Penge Past

The History of Sydenham from Cippenham to present day. Links to photos especially welcome!
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Tim Lund
Posts: 6718
Joined: 13 Mar 2008 18:10
Location: Silverdale

Penge Past

Post by Tim Lund »

Just had an email from Martin Spence, whose book on Penge history I highly recommend. He now has a blog, Penge Past
Martin Spence wrote:A few years ago I wrote a book about the history of Penge in south-east London.

It set out to do three things: to celebrate the quirky Victorian railway suburb where I happen to live; to reveal some of the historical processes that created the townscape of Penge as it is today; and to show how these processes only make sense as part of the development of London, the first great capitalist world-city.

This blog continues in that vein: starting from – but not limited to – Penge, it will poke about beneath the suburban familiarity of South London, root up historical stuff that takes my fancy, and maybe even have the odd bit of fun.
Here's the link

Also on Twitter - @pengeology
Eagle
Posts: 10658
Joined: 7 Oct 2004 06:36
Location: F Hill

Re: Penge Past

Post by Eagle »

Agree Ponge has interesting history

Believe belonged to a Bishop or Monastry in the 12th Century , but could be wrong .
alburt.c
Posts: 747
Joined: 26 Apr 2015 13:58
Location: Lower Sydenham

Re: Penge Past

Post by alburt.c »

vary good book so must read for Penge. Penge is older town then Sydenham yes?
leenewham
Posts: 5886
Joined: 2 Sep 2007 11:58
Location: SYDENHAM
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Re: Penge Past

Post by leenewham »

Far older. The name means Old Wood (or something similar). Most of the UK was covered in woods, but these were chopped down to build homes and especially ships. 6000 trees (yes, six thousand) were used PER SHIP for Nelsons fleet. (A trip to Chatham Docks is well worth a visit). The worst point for forests in the UK was after WW1 when emergency measures were brought in to protect them (we got down to about 5% of land mass as frosts, it's now revived due to government schemes to about 10%).

I like Penge. Interesting place which has a bright future.
Robin Orton
Posts: 3380
Joined: 9 Sep 2008 07:30
Location: London SE26

Re: Penge Past

Post by Robin Orton »

According to Adrian Room's Dictionary of Place Names it means 'chief wood.' From Celtic roots cognate with Welsh pen ,'head' and coed, 'wood.' Recorded in 1067 as ''Penceat.' Room says that 'the survival of the Celtic name shows that there must have been a sizeable number of (Ancient) Britons living here at the time of the Anglo-Saxon settlement.'
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