carew becomes Lord of Manor. House and a row of buildings up to the Hermitage on the corner of Hermitage/Back 1837. Richard Sanderson, who had been born Lane (now Green Rd), some buildings on the at Wigton in Cumberland died on 20 August other side, and in the triangle of land along aged 75, and was buried at St. John’s Streatham High Rd which included the Church (). William IV .

The Victorian Period to 1880 1868. Pollards Hill estate laid out, but no building until 1900. 1841. 56 people in 7 dwellings. The Hermitage was lived in by Charles 1878. Norbury Halt wooden railway station Fauntleroy, a merchant. opens designed to enable horses for the Streatham Races. 1840s-1871. The Hermitage lived in by the Tollitt family, farmers. One of them John 1879. Parliament bans horse racing within 10 Tollitt was a horse-dealer. miles of ending the Streatham Races.

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The Victorian Period from 1880 1890s. Brick-making fields at junction of Norbury Cross and Northborough Rd and 1880. Four detached villas now on east side, where Pollards Hill Recreation ground is. two either side of where St Helen’s Rd later built (St Winifred’s demolished 1920s and 1893-1930. Norbury Golf Club on Stanford Dursley). Rd.

1881. Census shows that properties known as 1894. North Golf Club creates golf ‘Pollards Hill’ were occupied by two brick course on the 90 acres of Hermitage Sports makers and their families. Ground.

1882. 'Sorrento' north of the junction with 1894. Nos 2 (Cleveland), 4 (Gartconnel), 6 Pollards Hill North and six more large villas (Hillside) and 8 (Keslodene) villas built in St built south of Norbury Hall. Helen’s Rd; then 10 (Fairly), 12 (Barton), 14 (Hudson) and 16 (Silverdale). 1884. James William Hobbs, a timber merchant, purchased Norbury Park Estate. 1894-1934. North Surrey Golf Club at He laid out a cricket pitch in the grounds. Hermitage Park. He renamed the house ‘Norbury Hall’. 1896. Shadowbush and Westview Villas built 1886. Pollards Hill Farm built down to Wide in St Helen’s Rd. Way in west and to today’s South Lodge Ave and Galpins Rd 1896 Ordnance Survey map shows still how underdeveloped Norbury is: Norbury Villa, 1880s. Double-decker omnibuses start Norbury Fram, Norbury Park Cricket Ground, operating from Croydon to London. Norbury Hall, houses on eastern side, houses in St Helen’s Rd. Norbury Station. 1887. Hobbs builds houses on Norbury Park Estate. 1897. 'The Uplands' north of Stanford Road and 'Alpha House' and 'Beechcroft', either 1887-9. Hobbs was Mayor of Croydon. side of the road north of Ederline Avenue.

1888. W. G Grace played on Nobury Hall 1897. ’s Jubilee celebrated cricket pitch against Australia. with bonfire on Pollards Hill.

1889. Road renamed London Road, Norbury. 1898. The Hermitage purchased by North 1889. Norbury Cricket Club started. Surrey Golf Club; burnt down a year late.

1889 to present. Norbury Park Lawn Tennis 1900. All the houses between Stanford Road Club, off Ederline Ave. and Fairview Road completed.

1880s. Start of Norbury Football Club. 1900-present. Norbury Bowls Club, Turle Rd.

1891. Wychwood House near the junction 1900-22. Housing on Pollards Hill estate with Pollards Hill South. built.

1891. 196 residents in 29 dwellings. 1900-1932. Norbury Ave built.

Early 1890s-1896. The Hermitage lived in by The Edwardian Period Jennie Hill, star. 1901. Croydon Corporation Tramways 1892. Construction of four buildings (Nos. between Purley and Norbury opened on 25 18-21) of Station Parade. September, terminating at Hermitage Bridge. 1893. Hobbs found guilty at the Old Bailey on 6 March of company fraud and 1901. Houses were being built between imprisoned. Beatrice Avenue and Norbury Court Road and two houses north of the latter road and the 4 five houses north of Fairview Road were both lived at 2 St Helen’s Rd. He is best started. known for Winnie-the-Pooh.

1901. 475 residents in 80 dwellings, inc. 87 1904-1910. Benett Gdns and north of Bavant servants. Rd built.

1901. purchased the 1904-1926. Ederline Ave. 30 acres of land between Northborough Rd and Selmy Rd. 1904-1931. Stamford Rd.

1901. Start of work to build St Philips 1905 Completion of King Edward VII Parade Church, dedicated 1902. (Tylecroft to Northborough Rds) including 700 seat King Edward VII Hall. 1901-1970s. Norbury Joinery works at Norbury Trading Estate, Craignish Ave. 1905. Station Parades completed.

