A BRIEF HISTORY
In the second half of the 19th Century, the Brockley area became built up, as farmland was sold off and streets of houses crept further south. Hilly Fields was only saved from development by the protests of local residents. A committee of influential people was formed, including Octavia Hill (new window), the philanthropist and co founder of the National Trust.
In her article “Space for the People” (1883) Octavia records that when visiting tenants in Deptford one day, she noticed a vase of freshly picked flowers. On being told they had been picked on Hilly Fields, she set off to visit the area the same day and as a result became instrumental in raising subscriptions to save Hilly Fields from being built over. The list of subscribers ran to thirty-one pages: of great importance to Octavia Hill was that everyone helped so there were local residents with small contributions as well as William Morris and F D Mocatta, a well-known Jewish philanthropist. Generous benefactors included the Duke of Westminster and many of the City Livery Companies, such as the Goldsmiths’, Fishmongers’ and Leathersellers’.
They managed to raise some of the purchase money, and other financial contributions were made by the London County Council and the Greenwich and Lewisham Boards of Works. Part of the site (the northern end) was occupied by a brick works, part was owned by the Corporation of London who had leased it to a developer for building purposes and part was glebe land of the parish of Lewisham. The southern end of the park had originally been fields, part of Bridge House Farm.
After lengthy and difficult negotiations the site of the park was bought and the park was laid out to the design of Lt Colonel Sexby, Chief Officer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Sexby for Parks for the London County Council from 1892 to 1909. The site of the brick works was drained, levelled and marked out as a cricket pitch. A bandstand was also provided. The park was formally opened on 16 May 1896.
Sir Arthur Arnold, chairman of the LCC, which had spent £4,685 on laying out the grounds, opened the park to the public on 16th May 1896. Sir Robert Hunter, in his capacity as chairman of the committee set up to save Hilly Fields, attended the opening ceremony and paid tribute to Octavia Hill’s hard work. ‘So well-known to many of them by reason of her public- spirited labours, in the course of her work in Deptford’.
The Dedication To the Public of Hilly Fields, Brockley, by Sir Arthur Arnold, Chairman of the Council, took place on Saturday, 16th May, 1896. (document will be uploaded in the near future)
From “Dedication to the public of Hilly Fields, Brockley by Sir Arthur Arnold, Chairman of the Council on Saturday, 16th May 1896” Lewisham Local Studies Archives 352.944 BRO
“…Taking the statistics compiled with such care by Mr Charles Booth, it will come as a surprise to many to learn that in the county of London there is more poverty south than north of the Thames, while the district lying along the river from Greenwich to Rotherhithe is the second poorest in London…..dealing with blocks of about 30,000 inhabitants, Mr Booth finds that the two poorest are situate, one between Blackfriars and London-bridge, and the other by the riverside at Greenwich, which includes Deptford. The first with a population of 33,000 has 68 per cent of poor; the second with 31,000, 65 per cent, whilst there is no similar block in East London which has more than 59 per cent. ….All the greater importance therefore attaches to the preservation of such a fine open space as this, which is only a mile distant from some of the most congested quarters. But Deptford is not the only district which will reap benefit, for the more immediate neighbourhoods of Brockley and Lewisham, although comparatively open at present, must ere long be covered with building to accommodate the ever increasing population of the this mighty London. Moreover, the character of the Hilly Fields gives a wide range to their influence upon the health of the metropolis. It has long been recognised that it is especially important to keep the hilltops round London free from buildings, so that the purity of the air blowing in from the country may thus be preserved….”
The summit of Hilly Fields stands 175 feet above sea level, and the park commands very good views. A local man remembering the park in its early days wrote, “Here promenaded all the smart folk of Brockley and Lewisham and to go home from church without crossing the breezy hill to see the sights and get an appetite for the Sunday joint was quite unheard of!”
