JI ulwich Society TO FOSTER AND .SAFEGUARD THE AMENITIES OF DULWICH Newsletter 71 Jan itary 198 6 YOUR SOCIETY NEEDS YOU If you really value the work of the Dulwich Society we appeal to you now for some urgently­ needed help of the simplest and easiest kind. THE DULWICH SOCIETY NEWSLETTER 71: Keep your eyes and ears open for new members. JANUARY 1986 You may not have time for regular Society activities, but this is something that every member can do, and it is something very important. Like any local amenity society, the Dulwich Chairman: Captain OS Wyatt, OBE, RN Society can work effectively only if it is 148 Thurlow Park Road, SE21. the voice for a large number of local Telephone: 693 2123. residents. Its voice only has authority if its membership is large. Vice-Chairman: Peter FJ Lawson Like any local amenity society, the Oulwich DA, FRIBA, FCI ARB, FRSA, VPFB Society's membership must be kept up. The 41 Village Way, SE21. natural course of events can be relied upon Telephone: 733 2646. to cut our numbers relentlessly every year. It takes constant and positive effort to increase or maintain those numbers. Secretary: Mrs RFU Taylor 30 Walkerscroft Mead, SE21. Your Committee's problem is to spot new Telephone: 670 0890. members in sufficient numbers, and this is where you can help so much and so easily. Treasurer: AJ Davis, FCA Simply keep alert to new arrivals whenever 38 Stonehills Court, SE21. they come to your attention, then tell us Telephone: 693 1713. about them. If you see a "For Sale" sign, give us the address when the sign comes down and we'll deliver a Broadsheet. If you meet (or hear ab6ut) newcomers in your immediate neighbourhood, let us know: and ask yourself if any of your present neighbours couldn't be persuaded to join. If you're ready to be a little more active, ********** keep some Broadsheets (with Application Form) yourself. Then go out and do some recruiting. The people to get in touch with are:- Jeremy Webb Chairman, Membership and Publicity Sub-Cttee 107 Woodwarde Rd, SE22 SUP: 693 7297. Jim Davis Treasurer, 38 Stonehills Court, SE21: 693 1713. 2 3 THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Alternatively, please contact anyone whose name appears inside the front cover of the The official notification and Agenda are printed in Society's Newsletters. accordance with the Society's Rules. We hope very much that you will be able to be present. Please help us! The Society is here to look after the interests of local residents. It THE DULWICH SOCIETY: Notice is hereby given that the needs their backing. 23rd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the DULWICH SOCIETY wiil be held at 8.00pm on Thursday 6th March 1986 in Jeremy Webb. St Barnabas Hall Dulwich Village. AGENDA ********** 1. MINUTES of the 22nd Annual General Meeting held on 7th March 1985 to be read and approved. 2. Chairman's Report, including reports by the Chairmen of Sub-Committees. 3. Treasurer's Report. 4. secretary's Report. A SUCCESSFUL OUTCOME 5. Election of·Officers and Executive Committee members for 1986-87:- The Dulwich Friends of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund held their 4th Annual Exhibition of art and pottery (a) President. in the Great Hall of Dulwich College in October. (b) Vice-Presidents. (c) Chairman. • Once more, the Exhibition was very well attended, and (d) Vice-Chairman. proved to be a great success both socially and (e) Secretary. financially. Over £4500 was raised for Cancer Research, (f) Treasurer. and we are pleased to report this was £1000 more than (g) Executive Committee members. was raised last year. 6. Appointment of Auditor. We feel that it is now becoming a very popular Dulwich event, and one which we hope we will be able to 7. Any Other Business. continue presenting annually. Note: Nominations for election as an Officer ~r member of the Executive Committee must be submitted in writing to the Executive Committee by two members ********** not less than fourteen days before 6th March, and must be endorsed by the candidate in writing (Rule 9) · Nominations may be sent by post to the Hon. Secretary. Robin Taylor Hon. Secretary ********** 4 5 LOCAL HISTORY Sub-Committee FORTHCOMING EVENTS The latter days of Court Farm and the early days of Dulwich Park. February 6th Trees 8pm Illustrated lecture The autumn meeting of the Society arranged by the Sub-Committee on "Caring for Trees" St Barnabas Local History Sub-Committee took place in St Barnabas Hall by Mr W Matthews, Parish Hall on Thursday 7 November, and was attended Past Chairman of the by 80 members and visitors. Trees Council, and present Technical The opportunity was taken to commemorate the Centenary Advisor to 'The Men of the Trees'. of the opening of Dulwich Park in 1885. Mr Jerry Tester the present Park Manager, brought along an March 6th 23rd Annual General exhibition of photographs and press cuttings.whic~ 8pm Meeting. had originally been. mounted for the celebrat~ons ~n St Barnabas the Park in September: this enhanced the audiences Hall enjoyment of the talk, on the his~ory of th~ site now occupied by the Park, which was given by Brian Green May 1st Wildlife "Our Garden Ponds, and accompanied by slides. 