Follow us on Bluesky
We promote and encourage research into Dulwich's fascinating past and are always keen to welcome new members. We write for the Society’s publications, give talks and guide local walks. We curate exhibitions, produce information boards and contribute to celebrations such as the Dulwich Festival. We have information on nearly all the houses in Dulwich: if you email us your address we can tell you its age and who lived there. Local History Group terms of reference (PDF)
Contact: Ian McInnes,
Dulwich is first mentioned in 967AD, as a hamlet granted by King Edgar to one of his nobles. The name is said to come from dill and wihs, two old English words which together mean a meadow where the dill grew. In 1127 Dulwich was given to Bermondsey Abbey, which held it for 400 years. In 1333, Dulwich’s population was recorded as 100 people.
- Details
East Dulwich broadly covers the London postcode SE22 which is bounded by Lordship Lane to the west, Peckham Rye to the East, Woodvale to the south and Champion Hill to the north. Up until its development for housing in the latter part of the 19th century, the area was comprised of farmland between the villages of Dulwich and Peckham, known as the Manor of Frerne or Friern.
- Details
Dulwich has a rich history but the role of women within it has often been under-represented. More broadly of course, the history of women in Dulwich reflects the wider societal changes, challenges, and achievements that women have experienced over time.
- Details
The LGBTQ+ community's history in Dulwich, as in many places, has often been hidden, so the Local History group is researching the contributions, challenges, and milestones of LGBTQ+ people in Dulwich. If you can add to this history please contact us at
Reflecting the social attitudes and legal restrictions of the past, many LGBTQ+ individuals in Dulwich led lives of discretion, even secrecy, to avoid persecution, making it difficult to recover their history. However, the late 20th century saw the rise of LGBTQ+ activism in the UK, and, by extension, in Dulwich and the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1967 marked a pivotal moment, offering hope and opportunities for people to live more open lives and participate in their community.
- Details
Dulwich, despite its rich history does not have an well-documented history of people of colour but we should acknowledge the contributions of all members of the community in shaping our past and present. The history of people of colour in Dulwich can be traced back to different periods, and their stories reflect the evolving social and cultural landscape of the area. We would appreciate hearing from anyone who can add to this history, please email
During the 18th and early 19th centuries when Dulwich was undergoing suburban development, the transatlantic slave trade was still a significant part of the British economy. Dulwich’s connections with the slave trade and those residents who owned slaves and received compensation for them are recorded in the University College of London’s slave trade database. They include:
- Details
by Duncan Bowie
There are three advocates of supporting refugees from fascism in the 1930’s with Dulwich connections.
Yvonne Kapp was the co-author (with Margaret Mynatt) of British Policy and the Refugees which was written in 1940 and 1941. Kapp was born Yvonne Mayer at 170 Tulse Hill in 1903 and as a girl lived first in Romola Road and then at 5 Lancaster Avenue, attending Oakfield school. Her father, Max Alfred Mayer was a German Jewish immigrant and a prosperous vanilla merchant. In her memoir, Time Will Tell, Kapp wrote about her time growing up in the area. Against her parents’ wishes, she studied journalism at King’s College before working on the Evening Standard and Sunday Times. In 1922, she married Edmund Kapp, who was a penniless artist. She joined the Communist Party and visited the Soviet Union in 1935.
- Details
Our next Dulwich local history talk is online at 8pm on Tuesday 6 December 2022 with local historian and architect Ian McInnes, who will take us on an illustrated online tour of some of Dulwich’s magnificent Georgian heritage: the buildings and the families who lived in them from the time they were built.
Join us for this online talk - tickets are £5 here. All proceeds go to St Christopher's Hospice. Please email
- Details
Kingsley Dene was by far the biggest of the four houses built on Green Lane (now Greendale) on the Dulwich side of the railway line. Its site is now Green Dale Close and the JAPS car park. Built by Arthur Stanton Cook around 1884, Kingsley Dene’s first resident was Henry Briginshaw. Born in 1845 the son of a Putney baker, Henry became a butcher with shops in Rye Lane but he was not always the most honest shopkeeper and was fined for inaccurate scales. In 1871 he married Jane Clark and they lived in Brixton with their two children before moving to Kingsley Dene.
- Details
John Adcock was the lessee of what is now 97 Dulwich Village, William Hucks of no. 103, and Edward Browne of no. 105, the house which is the subject of this booklet. 'The French Horn', long gone, may have had William Cooper as its landlord, but his landlord was the same Edward Browne, holding as lessee of the College. Moreover, Mr Lowe and Mr Lulman Robert Lulman, who was the local surgeon occupied premises on the site of 101 Dulwich Village, and their landlord was also Edward Browne.
- Details
The Court Rolls for October 8th 1534 record the death of Thomas Henley, copyholder of a tenement and 15 acres, for which he paid 5/- a year rent. Thomas Henley had been a Dulwich resident or tenant since 1492. We know that on December 15th 1519 he was admitted copyhold tenant of 6 acres in Nappes (on the east side of Croxted Road), formerly John Warren's, but his acquisition of the other 9 acres (the site of 'Oakfield' and the adjoining Allison Grove) is unrecorded. His heir, according to custom, was his youngest son Thomas, who we are told was, in 1534, of full age. He was already a Dulwich tenant in his own right, his most substantial holding being the 28 or so acres of 'Knowlis', the old manor house, leased from Bermondsey Abbey.
- Details
Read more: Oakfield, College Road: Who Lived in a House Like This?
From the mid-17th century until 1783 the site of 'Glenlea' formed part of a 46-acre farm, 17 acres of which (known as Peckamins, a field, and not to be confused with Peckamins Coppice) lay across the Common, to the east of the present Toll Gate. The other 29 acres comprised fields known as Agnesfields (26 acres) and Dickariddings (3 acres), covering more or less what is now the southern half of Dulwich Park and the land between that and Dulwich Common, although where precisely Dickariddings was within that area we cannot be certain.
- Details
Read more: Glenlea or Tappen House: Who Lived in a House Like This?
Writing in 1909, local historian Tom Morris, called Beech House ‘one of the oldest houses in Dulwich’. It stood on the site of Nos 24-30 Dulwich Village, just north of the Dulwich Hamlet School and opposite St Barnabas Village Hall. The first mention of the house was in 1768, in a letter about lopping trees from Thomas Hewitt, the tenant. Hewitt was the brother-in-law of Richard Randell, organist of Christ Church between 1763-82, whose diaries are held in the Dulwich College Archive. They confirm that in the Summer of 1772 he helped his relative with five days of hay-making.
- Details