Sydenham Hill forms part of a longer ridge and is an affluent locality in southeast

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It is also the name of a road which runs along the northeastern part of the ridge, demarcating the London Boroughs of

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

, and

Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...

. Its highest part is the apex of the Boroughs of Southwark and Lewisham and the 15th-highest peak in London, at . The road connects the A205 road in the northeast at Forest Hill with the A212 road to the southwest at Crystal Palace.

Sydenham Hill railway station Sydenham Hill railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving Sydenham Hill, the Kingswood Estate, and Sydenham, London, Upper Sydenham, in south London. It is down the line from and is situated between and . The station and ...

, Sydenham Hill Wood nature reserve and ''Dulwich and Sydenham Hill Golf course'' are on its west slopes thus in the Borough of Southwark. The London boroughs of

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

and

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

have part of the hill within their jurisdiction.

Geography

Parish Church of St Stephen South Dulwich

Sydenham Hill is approximately 5.6 miles to the southeast of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

. It is also at the centre of many of south London's major shopping districts being 3.6 miles south of Lewisham, 4.6 miles northwest of Bromley and 4 miles north of Croydon. Sydenham Hill (as well as Upper Sydenham) is on the large Norwood Ridge formed of London Claygate beds deposits. As a result, Sydenham Hill is one of the highest points in London at 367 feet (112 m). Sydenham Hill Wood is a nine-hectare nature reserve west of Sydenham Hill Road, along with Dulwich and Sydenham Hill Golf course. The hill was once covered by the

Great North Wood The Great North Wood was a natural oak woodland that started south-east of central London and scaled the Norwood Ridge. At its full extent, the wood's boundaries stretched almost as far as Croydon and as far north as Camberwell. It had occ ...

which covered all of Sydenham, Norwood, Woodside,

Gipsy Hill Gipsy Hill in south London is a hilly and leafy neighbourhood spanning the southern parts of the London Boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark characterised for its stunning views of the City of London and Dulwich. Historically, north of its tra ...

etc.

History

The hill is the summit of the uppermost or eastern ridge of the Norwood Ridge which in turn was for several millennia covered by the

but sits on thin topsoil. In the 19th century Sydenham Hill became a fashionable area, with a large number of large residential properties built along Sydenham Hill, including Grange Court (1861), The Wood (1840), Dilkhoosh (now Fountain House) (1864), Highfield (1855), The Cedars (1894), Sydenham Hill House (1898), Dulwich Wood House (1858), Beltwood House (1851) and Castlebar (1879). The writer Joseph Ashby-Sterry was born into a Sydenham Hill family in 1836 or 1838.Oxford Inde
Retrieved 29 May 2019.
/ref> In 1854, the area's importance was increased after the Crystal Palace was relocated from Hyde Park and re-erected on the south-western end of the ridge. In 1863, the Chatham Main Line was opened by the

London, Chatham and Dover Railway The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England. It was created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through Lond ...

, bringing the railway to Sydenham Hill. Construction involved building a 1.2 mile (1,958 metre) tunnel through the hill, starting at College Road, going under Sydenham, and ending below the Brighton Main Line at Penge. 19 years later in 1884, another line was opened, this time to serve the Crystal Palace. The line had a new station at Upper Sydenham on the southern edge of the ridge, with direct trains to London Victoria via Peckham Rye. However, the line was poorly used, and the destruction of the Crystal Palace made the situation worse, despite the rapid growth of the area. The railway line finally closed in 1954 leaving an abandoned tunnel within the Sydenham Hill Woods.

Area

The area west and north of Sydenham Hill road and Dulwich Wood is widely known as Dulwich, mostly corresponding to the postal code area (SE21), with the east side of the woods being known simply as Sydenham, or Upper Sydenham, corresponding to the SE26 postal area. Sydenham Hill road and the ridge line marks the southern and eastern boundary of the

Dulwich Estate The Dulwich Estate, previously the Estates Governors of Alleyn's College of God's Gift at Dulwich, is a Charitable organization, registered charity in England, one of the successors to the historic charity Edward Alleyn's College of God's Gift t ...

