Tulse Hill
| Tulse Hill | |
| Surrey | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Holy Trinity, Tulse Hill | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ315735 |
| Location: | 51°26’43"N, 0°6’33"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | London |
| Postcode: | SE21, SE24, SE27, SW2 |
| Dialling code: | 020 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Lambeth |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Dulwich and West Norwood |
Tulse Hill is a district in Metropolitan Surrey which lies to the south of Brixton, east of Brixton Hill, north of West Norwood and west of West Dulwich.
History
The area known as Tulse Hill is part of the former Manor or Manors of Bodley, Upgroves and Scarlettes whose precise boundaries are now uncertain. The name of the area comes from the Tulse family who came into ownership of farmland in the area during the Commonwealth period in the 1650s.[1] Sir Henry Tulse was Lord Mayor of London in 1683 and his daughter Elizabeth married the Richard Onslow, 1st Baron Onslow.[2] The land remained in Onslow ownership until 1789 when most of it was purchased by William Cole. The estate was further divided on Cole's death in 1807.
The western part was left to "Mercy Cressingham, spinster" (now commemorated by the Cressingham Gardens estate in the area) and the eastern part, now mostly occupied by Brockwell Park, was left to Richard Ogbourne who promptly sold it on to John Blades.
In 1810 Tulse Hill Farm was the only building in western part of the area. The enclosure of land in the parish of Lambeth in 1811 led to the construction of Effra Road in the area immediately to the north. Together with improvements to Brixton Road by the local turnpike trust this greatly improved road communications with central London, and the value of the local landholdings.
The heiress Miss Cressingham did not remain a spinster for long. Her husband Dr Thomas Edwards, took the initiative in buying extra land to make an access from Brixton Hill in 1814 and laying out two new roads Lower Tulse Hill Road (now known simply as Tulse Hill) and Upper Tulse Hill Road (now Upper Tulse Hill) before 1821. A plan of 1821 in the Royal Institute of British Architects Library shows a proposed speculative development of both the Edwards estate and the adjacent Blades estate with large detached villas, although only the former actually came to fruition. The new roads were adopted by the parish in 1822.
An 1832 map shows that Tulse Hill still had only a few buildings on the new roads in contrast to nearby recently developed areas in Brixton and Norwood and the longer established hamlet of Dulwich.[3] However, by 1843, there was a continuous line of houses, predominantly detached and usually with separate coach houses along the full length of Lower Tulse Hill Road from Brixton to the top of the hill.
Development of the area to the east of this road commenced in 1845 when Trinity Rise was built to connect Upper Tulse Hill with Norwood Road. Holy Trinity Church on Trinity Rise was built in 1855-6 and is now Grade II listed.
Major development of the area further east did not come until the opening of Tulse Hill railway station in 1868.
Most of the original villas with large gardens on the original Edwards-Cressingham landholding have been redeveloped at much higher densities for council housing since the 1930s.
The most prominent survival of 19th century Tulse Hill is Berry House, later called Silwood Hall, and now forming the front part of St Martin-In-The-Fields High School for Girls, a Church of England secondary school which has outlasted the nearby 1950s schools.
The redevelopment of Tulse Hill after Second World War by the London County Council had included the construction of two large secondary schools - Tulse Hill School (at Upper Tulse Hill, originally for boys) and Dick Sheppard School (originally for girls only). Both schools have now closed, and their sites have been redeveloped for housing of very contrasting types. The Dick Sheppard School site was redeveloped in a gated Regency style with houses and apartments overlooking Brockwell Park.
Nearest stations
- Overground:
- Brixton
- Herne Hill
- Tulse Hill
- West Dulwich
- West Norwood
- Underground:
- Brixton (Victoria Line)
Prominent buildings in and around Tulse Hill
- Holy Trinity Church on Trinity Rise - built 1855-6, Grade-II listed.
- All Saints' Church - An astonishing Victorian Gothic building in West Dulwich, originally intended to be the cathedral for south London. The church was built between 1888 and 1897 and designed by George Fellowes Prynne, a pupil of George Edmund Street. Although plans were scaled down it was still a huge building and is a Grade-I-listed building. Unfortunately it was gutted by a huge fire on 9 June 2000, the cause remains unknown. The building reopened in April 2006 after a three-year restoration project.
- The former St Cuthbert's Presbyterian Church of England on Thurlow Park Road (West Dulwich because it has an SE21 postcode) - The church, recognisable by its Green steeple, was built in 1902 and is located a few minutes' walk from Tulse Hill station. The building is now used for educational purposes and forms part of Rosemead Preparatory School.
- Tulse Hill Hotel, a landmark public house at the main Tulse Hill junction with Norwood Road. The pub was built in 1840 on Norwood Lane as it was then known, which was a muddy track leading to Herne Hill.
Mentions in literature
The "Tulse Hill Parliament", a socialist club, features in PG Wodehouse's comic novel Psmith in the City. (Wodehouse was educated up the road at Dulwich College.)
- "London Fields" by Martin Amis has Samson Young, its protagonist, go to Tulse Hill to buy drugs.
- "Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis" a novel by Wendy Cope, has a poet named Jason Strugnell who lives in Tulse Hill and mentions it a couple of times in poems.