Dulwich Wood, together with the adjacent Sydenham Hill Wood, is the largest extant part of the ancient Great North Wood in the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...

.London Wildlife Trust
about Sydenham Hill Wood & Cox's Walk The two woods were separated after the relocation of

The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around th ...

in 1854 and the creation of the high level line in 1865. The wood is privately ownedlondon-footprints.co.uk
/ref> and managed by the Dulwich Estate.Based on post by local historian Steve Grindlay t
Sydenham Town Forum
Topic: Old Sydenham Hill

History

In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

the Manor of Dulwich belonged to Bermondsey Abbey, having been given to the abbey in 1127 by King

Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the ...

.The Story of Dulwich by Mary Boast, 1990, London Borough of Southwark When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1542 he had the Dulwich Estate surveyed. The

Court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

of King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

paid frequent visits to Dulwich and its woods to hunt deer.Peckham and Dulwich, Old and New London: Volume 6 (1878), pp. 286-303.
/ref> By 1605 Edward Alleyn was a wealthy man and for £5,000 (a large amount in those days), was able to buy the Manor of Dulwich from the Calton family, who had owned it since the dissolution of the monasteries. Alleyn managed the woods in a business-like way, dividing them into ten

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...

s, one coppice to be felled each year when the trees were ten years old. Peckarman's Wood, now a housing estate, was one of these coppices. In 1738 a man named Samuel Bentyman was murdered in Dulwich Wood. In 1803 Samuel Matthews, known as the Dulwich Hermit, met with a similar fate. The grave of Samuel Matthews is in Dulwich Old Cemetery in the heart of Dulwich Village.Historic sites in Southwark given English Heritage funding
/ref>

Access

The wood can be reached from Sydenham Hill railway station. From the station go straight, through the small car park, cross College Road and through the white gate on the opposite side of the road into Low Cross Wood Lane and on the left just ahead is a gate to Dulwich Wood. There is also an entrance by the footbridge on Cox's Walk, off the Dulwich Common road.

References

External links

*
London Wildlife Trust website
{{coord, 51.4351, -0.0740, display=title, type:landmark Ancient woods of London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Southwark Nature reserves in the London Borough of Southwark Walking in London Forests and woodlands of London Dulwich