Selsdon Wood is a woodland area located in the

London Borough of Croydon The London Borough of Croydon () is a London borough, borough in South London, part of Outer London. It covers an area of and had a population of 397,741 as of mid-2023, making it the most populous London borough. It is London's southernmost ...

. The park is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

but managed by the London Borough of Croydon. It is a Local Nature Reserve. The wood has a Friends group – the Friends of Selsdon Wood (FSW) – who have their own website. Following the death of the 'Squire' in 1923 the large private rural estate of

Selsdon Selsdon is a village in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Croydon, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Prior to 1965 it was in the historic county of Surrey. It now has the character of a suburb and sits at a high e ...

was to be broken up and developed for housing. A group of five called the 'Selsdon Wood Preservation Scheme' banded to raise public funds to buy and save the area. This took 10 years with appeals in major newspapers of the time. The five leaders of the Preservation groups were Sir Lawrence Wesley Chubb, Alice Mabel Bonus (niece of Anna Kingsford), Winifred Mary Hudson (sister of Hilda Phoebe Hudson), Ernest Alfred Earl and Malcolm Sharpe (saviour of Croham Hurst).

Sir Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth-century modern synthesis. ...

(a zoological scientist) was a celebrity supporter of the Selsdon Wood Nature Reserve campaign. It was also supported by the early

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

notably Etta Lemon. In 1988 The first Forestry Show, as it was then called, was held in The Great Field of the wood. The purpose was to show off Croydon Council's new equipment and to explain what actions the Council were taking after the storm of 1987 that had brought down so many trees. The show continued as an annual event, later called the Country Show, until 2002. Over the years it grew in scale and scope, with livestock even fairground rides and it became product of its own success with attendance in thousands. There were safety concerns over access for emergency services, traffic and parking problems, the risk of damage to the environment from so much heavy equipment and escalating costs so it was decided that there should be no further shows after 2002. The statuesque bear that stands beside the car park was carved in the first year (1988) as a spectator event during the show. It was carved by a local tree surgeon, Selwyn Smith who now lives in Wales. The Wood is part of the London

Greenbelt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or gree ...

and bounds Farleigh Golf Course and Kings Wood creating an important wildlife corridor.

Access

Main entrance to the park is off Old Farleigh Road, served by bus stop Selsdon Nature Reserve on Surrey routes 409 and 411; the London Buses route 433 serves nearby Sandpiper Road, while the

London Buses route 353 This is a list of Transport for London (TfL) contracted bus routes in London, England, as well as commercial services that enter the Greater London area (except coaches). Bus services in London are operated by Arriva London, Go-Ahead London ...

serves Court Wood Lane at the back of the wood. The

London Loop The London Outer Orbital Path—more usually the "London LOOP"—is a 150-mile (242 km) signed walk along public footpaths, and through parks, woods and fields around the edge of Outer London, England, described as "the M25 for walke ...

path (Section 4 West Wickham Common to Hamsey Green) runs through the park.For more information on this London Loop path visit Transport for London sit

/ref> as does The Vanguard Way. The park is fully accessible at all times.

Facilities

Selsdon Wood facilities include: *Car park (One bay available for the disabled) at Old Farleigh Road entrance *Pond *

Public footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide va ...

s — including Section 4 of the

London LOOP The London Outer Orbital Path—more usually the "London LOOP"—is a 150-mile (242 km) signed walk along public footpaths, and through parks, woods and fields around the edge of Outer London, England, described as "the M25 for walke ...

(London Outer Orbital Path); West Wickham Common to Hamsey Green section. * Includes part of the Vanguard Way *Seats *Toilets at Old Farleigh Road entrance (Closed) *

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

s and open

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable con ...

References

External links

London Borough of Croydon: Parks and open spacesCroydon Online — parks + open spacesTransport for London: walkfinderGeograph photo: Selsdon Wood.
{{LNRs in Greater London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Croydon Local nature reserves in Greater London Nature reserves in the London Borough of Croydon

Access

Facilities

See also

References

External links