Mount Ash Road

The History of Sydenham from Cippenham to present day. Links to photos especially welcome!
Malcolm
Posts: 22
Joined: 15 Nov 2006 17:11
Location: London

Mount Ash Rd

Post by Malcolm »

Dear BingBong

I don't know who moved in to no 30 after us, the landlord gave my parents money to move out as he was keen to sell it or re-let it and the family had been there a long time. I have a copy of the 1962 census for M. A Rd and a lot of the houses had 6/7 adults listed in them, as well as children under 18 so I think some of them were quite crowded. Looking at it reminds me that at no 35 lived Ella Ellsworth. This elderly lady ALWAYS went round the whole street to collect money for a wreath when anyone died and this was sent to the funeral on behalf of the residents, many of whom had lived there for years. Wonder if that still happens?

I am glad that the glass lean-to went as it was freezing cold in the winter, as was the old toilet!

I will take the other pics to a friend this Sunday as he has a scanner & I can them get them onto my pc and then onto here for you.

Malcolm
Steve Grindlay
Posts: 606
Joined: 4 Oct 2004 05:07
Location: Upper Sydenham

Post by Steve Grindlay »

This is an advertisement from The Lady's World Fancy Work Book, April 1913. It features Albert Charles Goodall and his wife, with their eleven children. They lived at 12 Mount Ash Road. Thirteen people in one house must have been rather cramped.
Image

Here is a more detailed version of the LCC Bomb Damage maps that Falkor posted elsewhere. The black circle shows where the V2 landed on 14 Jan 1945. The colours indicate the degree of destruction, from black (total destruction), purple (damaged beyond repair), red (seriously damaged) and so on.
Image
Liberty
Posts: 48
Joined: 23 Jul 2006 20:25
Location: Upper Sydenham

Post by Liberty »

Fasinating about number 12 I have no idea how 13 people can manage in houses of this size..
Malcolm
Posts: 22
Joined: 15 Nov 2006 17:11
Location: London

Mount Ash Rd

Post by Malcolm »

Great advert...and our neighbour when we were at no 30 was a Mrs Goodall too!

As promised amother couple of pics of no 30. This is a close up of the front door:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37095452@N00/306708541/

And this is the top front bedroom, complete with gaslamp...and both of these pics were taken in 1949/50.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37095452@N ... otostream/

Sorry I still don't understand the process for loading pics straight onto these pages, tried to follow the instructions but no joy :-((

Malcolm
Liberty
Posts: 48
Joined: 23 Jul 2006 20:25
Location: Upper Sydenham

Post by Liberty »

Would anyone know where I start trying to find out who lived in my property through out history. Where would I start to look?

Thanks

Great pictures Malcolm
Steve Grindlay
Posts: 606
Joined: 4 Oct 2004 05:07
Location: Upper Sydenham

Post by Steve Grindlay »

Liberty wrote:Would anyone know where I start trying to find out who lived in my property through out history. Where would I start to look?
You'd have to go to [Lewisham Local Studies], Liberty. They have a comprehensive collection of street and trade directories, and access to census returns plus much else. Also, if you wanted to PM me with your address, I'll see what I have in my own records; it might help to get you started.
Liberty
Posts: 48
Joined: 23 Jul 2006 20:25
Location: Upper Sydenham

Post by Liberty »

Thanks very much Steve PM sent..

I will also try to get down to look at Lewisham Local Studies
kenny b
Posts: 18
Joined: 27 Nov 2006 22:58
Location: wiltshire

Post by kenny b »

hi, I interesting to see that bomb damage map of Panmure Road.
I lived at number 16 panmure from when it was built, circa 1950, to the 1960`s, then we moved over the road to number 15 on the site of the destroyed methodist church.
I can remember them building the houses on the lower side of Panmure Road.
Interesting to read that the houses colapsed into the hole left by the V2, I wonder if this was an exaggeration? At no 16 we had two apple tress that were obviously survivors of an earlier house.
In the 1950`s it was so quiet there, from the top of Panmure Rd you could see wheat fields ripening over towards Addinton. No more than about two cars in the street, if that; and the uphill part of the road had some fantastic mature horse chestnut trees, now gone.
The wildlife was amazing, housemartins and swallows, families of hedgehogs, grass snakes, all kinds of birds.
Mount Ash had something of a reputation as a bit rough! we used to call them the Bash st kids, a state of semi warfare between the two streets; we found them a bit scary!!
At the back of no 8 or 10 Panmure, the house in Mount Ash had had a really nice play house built for a downs syndrome girl called Esther, by her father. bet its gone now.Is that huge wooden wall at the end of Mount ash still?
Went back some years ago, amazed at how all the bits have been filled in with housing.
I went to Kelvin Grove school at the age of 5, well over 40 to a class as it filled up with all us baby boomers
Sydenham hill was a dirt track then too, bet you can`t believe that!, only surfaced when the estate on Sydenham was built . My father worked on that for years.
Has any one seen the large blocks of stone in the banks toward the last blocks of flats on that estate? and do you know what they are?
Found this site idley surfing,what a lot of memories come back.
leaf
Posts: 590
Joined: 6 Jul 2006 16:17
Location: Not so far away.

Post by leaf »

"Has any one seen the large blocks of stone in the banks toward the last blocks of flats on that estate? and do you know what they are?"

Yes and no,do you know what they are?

