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Interpretation
History
Buildings
Interior Plaster
Decor
Nature Trail
Gardens
Sensory Garden
Woodland
Ancient Trees
Meadows
Riverside
Wildlife
Golf Course
Brochures and Guides
Newsletters Archive
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Newsletters see the links on the Events page
See the History link for updated history information.
The Friends Visitor
Centre continues to run on Sunday afternoons 1.30 to 3.30
Lewisham Open Spaces Forum a
group made up of representatives of park Friends groups, for
example
Friends of: Chinbrook Meadows, Ladywell Fields, Telegraph
Hill,
Blythe Hill Fields, Hilly Fields, Sydenham Wells, Home Park, Mayow Park
to mention a few. The Forum will address issues and problems
arising in park use and management. See the
Forum page and newsletters.
Sensory
Garden - Our
volunteer team regularly
undertake work once a month and often every 2 weeks in the growing
season. Sensory
Garden pdf A
leaflet explaining the uses
and design of the sensory garden. Volunteers welcome. see the Events page, saturday mornings 10am to 12noon.
Beckenham
Place Nature
Trail:
The trail was established before the recent works in the park but the
leaflet may help visitors find their way around The leaflet is on this
link pdf
file and on our pamphlets page via 'Events' page, or use this easy to print file
for directions.
Also a .kml file
of waypoints which will work with smartphone, google earth
and tablet map and gps apps to show the
waypoints for the nature trail. Also, a .gpx file of the
route so that you technofiles can have all the electronic aids
available. I like the Maverick Android mapping app. Leaflets are still
available in the visitor centre. We are working on a version that wont
display upside down on a digital screen.
Park
Features:
About the Park (see
other pages for full history etc.)
The first
time
or occasional visitor to BPP may not appreciate its true extent. The
Park lies
on the Lewisham/Bromley border strictly speaking between Downham,
Bellingham,
Beckenham and Shortlands.
It
was acquired from
the Cator Estate by the LCC circa 1927, passed through the hands of the
GLC and
then on to the London Borough of Lewisham. A 'well kept secret' from
many
Londoners, the park has been thought of as a private golf course or
private
house and grounds as it is not widely publicised. It does lie on the
Green
Chain Walk and Capital Ring. A railway bisects the park and the only
routes
joining both parts are the bridge north of woodland called the Ash
Plantation
or by leaving and re-entering the park in the viscinity of Ravensbourne
Railway
Station or bridge near Beckenham Hill Station. Hence the railway
effectively
divides the park into West and East.
Beckenham
Place Park
is the surviving nucleus of what was once a large estate of park and
farm land.
The
history of the
park and its environs is extensive and is covered in other Friends
publications
and the About and History pages on this site. Information is available
in the
Friends of BPP Visitor Centre (see navigation hyperlink). Various
references to
Beckenham Place Park, The Cator family and the history are on the
internet and
other publications, all are subject to some correction as varioius
assumptions
have been made. We attempt to seek accuracy where possible. The best
references
have been written by Pat Manning and the late Eric Inman.
Even these are
updatable by more recent discoveries enabled by records appearing on
the
internet.
The
park's life as a
public recreation area began around 1927/29 when the park was purchased
by the
London County Council and London Borough of Lewisham to satisfy a need
for
public open space in the area as the large housing estates of
Bellingham and
Downham were being developed.
The
historic and
'listed' buildings in the park include The Mansion, The Stables and
Homesteads
(and Garden Cottage), Southend Lodge (gatehouse). See the About the
Park page
and other pages of this website for more information.
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