Bishopsthorpe Road

[tulse hill terry]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=022

Ends 13-Jan-08 19:50:18 GMT

I did a search on the forum and there seems to be nothing on this road.

[Falkor]

The reason there is nothing on this road is because the 'Thorpes don't have much history. They were mainly laid across the garden of the Old House around 1900 when the large parade was developed in Sydenham High Street.

[tulse hill terry]

My note was just with regard to repetition, there didn't seem to be a previous posting.

[Falkor]

There's nothing to discuss. However, with the Crystal Palace, I thought there would have been TONS to discuss. Nobody batters an eyelid... Local History is at an all-time low. I blame copyright law. Maybe we should discuss Constantinople/Byzantium or something else... Let's discuss the history of the Universe and the fact that time and space have to work around the speed of light--the one real constant in our universe. Actually, I think what Sydenham needs is a major archaeological discovery of some kind, be it a Roman villa, hill fort or saxon cemetary; Sydenham could certainly do with it's own English Heritage site. I bet everyone would start talking then... a fairy-tale palace with what was the largest fountain works in the world just isn't enough, my friend.

[tulse hill terry]

Local History is at an all-time low.

Ah, Nostalgia . . . . . just ain't what it used to be.

[Falkor]

Steve once asked me, in so many words, what is appealing about local history. I became stumped for quite a while and had to really analyse this hobby over a period of days or even weeks before I could come to terms with it and understand what drives me to carry out ever more research. Nostalgia only turned out to play a very small part in it. If you were not around to see the palace standing then you cannot experience nostalgia today. The real answer is a lot more complicated, but Steve summed it up rather nicely:

For me, local history is not about nostalgia (although there is a place for that), or complaining that things aren't as good as they used to be. At its most basic it is about keeping diligent records (such as your photographs). These records can then be used to help us understand the forces that have shaped our environment and (perhaps this is over-optimistic) to inform future plans and developments.