Tyson Road's photostream

Not far from the South Circular in Forest Hill, London and tucked away behind unremarkable residential streets is a green oasis. Hidden from public view and without public access the land behind 15 to 17A Tyson Road and 39 to 53 Honor Oak Road is like a secret garden, neglected now and slowly returning to nature.

However, land in the capital city is a precious commodity and this land is now owned by a property developer who believes that the site is ripe for housing development.

Around 80% of the site is made up of former gardens and woodland the balance being made up of two large Victorian houses in Tyson Road and some old lock up garages behind 53 Honor Oak Road. The houses and garages are now empty and semi-derelict

An application to build 85 flats in seven blocks on the site was refused permission in January 2007 by Lewisham Council and a subsequent appeal was dropped.

The Developer submitted a second planning application, this time to build 76 flats in nine blocks on the site, in October last year. Despite Lewisham Council recommending the granting of planning permission when it went to the Planning Committee in March of this year the members of the Planning Committee voted unanimously to refuse planning permission.

Undaunted the Developer has recently submitted yet another planning application this time to build between 67 and 71 flats on the site. The proposed design and layout is pretty much identical the the application that was refused in March. See here:

acolnet.lewisham.gov.uk/LEWIS-XSLPagesDC/acolnetcgi.exe?A...

Whilst we would be happy to see the derelict houses and garages redeveloped in a sensitive manner we do not believe that the rest of the site, which is effectively a greenfield site, should be developed.

History of the site

The houses at numbers 1 to 7 Tyson road were built in the 1860s. The remainder of the houses on the Northern side of Tyson Road (including 15 to 17A) were built in the 1870s by a local builder Mr E B Symes of Stanstead Road. The Southern side of Tyson Road had a similar row of Victorian houses but these were demolished in the 1960s to make way for the current houses and flats.

15 to 17A are attractive if neglected properties and are worthy of preservation even though they are not listed buildings. 15 Tyson Road was formerly known as Woodside and 17 Tyson Road was formerly known as Stratton. It is likely that 17A was constructed as a coach house for 17 Tyson Road shortly after 17 Tyson Road was built.

The Northern part of the site was formerly part of the grounds of 39 Honor Oak Road. This property has its origins in the 18th Century and is first recorded in local records as Bay House. It was subsequently renamed as Forest Hill House and it became Forest Hill School all before 1900.

The middle part of the site forms part of the grounds of 53 Honor Oak Road. This property is first recorded in local records as Manor House and was built circa 1815. It was converted into the current block of flats in 1931/32.

39 and 53 Honor Oak Road, although altered over the years, are two of the first fifteen houses that were built in Forest Hill between 1788 and 1817 and they predate Forest Hill’s growth as a residential suburb of London in the mid 19th Century. These large houses had grounds that stretched from Honor Oak Road to the West side of Devonshire Road. Including 39 and 53 Honor Oak Road only five of these houses survive. The others are the White House 2 Westwood Park, Ashberry Cottage 62 Honor Oak Road and Hill House 64 Honor Oak Road.

The other houses of this period, e.g. Oakfield, Fonthill, Fairlawn, Manor Lodge and Tewkesbury Lodge, have all been lost together with their grounds.