1902. Norbury Station replaced with brick 1905. Wesylan Methodist Church on corner one and tracks increased from 2 to 4. of Pollards Hill North and London Rd. London Rd deepened under railway bridge to 1905-1906. Beech Rd. allow to get to terminus at Hermitage Bridge. 1905-1923. Melrose Ave.

1902. Thirteen houses south of the entrance 1905-1935. Craignish Ave. to Norbury Park Cricket Ground. 1906. Fairview Rd Brasserie. 1903. King William IV public house rebuilt. 1906-10. LCC built 498 homes on its Norbury 1903. Two houses, one on either side of the Cottage Garden Estate. 11m bricks were entrance to the cricket ground and two made on the brickfield on the estate by houses adjoining 'Sorrento' between Norbury February 1907, of which were used to build Court Road and Northborough Road, plus the the estate. By January 1908, 145 cottages five shopping parades that dominated the were complete and 240 cottages by February development of the road completed. 1910. By the time war broke out 500 houses had been built on the estate and all were 1903. King Edward VII Parade, the middle let. part of The Pavement and Nos. 2-7 of Station Parade on the west side and Victoria 1906-1911. Strathyre Ave. Parade and Norbury Parade on the east side. 1906-1929. Kensington Ave. 1903. Roche Rd. 1906-1937. Henry & Co, photographic 1903. Victoria Parade, inc. Sainsbury’s printers at 65 Fairview Rd. (Barclays Bank today) and Post Office (now Mirch Masala). 1907. Park Rd.

1903-1912. Kilmartin Ave. 1907-1909 former Fairview Rd Brasserie now brewery S. T. Ferment Co. 1904. Brighton and Albion Parades and the rest of The Pavement and Station Parade 1907-1910. Composer Samuel Coleridge- south of Acacia Road under construction. Taylor lived at Hill Crest one of the nine Albion between Semley and Tylecroft Rds. villas built up to Ederline Rd going south: the others Lynwood, St. Olaves, St 1904. Closure of Pollards Hill brick-making Margarets, Hasemdean, Beechcroft, field. Site converted to public park. Carrington, St Kilda, St Elmo and then Hill Crest on the corner with Ederline Avenue. 1904. Ernest H Shepherd, illustrator, married Florence Eleanor Chaplin while they

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1908. 6 properties between Semley and 1914. Death of James Hobbs who still lived Stanford Roads and Pollards Hill Gardens on at Norbury Hall. the open area south of 'Norbury Lodge'. Stanford Parade (between Stanford Rd and 1914. London Rd flooded. Semley Rd). The First World War and Inter-War Period

1908. St Stephen’s Church, Warwick Rd. 1914. Stanford Rd School pupils transferred 1908-1929. Semley Rd. to Winterbourne School and school became military . 1908-1963. Wates builders based at 1258 London Rd. 1914-present. Various garages at 34-36 Fairview Rd. 1909. service extended from Streatham to Hermitage Bridge, where 1915. Building began on two new parades: passengers had to change. Welford Parade (1-5) and The Broadway (1 and 2). 1909-1913. Purchase of site in Abingdon Rd and building of Stanford Rd school. 1917. 1 & 2 Melrose Parade.

1910. King Edward VII hall re-modelled and 1919. Stanford Rd school reopens as Norbury reopened as Palais de Luxe cinema. Manor School for Boys.

1911. Pollards Hill Golf Club established to 1919-1933. Darcy Rd. 1940s. 1920. Palais de Luxe renamed Norbury 1911-1912. Adfern Ave and Dalmeny Ave Cinema. built. 1920-21. Ave.

1911-1930. Dunkeld (now Dunbar) Ave built. 1920-1922. LCC built a further 218 homes on 1911-1937. Fairview Laundry at 32 Fairview the Norbury Cottage Garden Estate. Rd. 1920-1931. Isham Rd.

1911-1938. Pollards Hill Golf Club, next to 1921. 9,413 residents. South Lodge Ave. 1921-1922. Pollards Wood Rd. 1912. 1-7 Roche Rd built. 1921-26. Westminster Ave. 1912. St Philips Church made a parish in its own right. 1921-1927. Buckingham Ave and County Rd built. 1912. Residents of Norbury and Thornton Heath presented a petition to Croydon 1922. 'Craigleith' between Pollards Hill County Council on 29 July asking it to North and Beatrice Avenue . 10-14 The acquire as an open space three and a half Broadway and Nos. 12-15 Victoria Parade acres of land on Pollards Hill which was to Beech Gardens; and Buckingham Ave. be built on. 1922. Semley Baptist Church. 1912-3. In response to the petition Sir Frederick Edridge donated the land at to the 1922-3. Hawthorn Ave. Council for the Pollards Hill Recreation 1922-1924. 8-10 Roche Rd. Ground, in which the Council erected the drinking fountain; opened July. 1922-1940. Birth of , author, family living at 16 Buckingham Gdns., then 7 1912-1930. Norton Gdns built. Ena Rd, then 53 Galpins Rd. Attended St 1914. Completion of Albion Parade. 6

Hilda’s Primary School (London Rd), and 1927. Birth of Corelli Barnet, historian to Norbury College. Norbury family.