The red brick building in the park was the West Kent Grammar School, built in about 1885, which later became part of Brockley County School. Further north, beyond the tennis courts, various buildings and Nissen huts were erected by the Army during WWII. Prefab bungalows were also built along the Adelaide Avenue and Montague boundaries of the park; they were still there in 1960s. The park did suffer some bomb damage during the war.
In 1971 Hilly Fields was transferred from the Greater London Council to the London Borough of Lewisham.
LITERARY REFERENCE TO HILLY FIELDS
Edith Nesbit, a contemporary of Octavia Hill, walked to Hilly Fields in Brockley near New Cross from her home in Elswick Road, Lewisham and referred to the area in “Wings and the Child”. ‘Once there were nightingales that sang in the gardens in Loampit Hill. Now it is all villas. Once the Hilly Fields were hill fields where the children played, and there were primroses.’
Hilly Fields
Bits and pieces from the archives
From “The Kyrle Society, Report for the Open Spaces Branch, 1893” Lewisham Local Studies Archives, SM1/9/10 (Motto of the Kyrle Society, founded 1877 ‘For Bringing Beauty Home to People’)
“ Hilly Fields…..The land preserved is probably second in importance to no open space in the neighbourhood of London, being as the County Council long since reported the finest site for a park round London, and being moreover situated but a short distance from one of the most densely packed quarters of the Metropolis.”
From Report of the Joint Committee appointed to secure the Preservation of the Hilly Fields, Lewisham as a Public Park” Lewisham Local Studies Archives 352.944 BRO
“The Hilly Fields, Lewisham, as finally preserved to the public…is situate on rising ground on the edge of the densely populated neighbourhood of Deptford, and was pronounced by a Committee of the London County Council, which considered the matter some years ago, to constitute the most eligible site for a park in the neighbourhood of London”
From Borough of Lewisham, Minutes of Proceedings of the Council
Suffragettes:
(1906-1907) 20th November 1907, p,20 minute 13:
notes a letter from the LCC “with reference to this Council’s letter of the 7th instant, and stating that all practicable steps had been taken to prevent disturbances at public meetings held on Sundays at Hilly Fields, and that the Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis had also been communicated with in order that he might render such assistance as might be necessary”
Band performances
On12th October 1910 Councillor Jerrard moved that band performance at Hilly Fields be moved to start and end one month later in the year. The issue dragged on…
On 15th January 1913 Councillor Wm Jerrard and Councillor J. Baldon moved:
“That representations be made to the London County Council with a view of fixing the period of band performances in the open spaces of the Borough (where such performances take place) one month later in the year than at present, so that the period may be three months from 9th June to 9th September, instead of from 9th May to 9th August as at present. That the suggestion be communicated to the Deptford Borough Council the residents if that Borough being interested so far as Hilly Fields are concerned”
On 7th May 1913 the Council noted the reply from the LCC
“stating that as the proposal involves the lighting of the bandstand and it would be practically impossible to maintain order at the several places after dark, the Council regret that they did not see their way to make the alteration suggested.”
Anti-social behaviour?
7th May 1913
“The Committee have received a letter (21st April) addressed to the Mayor from the Hon. Sec. of St. Bartholomew’s C of E Men’s Society, forwarding a copy of a memorial signed by members of the Lewisham Federation drawing attention to the misuse in the evenings of the Hilly Fields and other open spaces as a real source of danger to boys and girls and asking him to use his influence in having these open spaces better lighted and better controlled. The Hilly Fields is an open space under the control and management of the London County Council”.
Memories of Hilly Fields
This email was sent via the Lewisham council website by David Pearce, on
08 December 2008, at 19:21:12:
I was surprised to see a site for Hilly Fields. I enjoyed my visits
before and during the war (WWII). My mother took me there when I was
young but later I went on my own or with friends. There was not much to
do, nothing provided, we made our own amusement. We climbed the trees
(watch out for the ‘parkies’, they wore brown uniforms!). I remember a
Cafe where they served a drink of Ginger beer and Eldorado Ice cream. We
played ‘roly polys’ down the hill great fun. A drinking fountain, mum
told me not to use the cup and I took my own. When the war started we
went to the far end and saw the 2 Ack Ack guns, they were moved later.
