Penge History Group

Articles By Our Members

  • A photo of the Royal Waterman's Almshouses. Historic estate with stone statues at entrance, featuring a building with two towers, arched windows, and a mix of brick and stone architecture under a clear blue sky.
    Royal Waterman’s Almshouses War Memorial
    by Chris O’Shaughnessy
    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
  • Historical Aspects of Crystal Palace Park
    by Simon Jeal
    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
  • A History of St John’s School, Penge
    by Graham Reeves
    Based on a presentation made to Penge History Group on 19 December 2023 In 1725 there were only 60 people living in Penge, which was a “detached hamlet” of Battersea, without a church of its own. Penge Chapel was opened in Croydon Road on 8 October 1837, by which time the… Read more: A History of St John’s School, Penge
  • A black and white illustration of the Croydon Canal in the early 19th century. A small stone bridge goes over the canal, and a couple of people are walking alongside it.
    Our First Year
    by Martin Spence
    In June 2023 I gave a talk on the ‘Penge Parliament’, a debating society largely forgotten now but well known in its day, which ran from the 1930s to the 1950s. By 2023, I had been presenting local history talks for the annual Penge Festival for several years, and I was… Read more: Our First Year