Penge is a place in the London Borough of Bromley. It is a suburban development situated 7.1 miles (11.4 km) south east of Charing Cross.

History

Penge was once a small town, which was recorded under the name Penceat in a Saxon deed dating from 957. Most historians believe the name of the town is derived from the Celtic word "Penceat" which means "edge of wood" and refers to the fact that the surrounding area was once covered in a dense forest. The original Celtic words of which the name was composed referred to "pen", "head", as in the Welsh "pen" (used in Penarth) and "ceat", "wood", similar to the Welsh "coed" (used in Llangoedmor). Another suggestion is that Penge takes it name from the Danish word "penge" meaning 'money'.

Penge formed a detached part of the parish of Battersea, with the historic county boundary between Kent and Surrey forming its eastern boundary.^[1] In 1855 both parts of the parish were included in the area of the Metropolitan Board of Works, with Penge Hamlet Vestry electing six members to the Lewisham District Board of Works.^[2] The Local Government Act 1888 abolished the Metropolitan Board, with its area becoming the County of London. However the London Government Act 1899 subsequently made provision for Penge to be removed from the County of London and annexed to either Surrey or Kent. Accordingly, an order in council transferred the hamlet to Kent in 1900, constituting it as Penge Urban District.^[3] The urban district was abolished in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963, and its former area merged with that of other districts to form the London Borough of Bromley. With the creation of the Penge Urban District, Penge New Road (formerly the part of Beckenham Road north of Kent House Road) was renamed Penge High Street.

From 1885 the Hamlet of Penge was a ward of the Dulwich (UK Parliament constituency)(then in Surrey) and remained in that electorate until 1950 when it was transfered to the new Beckenham (UK Parliament constituency). In future elections Penge will become part of Lewisham West and Penge (UK Parliament constituency)

In the Victorian era Penge developed into a fashionable suburb because of its proximity to the relocated Crystal Palace. By 1862 Stanford's map of London[1] shows large homes had been constructed along Penge New Road (now Crystal Palace Park Road and Penge High Street), Thick Wood (now Thicket) Road and Anerley Road. This all came to an end with the notorious Penge Murders of 1877[2]

Historical buildings and structures

• There are many Victorian almshouses in Penge, the oldest being the Royal Watermen's Almshouses[3], built around 1840 by the Company of Watermen and Lightermen of the City of London for retired company Freemen and their widows. In 1973, the almspeople were moved to a new site in Hastings, and the original buildings were converted into private homes.
• The Queen Adelaide Almshouses were built in 1848 at the request of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, the widow of King William IV, to provide shelter for twelve widows or orphan daughters of naval officers. Again, the almshouses are now in private residences.
• St. John's Cottages on Maple Road were built as almshouses in 1863, designed by the architect Edwin Nash. As with their predecessors, the cottages are now privately owned homes. In 1959 No.8 was destroyed by a gas explosion killing one person. The cottage was rebuilt to closely resemble the original.
• The Police Station at the corner of the High Street and Green Lane is believed to be London's oldest working police station [4]
• When completed in 1956 the Crystal Palace Transmitter was the tallest structure in the UK, a record it lost to the Anglia Television transmitter in 1959. It remained the tallest structure in the London area until 1991.
• The London and Croydon Canal was built across Penge Common along what is now the line of the railway through Penge West railway station, deviating to the south before Anerley railway station. There is a remnant at the northern corner of Betts Park, Anerley.
• Following the closure of the London and Croydon Canal, the London and Croydon Railway was built largely along the same course, opening in 1839. Isambard Kingdom Brunel built an atmospheric railway along this course.

Cultural references

After the Crystal Palace was moved to Penge, a fashionable day out was to visit the Crystal Palace during the day and take the tram down the hill to one of the 'twenty-five pubs to the square mile'^[4] or two Music Halls - The King's Hall and the Empire Theatre [5][6]. Music Hall comedians were in the habit of making fun of the locale in which they appeared and consequently Penge became the butt of many jokes. Playing on the idea that the word penge seems to be an inherently funny word, and its apparent shabby-genteel image, the place has been lightly parodied by:

• Terry Wogan as Penge-sur-mer or Penge-les-trois-auberges, pronouncing Penge as the French might
• Rumpole of the Bailey as the location of his greatest triumph, the Penge Bungalow Murders {John Mortimer's original chronology was incorrect as the Penge bungalows were prefabricated houses which replaced homes destroyed during WW2, long after the date of Rumpole's claimed triumph. When the details of the trial were later documented in the novel entitled The Penge Bungalow Murders in 2002, Mortimer moved the events to the post-war era}
• Brian Wright in his (1986) book Penge Papers: confessions of an unwaged metropolitan househusband Macmillan ISBN 0-330-29506-3
• The destination of Penge was used as the punchline of a joke about a bus in the BBC comedy Bottom (TV series).
• The Meaning of Liff defines a Penge as 'the slotted wooden arm on which a cuckoo emerges from a cuckoo clock'.
• In the 'far-fetched fiction' of Robert Rankin, characters from Brentford refer to Penge as a far-flung outpost of civilisation and often say that they 'hear it's very nice, but I've never been there myself'. On one occasion the anti-heroes Pooley and Omalley took so long to walk home from Penge that they grew beards on the way. Their friend Professor Slocombe claims that Penge was the true birthplace of the Virgin Mary (he also claims that Chiswick is the original Babylon).
• Former Beckenham resident David Bowie makes reference to Penge in the song 'Did You Ever Have A Dream', itself the B-side of Bowie's early 1967 single Love You Till Tuesday (song). Bowie juxtaposes the ordinariness of Penge with America by singing "You can walk around in New York while you sleep in Penge".
• In the film The Football Factory (2004), main character Tommy Johnson refers disparagingly of Tamara, the girlfriend of his best mate Rod, as a "Penge Minge" and "...wannabe Middle-class scum.".
• Radio 4 series "Old Harry's Game" references Penge several times throughout the first five series, including the replacement of the Archbishop of Canterbury with the Archbishop of Penge.
• It is the setting for the BBC (2006) comedy series Pulling.
• Richard Thompson, in his song Let It Blow (2005), wrote of the "ample bustier of a novelty dancer from Penge".