The area down to Adelaide avenue was given over to allotments, Dig for
Victory. The railings around the park were taken away for munitions. A
Barrage Balloon was set up close to Hilly Fields Cresent, we chatted to
the Airmen, it was moved south when the doodle bugs came. I remember
only one bomb crater to the area to the west of the park, it filled with
water. My friend Douglas won a scholarship to Brockley County School: I
see it is the Prendergast school now. My girl friend who later became
my wife (has since died) we both enjoyed the park! I lived from 1928
until 1952 at 10 Brockley Gardens so it was only a short walk to the
park. I now live in Seaford, E Sussex, wonder if I would recognise the
old place now?
In 2016 we came across plans and photos of the bowls pavilion. Although modest, the pavilion is an important symbol of the post-war public building era and the value that public authorities then placed on pleasant, cheerful, accessible, buildings for public amenity. Architectural Historian and Deputy Chair of the Twentieth Century Society, Tim Brittain-Catlin visited the building in 2016 and explained that “The building’s design is more subtle than it might at first appear” – the proportions of the original windows were very carefully considered, for example”. The building had been condemned but following a visit from Timothy Brittain-Catlin of Kent University, it was opened up for viewing.
A local architect made his comment, that it wasn’t falling down any time soon. The council then re-considered the paperwork that had lead to the building being condemned and soon after opened it back up.
[…] from Hilly Fields, the hill-top park in Brockley, south east London, near where I live, which was saved from developers in the late 19th century by philanthropists including Octavia Hill, one of the founders of the […]
[…] of the 19th century. What is now the beautiful Hilly Fields park used to be fields, which were only saved from developers by activists and reformers including Octavia Hill, one of the founders of the National […]
I’m surprised that there is no mention of Henry Williamson’s “A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight.”
The first volumes of which are set in Brockley and Eastern Road next to Hilly Fields. A truly miraculous evocation of Brockley from 1890 to 1919.
Apologies for the delay in replying but we’ve had some problems with the website, hopefully now resolved. We’ve only just caught up with the early volumes of Williamson’s ‘Chronicle’ but agree that they provide a remarkably detailed portrait of Brockley and Ladywell during the period you mention. We will be including some material on these novels in the future. In the meantime, you may be interested (if you haven’t already seen it) in the post on the Friends of Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries website regarding HW and his mother, Gertrude. http://www.foblc.org.uk/
I was born in 1952 one of the prefab’s on hilly fields nbr 6 (used to have nbr 6 painted on the tree)
Len Gribble
I lived from birth in 1949 to 10yrs of age at 45 Montague Ave in one of the prefabs. I attended Gordonbrock primary school and I remember no central heating, ice on the inside of the window, and a fitted ironing ironing board that came down from the wall. Hilly Fields was our playground, and many happy hours were spent in the swing park there. My godfather worked as lab technician for several years at Brockley County School.We had neighbours with surnames Henley and Morris. Sadly the prefabs are no longer there. Happy days.
Thanks for this Angie, another former resident of the park Len Gribble was born in the prefabs, a little later than you in 1952. He was at no 6. Maybe you knew each other? You can see the footprints of the prefabs during dry summers. Do you have any photographs from the time. So far, no-one has been able to locate any images of the park during the prefab days.
Intrigued about the fitted ironing board at your primary school. Was it in the smaller building on the corner, I think it had laundry over the door?
I lived at 148 Adelaide Avenue in the 1950’s from the age of 7 to 10 later moving to 85a Adelaide Avenue further down the hill nearer to Ladywell. I too went to Gordonbrock School with my best friend Diane Culver who lived in a prefab on Hillyfields directly opposite our flat.
I often wonder what happened to her. I moved away completely out of London when I was 13 .