*welcome to syd forum :D .
Liberty
Posts: 48
Joined: 23 Jul 2006 20:25
Location: Upper Sydenham

Post by Liberty »

Great info kenny b.. Funny that two next door streets could be at war :lol:
kenny b
Posts: 18
Joined: 27 Nov 2006 22:58
Location: wiltshire

Post by kenny b »

hi leaf,
those blocks of stone are grave markers!!
If I remember their location correctly, they are in the bank by or near the last blocks of flats toward Crystal palace.
Evidently the whole of that site from the hill to wells park was an abanoed monastry or the like; My father worked for Rush and Tomkin who built the estate, and came home early one day the site having been closed when machinery started to unearth loads of skeletons under those same blocks.
When I was about 6 I recall being able to get into the grounds at the Wells Park end and can still feel the vastness of the trees that towered there. The bigger lads scared the life out of us little `uns with tales of bears and other animals!
This site has bought back so many memories I`ll try and write down my memories of a walk along syd hill, I can recall all those vast houses there, a real crime to have pulled them down.nmoderator can always snip if it gets boring! My whole life was between Sydenham hill and wells park road then.
Liberty
Posts: 48
Joined: 23 Jul 2006 20:25
Location: Upper Sydenham

Post by Liberty »

I'm sure it will not get boring kenny b I find the whole thing fasinating :)
Steve Grindlay
Posts: 606
Joined: 4 Oct 2004 05:07
Location: Upper Sydenham

Post by Steve Grindlay »

Falkor posted some pictures of St Mary's Oratory, the graves and the estate [here]
kenny b
Posts: 18
Joined: 27 Nov 2006 22:58
Location: wiltshire

Post by kenny b »

Thats very interesting, never seen those, but the pictures of the tall trees seem to be what I remember.
the blocks are not like those cross markers , they may not even be in the place they originally were, I`m sure of that.
what I recall is that those bodies that were under 100 years old, had to be post-mortemed . but all would have been reburiedsome where else.
as for bits left behind, well the graves were lost or forgotten then until a mechanical excavator found them again, so make your own minds up!
leaf
Posts: 590
Joined: 6 Jul 2006 16:17
Location: Not so far away.

Post by leaf »

thanks kenny and none of this is boring,we're quite the history buffs on here[well steve grindlay is and the rest of us are just wannabes!],

its interesting to hear about the bodies being turfed up with the diggers,i have heard a lot of spooky stories about sydenham hill estate and 'the bodies' but have had them explained away with the reasoning that all of the graves were dug up and reburied elsewhere...........
kenny b
Posts: 18
Joined: 27 Nov 2006 22:58
Location: wiltshire

Post by kenny b »

Now spooky stories about that estate I`ve not heard.... mind you in later years it gave me the creeps.....
Thers a house mentioned here at the top of Panmure rd,which I presume is the one at a right angle angle at the very top on the left? Thats the house were a friend of mine lived, his father hung himself from the basement door, that`ll be a spooky tale for the new owners,
Another guy shot himself at the top of the lane to the station opp Dulwich wood house pub with a home made gun; that always feels spooky.
Is there a link to the photos of the shops in kirkdale?
and I`d love a link to more of those bomb damage plans
leaf
Posts: 590
Joined: 6 Jul 2006 16:17
Location: Not so far away.

Post by leaf »

Now spooky stories about that estate I`ve not heard.... mind you in later years it gave me the creeps.....
Thers a house mentioned here at the top of Panmure rd,which I presume is the one at a right angle angle at the very top on the left? Thats the house were a friend of mine lived, his father hung himself from the basement door, that`ll be a spooky tale for the new owners,


:shock: that would scare me!
Malcolm
Posts: 22
Joined: 15 Nov 2006 17:11
Location: London

Mount Ash Rd

Post by Malcolm »

Mount Ash Rd kids rough? How very dare you?!

In fact we thought the kids from Panmure were very dodgy and I never walked down it in all the time I lived there.

Like Kenny B I remember Sydenham then (late 1950s/early1960s) as feeling almost rural, blackberrying on the old Crystal Palace Railway Line, huge trees everywhere, overgrown gardens and "secret" places like Mount Ash Gdns & Cox's walk, which I was told was haunted!

Apart from all the other shops mentioned elsewhere, there was Rose's wool shop (which my Mother used a lot) and the trendy Ginadecor which felt very new in the 60s. Also there was a strange place next to Motts the chemist which sold/made aquariums and other glass things...........
BingBong
Posts: 76
Joined: 31 Oct 2006 18:52
Location: se26

Post by BingBong »

leaf wrote:Now spooky stories about that estate I`ve not heard.... mind you in later years it gave me the creeps.....
Thers a house mentioned here at the top of Panmure rd,which I presume is the one at a right angle angle at the very top on the left? Thats the house were a friend of mine lived, his father hung himself from the basement door, that`ll be a spooky tale for the new owners,


:shock: that would scare me!
No need - I know the flats which are now part of the building at 53-55 Panmure Road and no one screams at night from the past, even in the garden flats!

It's pretty likely that in any old house, someone must have died there at sometime. Though to be fair, in less drastic circumstances, I guess.
richardson
Posts: 1
Joined: 23 Jan 2007 05:32
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Book on Mount Ash

Post by richardson »

Liberty mentioned in a posting that a book has been purchased. My mother lived at 16 Mount Ash from 1928 and I would like to purchase this book for her. Can the publication details and where to purchase be given? I live in Australia.
Thankyou.
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