Sidcup

Alma Pub

Birkbeck Road

One of the earliest roads developed in the area with cottages for tradesmen.

Carlton Road.

The northern arm of this road, with its avenue of plane trees, has on both sides a complete series of imposing though rather sombre pairs, c1880. 

Chiselhurst Road

The Red Lodge.  A red brick building, probably c1896, which was a lodge for Sidcup Place; it is now becoming derelict. It has distinct architectural similarities with the north front of Sidcup Place.

'Anonymous' pillar box, ie without a royal cypher, a relatively rare type, c1880.

Church Road

St.John the Evangelist.1899-1901 .The first parish church of Sidcup, rebuilt in its present form between 1882 and 1899. a large, imposing building in the Early English style, with a fine oak pulpit made in the 17^thcentury. I on the south wall is a stone recording the laying of the foundations of the first church in 1841 which was completed in 1844 and later became Sidcup Parish Church. columns from the outside arcade of this  first church were incorporated in shops at Station Road. The present church was completed in 1901, retaining the chancel, Lady Chapel and churchyard wall from the second church. 

Churchyard has many tombs and monuments, but note in particular, towards the rear on the right, the curious bronze cross to Mary Sheffield 1899, conspicuous in its blue colour, with strange art nouveau motifs.

1/10 this attractive terrace of cottages of 1852 was on the original lane from Sidcup to Chislehurst. Some have been considerably altered

Elm Road

30 is part of the same development as the park

Hatherley Road

One of the first new roads laid out locally. Houses from 1870 – highly ornamented detached and semi detached. 

High Street,

follows the winding course of the old road from London to Maidstone which was improved by the New Cross Turnpike Trust in 1781.  Further development took place in the late 19th century after the arrival of the railway, and above the modern shop fronts much of the facades and roofline has hardly changed since that time. There was the Nucleus of a tiny hamlet at the top of Sidcup Hill. 

1 The Black Horse.  an old coaching inn with a highly attractive frontage which preserves its basic appearance of the time when the road was improved in 1781.

63/75 1880s, in classical stylewith some small circular windows.

64 c1881, is the only building in the High Street to retain the appearance of the original house with an unaltered ground floor.

77 Cannon Cinema. The cinema entrance is c1933, butthe actual auditorium is of 1911 and is located behind Kings Hall, a building c1870with patterned brick, Gothic window heads and other decorative detail. Originally called The Regal and later the ABC and then Cannon. Closed 2001.

Bitter Experience

King's Hall

Police Station 1902

Main Road

136 Horse and Groom Pub. Antique interior disguises its modern background.

Sidcup Fire Station.  Classical brick and stone Edwardian building 1914 for the Sidcup UDC as Fire Station, Council Offices and Council Chamber.

Charcoal Burner Pub

Marechal Niel Parade. Built in 1937. newsagents, grocers, greengrocers, butcher, hairdresser, baker and ironmonger, catered for the majority of the needs of local residents. Brunshaws were shortly to be taken over by Charringtons. Robins, the grocers, was the nearest to a chain with three shores locally. They remained in business until the early 1950s.

Christ Church owes its origin to a dispute between one of the early vicars of St. John's and a group of his parishioners, who resolved to found another church nearby. At first they worshipped in an iron church in Chislehurst Road, but their congregation flourished and they were able to build the present church which was consecrated in 1901.

Old Forge Way

1936 intended to create cul de sac with garages in a Wealden vernacular style by Kenneth Dalgleish 1887-1964. Organic extension to Sidcup High Street

1/15 are a delightful enclave of vernacular houses off Rectory Lane, formed by two terraces leading to a semi-circular group. Designed by Kenneth Dalgleish in 1936 in the style of 17th & 18^th century cottages of the Kent & Sussex Weald. 

Rectory Lane

the main road to Maidstone originally followed the route of Rectory Lane until a new highway was made down Sidcup Hill in 1776

Rectory. in the 19th century caves and grottoes were cut into the sand in the Rectory Garden.  

