Grove Park is a district of South East London, England within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is located north east of Bromley and south east of Lewisham.

Known for its green spaces, Grove Park is flanked by the Grove Park Nature Reserve and Northbrook Park, and Downham Fields to the west, Horn Park to the East, as well as Chinbrook Meadows, Kings Meadow and Sundridge Park to the south. As well as these there are various sports grounds and fields.

Name and toponymy

There was a farm named Grove Farm, where Sometrees Avenue is now located, around north of Grove Park railway station. Grove Farm appeared in written land tax assessments of Lee parish, which encompassed it, from 1814, when it was run by a tenant farmer named Thomas Waller. It was likely a dairy farm, and it appears named on maps from at least 1870, Grove Park railway station opened in 1871; The name "Grove Park" referring to the station, appeared on maps from at least 1884,

History

The area was developed as a London suburb in the 1870s.

Burnt Ash Methodist Church is located on Burnt Ash Hill on the edge of South Lee and Grove Park.

Word of Life Church is located at the church hall on Mayeswood Road in the Grove Park Estate, and backs onto Chinbrook Meadows. This is a Pentecostal church, part of the Elim Church network. The pastor is Rev Rowland Henshaw.

Kings Church Downham is located at 20 The Green, Downham Way. This church is a Charismatic church and part of the New Frontiers network. It is one of three sites that makes up Kings Church London, which is led by Steve Tibbert. The Site leader of the Downham Church is Joe MacNamara.

Schools

There are two primary schools located in the catchment area, Marvels Lane and Coopers Lane School. Marvels Lane School also houses a children's centre. There is also a local secondary school now called Knights Academy, it was formerly Malory School.

Notable places

Baring Hall Hotel is a Grade II listed building. Its designation describes it as a "restrained, carefully-proportioned and eloquent rendering of the ‘Queen Anne’ style, bearing the distinctive influence of Richard Norman Shaw's work of the 1870s."

The Archbishop Desmond Tutu Peace Garden was opened in 2009, in Chinbrook Meadows. Tutu lived nearby, at 29 Chinbrook Road, in the 1970s.

The Ringway Centre is a community hub developed on land across the route of the abandoned Ringway 2 urban motorway. The centre has a weekly 3-hour drop-in cafe with live music, hosts local groups and "Clay at the Ringway" venture, with a pottery kiln and classes subsidised for the community.

Grove Park Nature Reserve was opened in 1984 and provides an area for local schools to engage in forest school activities as well as public access. It is accessed via the Railway Children Walk, which is named after the book The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit, who lived in Grove Park for a time. The reserve is also part of the Green Chain Walk of South East London.

Famous former residents

  • Edith Nesbit
  • Desmond Tutu
  • Matthew Pennycook
  • Keeley Hazell
  • Shaun Wright-Phillips

References

  • Short history