. The area is almost 100% residential and have many large homes dating from the 1800s. As of April 2015, the estimated average house price on College Road is £854,149, while on Sydenham Hill (road) the average is £437,478, with both roads having homes in the £1–6 million range. Peckarmans Wood and Great Brownings are examples of mid-century modern estates designed by Austin Vernon and Partners for the Dulwich Estate. College Road is a private road, with a toll towards Hunts Slip Road, dating back to the 1780s. On the other side of the railway is the

Kingswood Estate The Kingswood Estate is a modern architecture, modernist housing development located in Sydenham Hill, West Dulwich in South London. Comprising 789 homes, the estate is sited on the former grounds of Kingswood House. History 19th century The hi ...

, with the Dulwich Wood Primary, Kingsdale Foundation schools and the Kingswood House Community Centre. Other roads on the hill include: Crescent Wood Road; Woodhall Drive; and, Hitherwood Drive.

Transport

Bus

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

bus routes 202, 356, 363, N63 run along the Sydenham Hill road. Route 450 serves Fountain Drive.

Railway

is on the

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

College Road, with another entrance in the Kingswood Estate. The station is served by Southeastern services to , , , and , with a frequency of every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday, 30 minutes on Sundays. Sydenham Hill is one of a handful of stations in London not to have a dedicated bus stop, with the closest being on Kingswood Drive, 0.3 miles away.

Gallery of affluent and historic housing on Sydenham Hill

File:2 Sydenham Hill, LB Southwark, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 2 Sydenham Hill,

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council ...

File:11 Sydenham Hill, LB Southwark, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 11 Sydenham Hill (Rotherwood), London Borough of Southwark File:12 Sydenham Hill, LB Southwark, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 12 Sydenham Hill (Grange Court, built 1861), London Borough of Southwark File:14 Sydenham Hill, LB Southwark, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 14 Sydenham Hill, London Borough of Southwark File:15A Sydenham Hill, LB Southwark, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 15A Sydenham Hill, London Borough of Southwark File:16 Sydenham Hill, LB Southwark, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 16 Sydenham Hill (The Wood, built 1840), London Borough of Southwark File:17 Sydenham Hill, LB Southwark, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 17 Sydenham Hill (Fountain House, built 1864), London Borough of Southwark File:23 Sydenham Hill, LB Southwark, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 23 Sydenham Hill, London Borough of Southwark File:26 Sydenham Hill, LB Southwark, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 26 Sydenham Hill, London Borough of Southwark File:26.1 Woodhouse Pub Sydenham Hill corner of southern junction with Crescent Wood Road.jpg, Wood House Pub, built 1858, Sydenham Hill, corner of southern junction with Crescent Wood Road, London Borough of Southwark File:28 Sydenham Hill, LB Southwark, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 28 Sydenham Hill (Highfield, built 1855), London Borough of Southwark File:34 Sydenham Hill, LB Lewisham, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 34 Sydenham Hill (The Cedars, built 1894),

London Borough of Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London, England. It forms part of Inner London. The principal settlement of the borough is Lewisham. The local authority is Lewisham London Borough Council, based in Catford. The ...

File:34A Sydenham Hill, LB Lewisham, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 34A Sydenham Hill (Sydenham Hill House, built 1898), London Borough of Lewisham File:Beltwood House, 41 Sydenham Hill, London Borough of Southwark, 24 July 2022.jpg, 41 Sydenham Hill ( Beltwood House, built 1851), London Borough of Southwark File:34A.1 Lammas Green Corporation of London Estate, Sydenham Hill, LB Lewisham, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, Lammas Green Estate owned by the

Corporation of London The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the local authority of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United Kingdom's fi ...

in the London Borough of Lewisham File:46 (Castlebar) Sydenham Hill, LB Lewisham, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 46 Sydenham Hill (Castlebar Care Home, built 1879), London Borough of Lewisham File:131 Sydenham Hill, LB Lewisham, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 131 Sydenham Hill, London Borough of Lewisham File:133 Sydenham Hill, LB Lewisham, 6 Feb 2022.jpg, 133 Sydenham Hill, London Borough of Lewisham File:Paying-the-toll-College-Road-London-SE21.jpg, Paying the toll at the College Road, SE21 tollgate, which dates back to 1789

References

External links

Sydenham Hill In Old Photos
{{LB Lewisham Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Southwark Hills of London