White Wallsan attractive romantic house c1910 in vaguely Arts & Crafts style.

Toucy & Selwood.  another distinctive house of c1910, Toucy & Selwood the front rather difficult to see, but the rear, with two full height bows and a profusion of pargetting, readily visible from Knoll Road.

The Grange near the junction with Cross Road. Tolhurst family. Demolished for Old Forge Way 1930s

Selborne Road

23 Selborne Court. A large and impressive classical-style house c1903 with a fine baroque frontispiece

Sidcup

Sidcup appears in medieval documents as ‘Cetecopp’. Thomas de Sedcopp is recorded as having sold land in the district.  It was  a straggling hamlet along the Maidstone road with. The Black Horse, and some larger houses. In the early 19th century it began to increase in size. A church was built in 1841 and in 1866 the railway line was opened, though the station was sited a mile to the north. electrification of the Line in 1926 released a flood of building.  No main drainage until the 1880s.

Hop pickers

Sidcup Hill

the main road to Maidstone built as a new highway was made down Sidcup Hill in 1776

Ursula Lodges. A fine group of almshouses built 1972 around a square with a pond; the front entrance is round the corner in Eynswood Drive. They replaced previous buildings funded by the Berens family of Sidcup Place in 1847, and from this time a low brick wall to the east survives

Kentish Times Building. Three storey building 1931 for local paper and print works. Now offices.

The Drive

Manor Farm fields alongside. Slow development from the 1880s

The Green

Important conservation area. Informal recreation space. This small tract of common land is separated from the grounds of Sidcup Place by a screen-belt of tall lime trees on a mound.  a corner of Sidcup which still keeps a distinctly Victorian atmosphere with its large houses and spacious gardens.

The War Memorial commemorates the dead of both world wars.

Manor House. 1780s, council offices. Architect not known. Eighteenth century remarkable roughness. A very handsome house of red brick c1790 in a prominent position opposite Sidcup Green. It was built on the site of an old farmhouse, and was originally called Place Green House. It was named Manor House in the 1860s, though there never was a manor of Sidcup. It is now used as the Registry Office by Bexley Borough Council. 

Place Cottage. brick house, it loos late 18th century , but the structure is of a timber-framed house, probably c1675. There are substantial extensions to the rear, and a two storey bay to the east, added c1895. 

Cluny Cottage, has an ornate porch and steep barge boarded gable; the lower floor is of knapped flint, the upper floor jettied and tile-hung. It was originally three cottages of 1886. 

Summerfield Lodge, was built in identical style c1986, a hundred years later. 

Freeby, a large house with tile-hung upper floor, of 1896.

Cluny Cottage

Summerfield Lodge

Freeby

Sidcup Place. An extraordinary building, partly 18th century, but very irregular because of its 19th century extensions. It is surrounded by a great area of open space. said to have been designed to resemble a fort with projecting bastions at each corner by a Royal Engineers officer and  Planned like a staff tent,. The Berens family lived here From 1822 to 1919 and were well-known for their local benefactions – they funded the Sidcup National School, Ursula Lodges and ohns Church. Later the house became a private school and in 1933 was purchased by the Chislehurst and Sidcup Urban District Councils for use as their headquarters. It was later transferred to the London Borough of  Bexley and used by the Directorate of Engineering and Works. The old core, said to date to 1743, is at the south-east corner. only the north-east bastion remains free, the the others merged into extensions of 1853. The north front has a tower, with a  concave roof, and the coat of arms of the Berens added in c1896. There is a mounting-block by the foot of the tower. Has since become a pub.

stable-block, c1780 and a section altered c1930.

Park The grounds of Sidcup Place, cover just over 25 acres, with gardens and sports facilities, and a special playground for children. There is a rose garden, the old kitchen garden with its 19^th century walling. There is a long ha-ha of knapped flint.

The Park

The Park was a development of the 1870s. Three houses remain from that time

Kingston House on the south side,

Westburton

Amberley on the north side.

Anonymous pillar box