Notable residents

• Frank Bourne, Colour Sargeant at the Battle of Rorke's Drift , lived at 16 Kingshall Road. ^[5]
• Penge was the childhood home of Bill Wyman (b. 1936 William George Perks) bassist from The Rolling Stones ^[6]
• Thomas Crapper, the famous Victorian manufacturing plumber retired to live at 12 Thornsett Road (c1897-1910). He is commonly, but erroneously, credited with inventing the WC. ^[7]
• Walter de la Mare, famous poet and author of ghost stories, resided at 195 Mackenzie Road (1899-1908), 5 Worbeck Road (1908-1912) and 14 Thornsett Road (1912-1925) ^[8]
• Camille Pissarro, French impressionist painter, lived in Penge in the 1870s.^[9]
• Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge, British journalist, author, satirist, media personality, soldier-spy and latterly a Christian apologist. ^[10]
• Andrew Bonar Law, former Prime Minister, who was the Member of Parliament for Dulwich and lived in Oakfield Road in Penge. ^[11]
• John Clunies-Ross, first King of the Cocos Islands.^[12]
• Isabella Beeton, Victorian author of cookery and household management books lived in Penge. A local pub, the Moon and Stars, has several commemorative wall panels dedicated to her. ^{[citation needed]}

Nearest places

• Sydenham
• Crystal Palace
• Anerley
• Upper Norwood
• Beckenham
• South Norwood

Transport

Buses

Penge is served by London buses routes N3, 75, 176, 197, 227, 354, 356. and 358

Road

Two A roads, the A213 and A234 pass through the area.

Rail

Southern trains to London Bridge and East Croydon or West Croydon run from Penge West railway station (originally named Penge but renamed Penge West because of the construction of Penge East railway station). Southeastern services between London Victoria and Bromley South operate from Penge East railway station. The other nearest stations are:

• Anerley railway station
• Crystal Palace railway station
• Birkbeck station
• Clock House railway station
• Kent House railway station

Transport for London has begun work on the southern extension of the East London Line, to be rebranded as the London Overground East London Railway. This will bring services to the Docklands and Shoreditch through Penge West to connect with the North London Line, opening in 2011.^[13]

Open spaces

• Crystal Palace Park
• Alexandra Recreation Ground
• Cator Park
• Penge Recreation Ground
• Betts Park
• Royston Playing Fields
• South Norwood Country Park
• See Also Penge Common

Famous public houses and bus terminus

• Penge is home to a number of taverns and public houses, indeed it was noted in Victorian times for its '25 pubs to the square mile. The Crooked Billet is by far the oldest and arguably the most famous, not least for its unusual and fetching name but mostly for lending its name as a bus route terminus since 1914. The 1868 Ordnance Survey map shows the Old Crooked Billet located to the southeast of the current location. This earlier location was on the eastward side of Penge Green, which disappeared as a result of The Penge Enclosure Act, 1827. This left the Crooked Billet with no frontage to Beckenham Road, so new premises were constructed on the present site. General Omnibus routes 109 and 609 both operated between Bromley Market and the Crooked Billet following different routes. The 109 was renumbered 227 by London Transport and continued to terminate at the Crooked Billet. (Route 609 was shortened terminating in Beckenham as route 126). At various times the 227 operated from the Crooked Billet to Chiselhurst, Eltham and Welling. Around 1950 some services were extended past the Crooked Billet to the Crystal Palace. Eventually alternate buses travelled the extended route until the present service arose at the time London Transport was privatised. The 354 buses now use the terminus, as do so short running buses on route 194 which carry the destination 'Penge High Street'.
• The Pawleyne Arms is currently the terminus for the 176 bus service. It was previously an intermediate terminus for the 12, 75 and 194 bus services.
• The public houses in Maple Road have nearly all changed their names. The Dew Drop Inn is now The Market Tavern (and features in the television series The Bill as the Market Tavern in Canley Market). The London Tavern became The Hop Exchange, then The Hopsack and finally The Hop House. As of 2006, it was closed. The Lord Palmerston has been delicensed and is now a pizza outlet. The King William IV became The Crown and is now The Maple Tree. Only The Golden Lion has retained its name, although it has extended its premises substantially.
• Other public houses in the area include: The Goldsmith Arms, Bridge House Tavern, Queen Adelaide Arms, The Alexandra, Graces(formerly Dr W G Grace), Hollywood East (formerly The Park Tavern), Kent House Tavern (now closed and demolished), Robin Hood (closed, subsequently destroyed by fire in 2006 and demolished), Royal Oak, The Mitre, The Goat House (destroyed by fire and now demolished) and The Thicket Tavern.
• Penge also has several clubs including a Conservative Club. The Penge & District Trade Union Social Club (CIU) built by local tradesmen in 1922, the former Liberal Club closed in 2005.

References

External links

• The history of Penge
• A Penge walk
• Virtual Penge
• Penge forum