East Dulwich
East Dulwich, the district bounded by Lordship Lane to the
south and west, Peckham Rye and Forest Hill Road to the
east and East Dulwich Road to the north is the finest example
of 19th century suburbia in Southwark.
It was a classic suburban development: it was developed over
a relatively short period of time; the houses were aimed at
a particularly narrow target market; the development was managed
by a specialist development company; success depended on the
availability of public transport, and the area is largely
intact today.
The area was transformed
from fields and market gardens to housing
in the period 1865 – 1885. The area
was the development of two estates. The area
between Wood Vale, Barry Road and Lordship
Lane was part of Friern Manor Farm, a large
dairy farm, and the area to the west and
bounded by Lordship Lane, Barry Road and
East Dulwich Road was part of the Bower-Smith
estate. Friern Manor Farm was bought by the
British Land Company, which then sold it
as 200 building plots. Builders were attracted
by the proximity to London, the hope that homes
would be easy to let to residents attracted
by being in an entirely new development,
and by the availability of good transport.
Transport played an important
role with the coming of railways to Herne
Hill in 1862, West Dulwich and Sydenham Hill
in 1863 and East Dulwich and North Dulwich
in 1868. Cheaper fares of the 1880s further
stimulated demand and the arrival of the
tram along Lordship Lane, Dog Kennel Hill
and Peckham Rye in the early 20th century
sealed the area’s success.
 The houses were aimed at
socially mobile members of the lower middle
classes - typically London clerks - and the
new population was largely one of young families.
They largely preceded services such as shops
(which developed along Lordship Lane), places
of worship, such as St Clement’s, Friern
Road of 1885, and education and leisure facilities
(Dulwich Baths dates from 1892).
Although built at the same time and aimed at he same market,
the houses display a remarkable sense of variety of style from
the simplicity of Nutfield Grove to the flamboyant Victorian
Gothic of Barry Road.
This
map shows East Dulwich on the cusp of its rapid transition from
country to suburb.
Friern Manor Farm House and a scattering of
agricultural cottages are still there while
the framework of new roads on Bowyer-Smith
estate have been laid out and terraces of
houses have started to appear.
Click on the map for a larger view or click
here for a readable version which may
be slow to download.
In the south eastern corner is the recently
built Crystal Palace High Level Railway and
next to it Camberwell (old) Cemetery.  This
map shows East Dulwich almost at its full Victorian extent;
only a few plots in the south between Overhill and Upland Roads
await development.
Peckham Rye Common and Goose Green have been
preserved as public open spaces and Peckham
Rye Park has recently opened to augment open
spaces near the Rye.
Click on the map for a larger view or click
here for a readable version which may be slow to download.
Note the scarcity of development in the southwest corner on
the Dulwich Estate. Dulwich Park acts in part as a buffer between
the body of the estate and more general suburban development
to the north.
Stanford Ordnance Survey
Map, 1894.
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