8pm Sub-Committee above and below the St Barnabas surface". Showing of Brian Green told us of Dulwich Court, the substantial Hall slides taken during house which was built some time between 1538 and 1603, and which Edward Alleyn may have occupied while the the survey of Dulwich Ponds: followed by Chapel, College and Almshouses were bein~ built i~ the BBC Film "The Water Village nearby.~ From the time of Alleyn s death ~n Walkers" with 1624 Dulwich Court and 129 acres of the surrounding commentary. farmiand tended to be leased as an investment by prosperous London businessmen, who then su~let to local oulwich farmers. We learnt of one such main tenant, OTHER EVENTS Edward Le Neve, who leased Dulwich Court from 1691 to 1738, and who sublet the farmland to two well-known Wednesdays oulwich farming families, the Budders and the Bowens. World Wildlife Series of film and A descendant of Edward Le Neve, Miss Josephine Le Neve March 19th Fund - lecture meetings. April 16th Dulwich Group Further information Foster, had supplied Brian Green with.valuable informa­ May 21st may be obtained from tion, and was able to attend the meeting. 7.30pm the Group Organiser, Horniman Museum Ruth Day The history of Court Farm during the 19th century is 18 Zenoria St. SE22 dominated by the figure of Colonel Constable, who Tel: 693 4259. farmed the estate and a number of adjacent fields - in all about 200 acres - from the 1820s until 1867. After April 26th Norwood "From French's Field this date, the Farm steadily contrac~ed in size, but Saturday the farmhouse - which may well have incorporated part Society to Knight's Hill" - 10.30am * of the old Dulwich court - and several fields continued a voyage of discovery led by Geoffrey to exist until 192\3. The major reduction in size was Manning. of course due to the gift of the Estates Governors to For further details the Metropolitan Board of Works of 72 acres (not all of it court Farm land) to form the future Dulwich Park. please phon2 670 6048. Meet at "The Pa;,ton" - * Bill de Baerdemaecker concluded the evening by show­ junction of South ing a sequence of slides relating to the history of Croxted Rd and Gipsy Hill. court Lane, the Farm and the Park, which_deepened the audience's appreciation of the talk. Brian Green pointed out that old field boundaries are.s~ill pre­ ********** served in the major pathways and the surviving tree- 7 6 lines in the Park. Many of us felt we would now find a stroll through the Park a matter for greater interest THE BICKNELLS of HERNE HILL (PT. 1) and discovery than ever before. In 1937, approval was given for Anstey Road near Loughborough Junction to be renamed 'Bicknell Road' Hilary Rosser. and, on older maps, a row of shops on the crest of Herne Hill is known as 'Carlton Parade'. These are the only reminders of the large and interesting ********** family who once lived on Herne Hill. Few people know much about them now, despite the entries of Bicknell and one of his sons in the "National Bio­ graphy": the fact that another son founded a Museum: that Bicknell and yet another son wrote books on the flora of the Mediterranean which are still used for reference purposes by the Royal Horticultural Society: that another son was one of the first Englishmen to climb the Matterhorn, and that the family vault is on the West Norwood Cemetery Tomb Trail. Elhanan Bicknell was born in Southwark in 1778, the son of a schoolmaster. After short periods working as an assistant teacher at his father's school in Tooting, and training to be a gentleman farmer, he entered into partnership with a cousin in a business with interests in shipping and the Pacific sperm-whale industry. In a later census he is described as "shipowner and mer­ chant". Certainly by 1818, at the age of 40, he was successful enough and wealthy enough to purchase land on Herne Hill, next to the Casina House Estate, and there build the substantial 'Carlton House'. His estate covered most of the present Danecroft Road to Frankfurt Road, opposite No.28 Herne Hill, the first home of the Ruskin family. He married four times and had thirteen children. By the time he was 37 he had lost two wives, but his third marriage lasted 21 years and he and his wife had eight children.