Many years ago I wrote a short history of St John’s School in Penge. Now I’m working with the school on a much-enlarged and updated version. The school has given me full access to its extensive archives which hold a wealth of materials going back as far as 1837. The problem… Read more: A Call for St. John’s School Connections

A quick skim through local newspapers from a century ago, December 1924, reveals a Penge which in many ways is strangely familiar, and in other ways definitely not. The main entertainment venue was, of course, the Penge Empire, where the big draw in the run-up to Christmas was Peeps into 1924,… Read more: Penge Christmas in 1924

The Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park was a national triumph. In its ground-breaking glass and iron pavilion – the ‘Crystal Palace’ – it showcased Britain’s arts and crafts and attracted millions of visitors. But in October it closed, and the building stood empty with no clear future. Enter the… Read more: The Crystal Palace and the Last of Penge Common

This war memorial needs to be seen in context i.e. the context of the other five war memorials in Penge. There are war memorials to be discovered at Holy Trinity Church on Lennard Road, one at the entrance to Penge Recreation Ground, one at the Beckenham and Penge Sea Cadet Centre… Read more: Royal Waterman’s Almshouses War Memorial

This is a report on our first public event in March 2024. We explored three different aspects of Crystal Palace Park’s history, from its early origins to its use during the World Wars – Simon Jeal How the Railways Created The Crystal Palace Martin Spence’s talk focused on the importance of… Read more: Historical Aspects of Crystal Palace Park