New Local History
 "Around Crystal Palace and Penge", David R Johnson, Sutton Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7509-3124-8.
Having waited since 1978 for a completely new history of the Penge area, two come along within a couple of years! Published in May 2004 is this book by local historian David Johnson, author of "A Century of Bromley".
This is a book in the Sutton's series: "Britain in old photographs" in which each chapter takes the form of a few pages of introductory text followed by (in this case) about 230 maps, engravings, and photographs with detailed captions.
Going back as far as a dinosaur tooth found at Sydenham, through Roman and Anglo-Saxon times, the book follows through to the present day. Its coverage of the most recent two hundred years of Penge and Anerley begins with rarely-seen engravings of Penge Common and the Croydon Canal. Subsequent growth of rail and tram transport is traced, together with the almshouses and, of course, the Palace itself, all of which opened up the area making it what it is today. The history of schools, churches, pubs, shops, and sports clubs follows. Two world wars brought major changes, particularly the destruction of many local landmarks during the second.
Excursions into surrounding areas such as Sydenham, Beckenham and even as far as Penge in South Africa and a Crystal Palace lookalike in Dallas, Texas, serve to illustrate several points and show the author's extensive knowledge of his subject.
This book may be purchased locally from:-
Titles bookshop 94 Penge High Street (corner with Maple Rd),
The Beckenham Bookshop 42 Beckenham High Street,
Kirkdale Bookshop 272 Kirkdale, Sydenham (near Cobb's Corner),
Anerley Library in Anerley Road,
Beckenham Library in Beckenham Road,
Bromley Library Local Studies Section,
Penge Library in Maple Road,
Eric Price's barber's shop at 84 Anerley Rd,
and the Crystal Palace Museum (open Sunday afternoons) http://www.crystalpalacefoundation.org.uk/Shop/
(profits from sales at the last two go to the Crystal Palace Foundation). It can also be purchased online from the publishers at http://www.suttonpublishing.co.uk/ and from Amazon at http://www.amazon.co.uk/ (put 0750931248 in Search Box on either site). The cover price is £11.99, but as usual, discounts are to be found, Amazon offering the best price the reviewer has seen (not including p&p).
Signed copies may be purchased from the author at £12.99, including UK post. Write to: Mr D R Johnson, 16 White Oak Drive, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 2QE; cheques payable to himself.
The different format to Peter Abbott's 2002 "The Book of Penge, Anerley & Crystal Palace" in the Halsgrove series (ISBN 1-84114-210-7), which has more narrative, means that the books complement each other rather than compete - David Johnson took care not to unnecessarily duplicate the material in Peter Abbott's book. This is now out of print, but a few copies may be available from the above local sources.
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