History of Selsdon

                                                           SELSDON IN THE 1930'S ABOVE

                                                                 & 1950'S BELOW

 


Many tales of the History of Selsdon are told by Ted Frith in his regular column Glimpses of Old Selsdon, Raymond Rowsell's Rowsell Chronicles and Des Donohoe's Selsdon Through the Eyes of a War Baby which are also available through the Selsdon Gazette page. 

This page is for additional information from old issues of the Gazette and articles supplied by Selsdonians which tell of the history of our community. As many of these cover a wide period they are in order of submission with the most recent at the top.


"Selsdon and Farleigh, History and Archaeology.

A recent Planning application to Tandridge District Council to build a Crematorium on Green Belt farmland in Farleigh, just outside the Selsdon border, near the entrance to Farleigh Golf Club contained, in the plethora of drawings and documents, an Historic Environment Assessment . The document is attached here for potential interest to Selsdon residents."


Crem Area History.pdf Crem Area History.pdf
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Selsdon Park - The History
This fascinating booklet was produced by the owner of the Selsdon Park Hotel in 1985.

Selsdon Park - The History - part 1.pdf Selsdon Park - The History - part 1.pdf
Size : 3632.891 Kb
Type : pdf
Selsdon Park - The History - part 2.pdf Selsdon Park - The History - part 2.pdf
Size : 3895.141 Kb
Type : pdf
This account, with photographs of the bombed houses, was published in the Gazette in March 2019.
This article by Brian Alllen recounts experiences from the beginning and end of WW2 and was published in the Gazette in the mid 1990s.
This article by Raymond Rowsell was published in the Gazette in December 2007.

1988 - 2002 Croydon Country Show

The first Forestry Show, as it was then called, was held in The Great Field. The purpose was to show off the Council's new equipment and to explain what actions the Council were taking after the storm of 1987 that had brought down so many trees.

The show continued as an annual event, later called the Country Show, until 2002. Over the years it grew enormously with even fairground rides in the later years. However it  became product of its own success, growing too big for the site. There were safety concerns over access for emergency services, traffic and parking problems, the risk of damage to the environment from so much heavy equipment and escalating costs so it was decided that there should be no further shows after 2002. (The photos in the gallery below were all taken by Selsdon resident Ray Rowsell at the final show in August 2002 and indicate what a massive event it had become.)


This article from Ted Frith (see Glimpses of Old Selsdon) is a copy of a document that he wrote when he was President of Croydon Natural History Society and which was originally published in the magazine of the Friends of Sydenham Hill Wood. It is about the origin of the name of Croydon and its link to the natural history of the area.

This obituary of Derek Sharman who died in December 2017 was written by his brother Michael. The document also includes the story of one of Derek's youthful adventures, his trip to France with friends in an old London Taxi. This trip was written about in the Gazette in 1954 and the full text of that report is included in the document alongside photographs and background information.

Thanks to Victoria Sharman for this photograph of her dad.

Home Guard Dinner 1944

This programme for the Home Guard Dinner in 1944 was supplied by Ian Leggatt. Note that many of the dishes served have names linked to the locality:-) A similar sense of humour was shown in the programme for an event 2 weeks later - sadly the quality of the image is not quite adequate to show the cartoons.

Kingswood Way and Bridleway 155

This piece by Robert Fairbrother tells the story of Kingswood Way and Bridleway 155. A text only version of the article (without references) was published in the November 2017  issue of the Gazette.

This obituary for Malcolm Sharpe was published in the Selsdon Gazette in June 1948. This fulsome tribute shows his involvement in the protection of many green spaces in the Selsdon & Sanderstead area including Croham Hurst, Littleheath and Selsdon Wood. (Thanks to Ted Frith for supplying this.)
This article from the December 1972 issue of the Gazette is an account by Tom Price of his adventures when commuting by Green Line in pre-war times. (Thanks to Ted Frith for supplying this.)