1923. Four houses north of them and 1927 & 1928. Norbury Cross. 'Stonyways' just south of Beatrice Avenue. Completion of Melrose Parade, The 1927-1936. Norbury Rise. Pavement and Nos. 8 and 9 of The 1927-1949. Will Hay, comedian and actor, Broadway. lived at 45 The Chase.

Mid-1920s. Parade between Fairview and 1928-9. Construction of houses between Stanford Rds built, inc. Lloyds, and a 'Wychwood' and Pollards Hill South. Southern Suburban Co-op building next to it. 1929. Oakhill Rd. 1920s. St. Philips Church vicarage built. 1929. 1348-50 & 1358-68 Craignish Ave. 1923-1929. Ena Rd. 1930. 1354-1356 Craignish Ave. 1924. Nos. 3-7 The Broadway parade completed. Start of Royal Parade and the Early 1930s. Jon Creasey, author lived in northern end of College Parade (Nos. 1530- Pollards Hill area. 1544). 1931. 15,538 residents. 1924. Norbury Cinema has dance floor added. 1931. Norbury Library opened.

1924. Royal Parade between Craignish Ave. 1931. Tisbury Rd.

1924–present. Norbury Public House and the 1931. Shelter erect in Pollards Hill Edge. Recreation ground in memory of Mr. W. A. McWilliam, a popular GP on London Rd. 1924-1925. Croindene Rd. 1931-1937. Turle Rd. 1925. Lloyd Ave. 1932-present. Norbury Junior School opened 1925. Police station opened. Nos. 1518-1528 in Abingdon Rd now Norbury Manor Primary (Welford Parade). Building started on the School. area between Stanford Road and 'The Uplands', 1933-present. St Oswald’s Anglican Church.

1925-1927. Southbrook Rd. 1935. Croydon Borough Council, purchases Norbury golf course and part became 1926. Upwood Rd. Norbury Park.

1926. Tram track systems connected 1935-7. T the novelist and creator of Sexton allowing continuous journeys from Croydon Blake Edwy Searles Brooks and his wife to London. Frances moved into 26 Briar Road.

1926. Completion of properties between 1937. Norbury Cinema closes. ABC Rex Victoria Parade and St Helen's Road with cinema opens on other side of London Rd. demolition of the two original villas. Norbury Arms Public House opens (now The Norbury and The Edge). 1926. Council decided to re-number the road for the first time. 1937-1939. Ralph Reader, producer of The Gang Show lived in Beatrice Ave. May 1927. Council decided to continue numbering from West Croydon 1938. Semley Social Club on site on Norbury Villa.

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The Second World War Corporation for an old people’s home and public park for £35,000. 1940. Kensington Ave block of flats. 1958. Girls school opens in Norbury Park Wartime. Former Norbury cinema used as a near Kensington Ave. British Restaurant selling cheap meals for armed services personnel. 1958. Metropolitan House office block at 1284 London Rd. Housed metropolitan Wartime. Norbury Joinery Works built district HQ of F. W. Woolworths. wooden glider planes for parachute landings in Holland. 1959. Grandison School of Dancing at 1260 London Rd closed. 1944. August. 4 V1 flying bombs fell on Pollards Hill, two in Norbury Crescent, and 1950s. Doreen Harris, dancer and singer one each in Norbury Court Rd, Hatch Rd, lived in Croindene Rd with her husband and near the Police Station, near Hermitage son (born 1958). Lane, Norbury Park, Acacia Rd, County Rd and Norbury Ave. 1960s

