South Norwood

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South Norwood

Coordinates: 51.3995° N 0.0747° W
OS grid reference	TQ340684
London borough	Croydon
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	SE25
Dial code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
UK Parliament	Croydon Central
	Croydon North
London Assembly	Croydon and Sutton
European Parliament	London
List of places: UK • England • London

South Norwood is a place in the London Borough of Croydon. It is a suburban development 7.8 miles (12.5 km) south-south-east of Charing Cross. In common with West Norwood and Upper Norwood it is named after a contraction of Great North Wood. It has a population of around 32,000.

South Norwood is home to South Norwood Country Park, a former sewage farm and site of a fireworks factory now converted into a nature reserve. It also includes Croydon Sports Arena, which consists of a football club and a full-size running track. The arena is situated next to Arena tramlink stop. Crystal Palace F.C. play at Selhurst Park, which is between South Norwood and Selhurst.

The Council ward of South Norwood is represented by one Labour and two Conservative Councillors.

South Norwood is unofficially divided into the slightly wealthier area on the northwest side of the railway and the less wealthy area on the southeast. This is likely due to the fact that on the northwest side there was a private estate and the southeast side had many terraced houses for the workers in the brick factory. The entrance to the estate was between a pair of pillars. These have long since been demolished. However the capitals were preserved and now sit on the two brick pillars at the Selhurst Road entrance to the South Norwood recreation ground. The area regarded by locals as the nicest area^{[citation needed]} of South Norwood is known unofficially as South Norwood Lakes after the lake in South Norwood Lake and Grounds, a former reservoir of the Croydon Canal. In 2006, it was the scene of a fatal stabbing.^[1]

The northernmost point of South Norwood is Beaulieu Heights (alternatively spelt Beulah Heights, Beaulah Heights and Beulieu Heights) which contains Beulah Heights Park, overlapping with Upper Norwood.

1 History
2 Schools
3 Open Spaces
4 Amenities
5 Transport
- 5.1 Buses
- 5.2 Road
- 5.3 Rail
- 5.4 Trams
6 SE25
7 Nearest places
8 External links
9 References

[edit] History

Handley's Brickworks' seven chimneys once dominated the landscape of the area. It has been demolished and the site changed into a park and lake, called Brickfields Meadow. Over 20 pubs were to be found in a 1.5 mile radius, but many of these have closed. Some of South Norwood's famous pubs, such as the Jolly Sailor and The Albert, are still busy and are mentioned in the Good Pub Guide^{[citation needed]}.

Arthur Conan Doyle lived in Tennison Road, South Norwood, from 1891 to 1894, and used the area as the setting for a Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Norwood Builder. D.H. Lawrence taught at Davidson School before the First World War. In 1966, a dog called Pickles discovered the recently stolen World Cup Jules Rimet Trophy under a bush in Beulah Hill ^[2].

The former Stanley Technical High School is currently being refurbished and is now called the Harris Academy South Norwood^[3] to avoid confusion with the Harris school in nearby Crystal Palace. Many local residents are upset^[4] that the name Stanley was removed from the school, as William Stanley, who had the school built in 1907, is a famous and well regarded figure in South Norwood.^[5]

[edit] Schools

A picture of the re-development of Stanley Technical into Harris Academy

There are many schools in the South Norwood area including:^[6]

Priory Special School^[7]
Heavers Farm Primary School^[8]
Harris City Academy Crystal Palace^[9] - formerly Harris City Technology College
Harris Academy South Norwood^[10] - formerly Stanley Technical High School^[11]
South Norwood Primary School^[12]
Cypress Junior School^[13]
Cypress Infant School^[14]
St Chads RC Primary School^[15]

You can find more information about the two secoundary schools in the area which are now both associated with Harris Federation here

[edit] Open Spaces

South Norwood has many parks and open spaces this includes;^[16]

Image:Lond.jpg

A shot of Croydon Arena's running track and stand

For a full list of parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Croydon check List of Parks and Open Spaces in Croydon

[edit] Amenities

South Norwood contains many leisure facilities owned by Sport Croydon.^[25] South Norwood Leisure Centre on Portland Road is the local leisure centre which after refurbishment will include a 25m swimming pool, a gym, a crèche, a café and more. There is also a library on Selhurst Road South Norwood Library.^[26] Croydon Arena^[27] is a small multi-use sports arena in South Norwood, it's on the edge of South Norwood Country Park located next to Arena tram stop.

[edit] Transport

[edit] Buses

South Norwood is served by many London bus routes. Although there are no night buses, route 75 is a 24-hour route, plus the 196 travels into Central London. There are also two bus stands in South Norwood both at Norwood Junction station, one on the west side of the rail lines (for the 197 and the 312 bus routes) and the east side of the lines (for the 130 and 196 bus routes). All of these services are operated by either Selkent, Travel London, Arriva London, Metrobus, London Central and London General.

[edit] Road

Two A roads, the A215 and the A213 are in the South Norwood area. The A213 is the High Street, Penge Road and Selhurst Road. The A215 is Portland Road and South Norwood Hill.

[edit] Rail

A typical Southern train that serves Norwood Junction

Norwood Junction railway station is the main station serving South Norwood. It is located at the heart of the town just of the High Street. It has 7 platforms but only 5 are in use at the present time. Southern and Southeastern trains run to London Bridge, East and West Croydon stations and urban and rural stations thereafter. The other nearest stations are:

The Thameslink Programme (formerly known as Thameslink 2000), is a £3.5 billion major project to expand the Thameslink network from 51 to 172 stations^[28] spreading northwards to Bedford, Peterborough, Cambridge and King's Lynn and southwards to Guildford, Eastbourne, Horsham, Hove to Littlehampton, East Grinstead, Ashford and Dartford. The project includes the lengthening of platforms, station remodelling, new railway infrastructure (e.g. viaduct) and additional rolling stock. If implemented, First Capital Connect services would call at the station.

Transport for London has begun work on the southern extension of the East London Line as part of the London Overground. On completion, proposed services would run between West Croydon and Dalston Junction via London Docklands.

Sign at Woodside tram stop

[edit] Trams

Trams do not run through South Norwood, however the nearest tram stop is Woodside. The route does not pass through South Norwood, though there were initial proposals for a stop.^{[citation needed]} If current proposals for an extension to Crystal Palace^[29] are approved, then a second stop at Penge Road will be opened.

[edit] SE25

SE25 is the postal district of South Norwood which includes South Norwood, Selhurst and Woodside. Apart from SE19 and SW16 this is the only non-CR postcode area postcode district in the London Borough of Croydon.