The Development of West Dulwich by Brian Green
While Croxted Road was once the parish boundary between St Mary’s, Lambeth and St Giles, Camberwell and the road would later become the boundary between the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark, some areas west of Croxted Road have historically been referred to as ‘Dulwich’ or ‘West Dulwich’. Indeed, the sale to Alleyn’s College of land which now forms part of Rosendale Road, Lovelace Road and Knights (Peabody) Hill by Charles Ranken in 1858 properly defines that area as Dulwich.
Lord Thurlow, Chancellor to George 111, owned the land which now forms part of both West Dulwich and West Norwood and had a mansion built in what is now Elmcourt Road. 160 acres of this land was part of what was known as ‘the detached portion of the Manor of Leigham Court’. Earlier, some of this land to the south side of Knights (Peabody) Hill was once in the ancient manor of Levehurst. In the 17th century the manor of Levehurst was carved up, although by 1744 the manor was reunited by the purchase of its parts by James Wall. Wall was clearly at the forefront of Georgian development, owning the land between Norwood and Croxted Roads as far south as Norwood Common (Norwood Park). Wall’s estate was superseded in 1772 by an even larger estate created by Lord Thurlow. When he died in 1806 his trustees were not able to dispose of much of the estate because of access difficulties. Such sales of land for development as there were tended to be piecemeal, some by private treaty but usually by auction
It was not until 1846, when what remained unsold was auctioned, that development of the area could be contemplated. Lot 12 (12 acres) in the auction was the land now occupied by the row of houses in Rosendale Road south of Thurlow Park Road and the row opposite was Lot 10 (6 acres). According to the Lancaster Road Residents’ Association who conducted a detailed study of the area in 1986 (with a view to obtaining Conservation Area status), it appears that the land changed hands over the next 15 years being divided into smaller plots. By 1864 a large part was owned by Charles Blake. Together with a John Davies he began what was known as the Blake estate which included, by the 1880’s, Chatsworth Way, Idmiston Road and Ardlui Road; a development prompted by the opening of Tulse Hill and Norwood railway stations.
Although that part of Rosendale Road as far south as Park Hall Road had been laid out by Lord Thurlow’s trustees in 1844 to encourage developers, building was still slow and houses in Rosendale Road numbered 117-159 which are pairs of double fronted houses appear not to have been built much before 1890. There is a shorter row diagonally opposite clearly by the same developer which might have been built somewhat earlier.
In Dulwich itself, there was a flurry of building activity following the Dulwich College Act 1857, which established a board of governors with a remit to develop the Dulwich estate in order to provide money to build schools. This activity was further stimulated by the success of the Crystal Palace Company in developing not only the new Crystal Palace, but by providing building plots adjoining it. After a few years of almost frenetic activity a downturn in the economy made the take up of development sporadic, both in the area west of Croxted Road, and the road itself, as Ian McInnes makes clear.
