property, homes and houses for sale in Sydenham

Sydenham has quality property for every taste and, on Sydenham Hill, wonderful panoramic views of London.

Living in Sydenham

200 years ago, Sydenham was a sleepy hamlet in the Kent countryside until, in 1801, work started on a canal between Croydon and Deptford.

To serve the bargemen working on the canal, the Greyhound Inn was built but the canal did not last long and was soon converted to a railway line.

The construction of the railway and transferring the Crystal Palace exhibition building from Hyde Park to what is now Crystal Palace Park, transformed Sydenham into a fashionable Victorian enclave.

Today, Sydenham is rich in primary, secondary and independent schools and offers a mix of housing styles, from modern flats and 1930s bay-fronted semis, to stucco terraced cottages, imposing Victorian villas and modern housing developments with detached, four-bedroom houses.

Heading from Upper Sydenham down hill to Lower Sydenham there are truly grand Victorian villas, many of which are split into flats.

To the east of Sydenham railway station is Sydenham Road, the main shopping and restaurant district, and in the side roads leading off are terraces of quality Victorian and Edwardian houses.

Sydenham has two excellent parks; Mayow in Lower Sydenham and Sydenham Wells Park in Upper Sydenham.

Due north of Upper Sydenham are the spectacular greens and fairways of Dulwich & Sydenham Hill Golf Course and beyond is Dulwich Park which has sports fields and delightful parkland walks.

Crystal Palace Park is on the border of Sydenham and is a wonderful open space with a Sports Arena and Sports Hall, tennis courts, lakes and playing fields.

Transport

Sydenham railway station provides a swift link to London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross, and south to Norwood Junction and West Croydon.

Sydenham Hill and Penge East railway stations provide services to Bromley South and Orpington, and to London Victoria.

Crystal Palace railway station provides services to Clapham Junction, West Brompton and north to Watford Junction.

For information regarding bus routes that serve the Sydenham area and for the London Underground, please visit www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/default.aspx.

For details of train services please visit www.nationalrail.co.uk.

History and culture

Sydenham is most famous as the location for the Crystal Palace, a cast iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Palace was 1,850 feet/564 metres long and had an interior height of 108 feet/33 metres.

More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's 990,000 square feet of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in the Industrial Revolution.

Following the exhibition, the building was moved to Sydenham Hill, a wealthy suburb of substantial Victorian villas. The Crystal Palace was enlarged and stood on the site from 1854 until 1936, when it was destroyed by fire.

Many famous people have lived in Sydenham including the Antarctic explorer, Ernest Shackleton, John Logie Baird who invented television, and Dame Cicely Saunders who founded the modern hospice movement.

One of the grand Victorian houses in Lawrie Park Road was home for a while to England’s most renowned cricketer, W.G. Grace.

For further information about Sydenham, please visit www.lewisham.gov.uk.