Forest
Hill
 The
name 'Forest Hill', invented by a developer in the 1790s, was
an accurate description of the natural featues of the area.
At first it applied only to what is now the northern three-quarters
of Honor Oak Road, then an isolated wood on the northern edge
of Sydenham Common, through which the developer had just driven
the road. Fifteen or so large houses were soon built there.
Expansion became possible with the passing of the Lewisham Enclosure
Act in 1810, but at first the address of the new houses in London
Road and Dartmouth Road was just 'The Common'. The spreading
of 'Forest Hill' began in the 1840s, encouraged by the decision
in 1845 to change the name of the station from Dartmouth Arms
to Forest Hill.
Honor Oak, the new name eventually acquired by the original
Forest Hill came from the fact that Queen Elizabeth I had picnicked
at One Tree Hill on May Day 1602, by an oak tree that became
known as the Oak of Honor in memory of the event.
The Croydon Canal was cut through the area in 1809, but was
not a commercial success, mainly because there were so many
locks to be negotiated. The London and Croydon Railway Company
bought the canal and constructed their railway along more or
less the same route. The Dartmouth Arms station (named after
the nearby pub) was opened in 1839. This encouraged the building
of substantial houses for merchants and professional men who
wanted to live in a rural area with an easy journey to London.
These included a large community of Germans who had their own
church in Dacres Road.
The relocation of the Crystal
Palace from Hyde Park to Sydenham encouraged luxury development
in western Forest Hill to an even greater extent, but the area
east of the railway was mainly built up with more modest houses
after railway fares became cheaper late in the 19th century,
and the electric tram service reached Forest Hill in 1908.
One notable resident of Forest Hill was the tea merchant Frederick
Horniman. On his travels abroad he acquired items relating to
local cultures, and built a museum
to house the collection. He donated this museum and its gardens
to the public in 1901.
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