I've visited Crystal Palace Park twice this year, so have two sets of photos to share from a rather remarkable park. The area was created to accompany the Crystal Palace, a large structure built for the Great Exhibition in 1851. Initially intended for Hyde Park, the structure was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, and was made out of glass and iron; somehow it was taken apart and moved to the park's environs, where it hosted various shows, until a fire brought it down in 1936.
The park, however, still remains in the Crystal Palace suburb, which happens to be where four boroughs meet. Bromley have operated it since 1986, but fragments of it are in Southwark, such as the entrance that I used to enter a week ago. By my feet was the remnant of the Vicar's Oak, an ancient tree at the centre of Norwood, and was where various parishioners met for hundreds of years, commonly to drink. At the time, the area was part of the Great North Wood, once under the Archbishop of Canterbury's control, later taken by Oliver Cromwell, and now it mostly doesn't exist - hence the junction it is today. The stump where the oak stood was adorned by a jumper, its significance rather unclear.
Walking past the lovely gardens with various sunflowers, you get to the Crystal Palace Museum - which was closed when I came here - and eventually the remains of the palace. The view is tremendous and likely better on a less overcast day, with the Crystal Palace transmission tower (as in lead image) peering over you. The tower provides radio and television to the masses, and resembles the Eiffel Tower somewhat. Looking over my shoulder, I noticed there was a funfair on that day, with flashing lights in the distance. The space is also popular amongst joggers and the exercising, regardless of season.
The only parts that remained were the Italian Terraces, the staircase between them, and two terracotta sphinxes. There used to be two towers, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, which survived the fire but were destroyed in 1941 due to concerns the German Army could find them useful. Walking away from the palace, you'll eventually arrive at a bust of Joseph Paxton's head.
From here it's a rather brief walk to get to the National Sports Centre, which was built in 1964. The FA Cup final was once hosted on this land, with the 1913 final having 120,000 in attendance, and Crystal Palace FC played here too. However, it's now a more sleek-looking centre with an indoor cafe, and has an athletics track alongside it. They've played concerts at the athletics stadium, though not since hosting Coldplay in 2005, and I had a sports day here too a few years ago; I went home without a participation sticker.
I began to head out after seeing the centre, so from here you'll get to see the photo set I took back in January. They also include the more curious aspects of the park.
The dinosaurs, for instance - you don't see them in most parks. They were created in 1854 by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, and were the first full-scale sculptures of dinosaurs (and other extinct species) created, based on the fossil data at the time. Since then, more fossils have been discovered, thus rendering the sculptures almost obsolete, but it's hard to deny that they're charming. Some sit proudly on islands on the Crystal Palace lakes, others are directly by the footpaths, serving as a sign of how science can quickly render ideas obsolete, as new evidence is found.
 |
| The iguanodons |
 |
| Irish Elk |
The Crystal Palace Maze, meanwhile, makes for a lovely day out. I've made it to the centre before, though as a young child it seemed much more fiendish than it probably is. However, it was the highlight of any afternoon trip to the park, and I'll definitely try at it again, perhaps get a blogpost out of it. I didn't visit it on either visit, hence the lack of photos.
There is also the Crystal Palace Bowl, which I saw a year back. It's the other concert venue in the park; the audience space consists of a small lake, as seen in this image of a Bob Marley concert, which is commemorated by a plaque. Unfortunately, the space has fallen into disrepair on various occasions, though it was recently restored in 2022. I don't have any personal photos, sorry. (Thanks to Wikipedia user Tankfield for the image)
I'll end by mentioning a telephone box outside the dinosaur-covered information centre. It holds collections of art, run by Crystal Palace Calling, which are worth looking out for if you're visiting the park. After this, I headed out onto the streets of Penge, not that I have anything to write about it just yet.
Love it‼️
ReplyDelete