Post War Period 1961 4 Beatrice Avenue built at the bottom of the garden of what had been No. 1171 1945ff. Only new building to replace bomb London Road. damage. 1962. Shirley Court on the site of the three 1947. Birth of Janet Stephanie Francis, villas (Nos. 1171-75). ballet dancer and actress whose family lived 1962. Rex Cinema closed and became Alpha at Gibsons Hill and she went to Kensington Bingo Club. Ave School. 1962-1965. Phoenix House built by Wates on Late 1940s/early 1950s. The author Michael site of British Legion building. New hall for Moorcock lived and went to a preparatory Legion added at back. school in Norbury at some stage during this period. Early 1960s. Wates brothers purchase Grandison School. 1951. Last tram runs. 1960s to present. Windsor House at 1270 Mid 1950s. Nos. 1171-75 were pulled down. London Rd built on site of Rosslare, a 1954-1956. Douglas Kenn, Concessionaires & Victorian villa. Distributors at Fairview Rd. 1960s(?)-1983. , actor and 1955. Somerset Gardens with 28 town houses entertainer lived in Norbury Crescent. where Nos. 1177-79 had been destroyed by a 1963. Wates opens new headquarters bomb. building at 1260 London Rd. Opened 1956 to present. Council owned Norbury September by Sir Keith Joseph. Darby and Joan Club Harlow Hall, Oakhill 1964. Alpha Bingo Club closed at 1272 Rd. London Rd and demolished and Radnor 1956. Douglas Holt automotive chemical House office building built. products at 65 Fairview Rd. S. M. Stuart 1967. Solent House office block built at 1258 Turner, Engineers & Manufacturers in London Rd. Fairview Rd.

1956. Ada Hobbs (James’s daughter) dies at 1970s Norbury Hall and estate sold to Croydon 1970s. After use as warehouse for Carson’s Paints and Ronsons and a show room for 8

Norland’s. The former Norbury Cinema 1989. New block of nine flats was erected on became a Gateway . the site of Nos.1269-1285 next to Norbury Library. Three villas south of Ederline 1970. Fire Station built on the site of No. Avenue were pulled down and another block 1321. of flats - Chatsworth Court built.

1973. Council motorway box Early 1990s. Wee Willy Harris, singer, lived plans proposed cutting through Norbury. in Turle Rd. Later dropped after protests. 1999. The four villas south of Norbury Court 1974. Kintyre Rd built after demolition of Road (Nos. 1297-1303) demolished and 1194-1204 were pulled down. Kintyre Close replaced with a new terrace. four blocks of 30 flats replaced the original six detached houses. 1999. Metropolitan House converted to flats with additional floors as Anderson House. 1977. Wesylan Church demolished. Norbury Health Centre built. The Period 2000-2011

1978. Partial demolition of the Methodist 2000. Refurbishment of Aucklands and Church and replacement with the Norbury Bethany House as Osprey Court. Health Centre. 2000. Solent House office block converted to 1979. Nos 1289-95 were demolished. 103 . Bethany House and Aucklands blocks of flats built. 2003. King William IV pub demolished.

1980s & 1990s 2003. Wates moves out of its offices in Norbury. 1980s. Semley Social Club becomes Semley Dance Studio. 2006. 1261-67 demolished and Knowledge

1986. Norbury Manor School for Boys closed. Court (15 flats) built. Radnor House Freeman Court built. converted to floats.

1986. Phoenix House renamed Astral House. 2011. Council proposes to close Library and others. Protests reverse decision. 1987. The Norbury Hall old people’s home was privatised.

Sources

William Anderson. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Surrey (1809).

John Bew. The ambulator; or, The stranger's companion in a tour round London, collected by a gentleman. (1820) (p. 241)

David Clark. A History of Norbury. The Streatham Society. 2013. Now out of print.

Sean Creighton. The Edwardian library legacy of an Anglo-Pole. Croydon Citizen. 14 September 2016. https://thecroydoncitizen.com/culture/edwardian-library-legacy-anglo-pole

Croydon Council. Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan. Supplementary Planning document. 2014

The Croydon database. http://www.cleis.org.uk/cdb-4.0/node/1410

Croydon in the Past. Historical, Monumental & Biographical. p.xii, 34 (James W. Ward. 1883)

Gray & Warren's Directory 1859 9

Oliver Harris. The Archbishop’s Town. The Making of Medieval Croydon. Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society. Proceedings Vol 18. Part 9. August 2005.

Jack Neighbour. Pollards Hill. A History. May 1991

John Malcolm. A compendium of modern husbandry: principally written during a survey of Surrey, made at the desire of the Board of Agriculture; illustrative also of the best practices in the neighbouring counties, Kent, Sussex, &c.; in which is comprised an analysis of manures shewing their chemical contents, and the proper application of them to soils and plants of all descriptions; also an essay on timber exhibiting a view of the increasing scarcity of that important article, with hints on the means of counteracting it; together with a variety of miscellaneous subjects of the internal economy of the kingdom. Volume 1. (1805) (p.358)

Ordnance Survey Map 1861

Ward's Directory 1880

History & Social Action Publications

6 Oakhill Rd, London, SW16 5RG

February 2017. Re-printed May 2018.

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