Is it true that when the Crystal Palace Company bought the estate from the manor of Penge Place in 1852, it included all land between Westwood Hill and Anerley Hill down to the railway line? I find this hard to believe because it would mean that not only did Penge Place and Rockhills belong to the company at one time but also Westwood Cottage, Abbey's Farm, Westwood House, Sydenham Hall, The Old Cedars etc? Apparently, Paxton's original design for the park was going to include all this land to the north, but it was sold off to develop the Lawrie Park estate. So if all this is true then we were very close to having an entrance into Crystal Palace Park from the top of Sydenham High Street where the Kirkdale bookshop stands at the start of Westwood Hill. No doubt The Old Cedars would have got demolished, including all the shops opposite the Greyhound? Westwood House and Sydenham Hall would not have survived as long? Does that sound right?
Is it true that the Crystal Palace company destroyed the trees down Jews Walk? I seem to remember reading something about this. I know they destroyed Vicar's Oak and probably filled in the boundary stream that ran between Beckenham and Penge or was it culverted? I think the CP company did a lot of damage and failed to record history. There's only about 4-5 views of Penge Place, but they're all taken from a distance. Nobody knows when Rockhills was built...nobody knows much about Penge.
Question about the Crystal Palace estate
MANOR OF PENGE (171 acres)
Smaller land purchases from various persons (178 acres)
CRYSTAL PALACE ESTATE (349+ acres)
area to the north sold off to Mr. George Wythes of Reigate (140 acres)
CRYSTAL PALACE + PARK (209 acres)
All those buildings in Sydenham, therefore, were never part of the Manor Of Penge, but they were nevertheless part of the Crystal Palace Estate at one time.
Source
Is this the first source to point out these details regarding the Penge Place sale, including the original plan of the park? I looked through all my other books but couldn't find anything... As usual the Jan Piggott book brushes straight past this event without going into much detail.
Smaller land purchases from various persons (178 acres)
CRYSTAL PALACE ESTATE (349+ acres)
area to the north sold off to Mr. George Wythes of Reigate (140 acres)
CRYSTAL PALACE + PARK (209 acres)
All those buildings in Sydenham, therefore, were never part of the Manor Of Penge, but they were nevertheless part of the Crystal Palace Estate at one time.
Source
Is this the first source to point out these details regarding the Penge Place sale, including the original plan of the park? I looked through all my other books but couldn't find anything... As usual the Jan Piggott book brushes straight past this event without going into much detail.