Thames Tributary Ravensbourne - The Quaggy - Elmstead Woods

Thames Tributary Ravensbourne
The Kyd Brook/Quaggy continues north westwards to the Ravensbourne. It is parallel to the railway to the east

Interesting area of posh houses where there were once underground workings.

Post to the west Sundridge Park


Post to the east Chiselhurst Yester Road

Elmstead Lane
Elmstead Manor

Elmstead woods
Rockpit Wood - There is a quarry in the wood. Elmstead Pit. Previously called Rock Pit. Site with exposure of the Blackheath Beds and Lots of fossils
Botany Bay

Logshill Wood

Grange Drive
Babington House School. Red brick Jacobean

Kingswood Close
Housing on the site of the grounds of the Sira institute

Lower Camden Road
27-37 By Ernest Newton
165-169 1904 by E. J. May

Lubbock Road
Stables. Built for Willett before 1908 and now a mixture of cottages and garages. By Ernest Newton.
41-45 cottages by Newton
Camden Park mine. At the back of Hatton Cottage, etc. Now new houses built there. Archaeologists uncovered an earth-filled chamber with a circular, basin-shaped floor. Out of the infill came remains of oxen, deer. Dogs and others. Also found was Samian ware, possibly a salt cellar ‘with a mark of the 5th. The mine was still in use in May 1877 and the chalk used for lime burning. In the 19th there were lime kilns on the quarry floor., until September 1968 there were five entrances at the base of the chalk cliff which led to quite large mined .passages, which were used by a local builder for storage. There was a vertical drop with running water at the bottom.
The stream which runs down the valley used to disappear in chalk swallets, which were recorded as a boundary mark in a Saxon Charter of A.D. 862. This water has been culverted and the natural drainage is obscured. Larger complex of tunnels is possible. In 1968 massive rainfall meant the culvert, could not cope and water backed up. The whole of the lower end of the valley then became a lake, to a depth of 10'. There was a landslip, into the floor of the quarry blocking the five entrances. A large, circular depression, appeared close to the edge of the quarry in the grounds of Hatton Court. It seems possible then that another larger complex of tunnels lies below/

Oakwood Close
Lake House
Lone Pool
Lake two providing breeding grounds for ducks, geese and
Moorhens

South Hill
Railway Bridge 1865

Southhill Road
Sira Institute R & D establishment for scientific and industrial measurement.
Sitka – 1883 by Ernest Newton
Wall in red brick along the grounds of the Sira Institute
Fairview, Victorian red-brick house

Station Approach
Elmstead Woods station.1904. Between Chiselhurst and Grove Park. Originally called ‘Elmstead’. Built as part of the widening work on the line and the tunnels to the north. The southern part of the old tunnel was opened to make room for the platforms north of Elmstead Lane. Paid for by the monthly season ticket holders living in Elmstead Lane. 10 1/4 miles on SER New Main Line. Remains very rustic. In 1908 the name was changed to ‘Elmstead Woods’.

Sundridge Avenue

Sylvester Avenue
2 houses listed. Dark brick with stained timber detailing by Geoffrey Carter 1969-73.

Yester Park
From Yester Road the road goes through a brick and wrought iron gateway
Sira Institute, ground extends to Southill Road.
Railway Bridge 1865
Two houses with dramatic cat slide roofs

Yester Road
Walden Lodge dates from about 1850.
1-8 Greatwood. 1962 Norman Sherratt with charcoal grey brick with white balconies. Listed

Sources
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Chelsea Speleological Society. Newsletter
Kent Underground Research Group. Newsletter
London Borough of Bromley. Web site
Pevsner and Cherry. South London

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