My brother and I grew up in Chalsey Road and we played a lot on Hilly Fields. I remember during the 1950s there were prefabs along Hilly Fields Crescent as well as those mentioned above.
My family lived in Overcliff Road in the 1950’s. I started at Gordonbrock school in September 1957 and had to cross Hillyfields to get to school. I often walked home alone (can you imagine a 5 year old girl doing that today!!) – not likely! I recall the prefabs and had a friend who lived in one along the Hillyfields Cresent side. She was called Yvonne Arnold and I called for her in the morning on the way to school. Her Dad had a motorbike with a sidecar and often picked us both up from school in it.
Hillyfields was our playground in the summer holidays. We spent happy days in the swing park where the lady in charge (Mrs Smith) would stick plasters to cut knees etc. My aunt was also an attendant in the swing park and my Dad was part of the grounds maintenance team (he retired in 1985). Truly carefree childhood times.
Thanks for your lovely post.
If you are interested there is a project called Brockley Voices…not to be confused with the choir.
Brockley Voices is a new oral history project by the Brockley Society, which seeks to capture and share the stories and reminiscences of people living in or connected to Brockley. Several volunteers came forward following a piece in the November 2014 Newsletter which expressed a desire to preserve the memories of older Brockley residents before they are lost forever. Following several meetings, a core group of volunteers with a range of recording, interviewing and archiving skills has distilled a number of potential options into a coherent idea.
Our aim is to record the thoughts, feelings and memories of anyone who lives in or is connected to SE4, capturing for posterity a snapshot of Brockley in the early 21st Century. By broadening out from the initial idea of ‘reminiscence’, we hope to make the project accessible and relevant to anyone who feels they have something to say about Brockley.
To contact us, email brockleyvoices@gmail.com
It was lovely to discover this website after a wet Sunday walk around Hilly Fields reliving my childhood. I was born in one of the prefabs, 48 Montague Avenue, on the 5th of August 1955. We were the Russell’s. Dad Harry and Mum Rose also my brother, seven years my senior, Martin. We lived next door to Tom and Nancy (Nan) whose surname escapes me, we were next down the hill from the Morris’s. Raymond Morris was a chum of mine, together with Tony Sutton, who’s prefab was on Adelaide Avenue. I remember another neighbour George Davis or possibly Davison and his wife, also the Henly’s, especially Ann and Christine, daughters and Richard their son, who was in the RAF. My name is Stephen Russell and I attended Gordonbrock school. My teachers names were Miss Mitchell and later Mr Widows. God bless them both. It was a great place to grow up, having Hilly Fields as my back garden, as long as you avoided the wrath of the Parkies who looked after the place in their brown suits and hats. I think we were one of the last to go. Most of the prefabs had been knocked down when we moved out to the wilds of St Pauls Cray in September 1964, a desperately sad time for a nine year old boy. Sad to see the state of the café now, also the long gone toilets, always clean and smelling of Jays fluid and carbolic soap. Just opposite were the tennis courts but no longer is the hut there where rackets and balls could be hired. Does anybody remember the mobile children’s cinema erected off the back of lorries and vans during the summer holidays?
Lollies for 3d from the café and sledging in the Winter. Happy days indeed. Wonderful to see the Park pretty much as is was in my childhood, still loved by local residents and not under blocks of flats. Prosper Hilly Fields!
Slight correction to above, bit of a memory lapse on the names of my neighbours. It was Tom and Nan Morris who were next door and the Mills family in the next prefab up the hill from us. Raymond Mills, my mate and his sister Sharon. Dad was called Bonnie, he came and went a bit and I think mum was Maureen, but I can’t be sure. Really spooky to see those aerial photographs of the foundation ghosts of the prefabs. If I can get there when they are visible I could stand on the very spot where I was born! I think can recall Angela Hall (see above posting) as a smiling ginger haired school girl with plats. Sorry if I’m wrong Angie! Steve.
I was 4 years old when my family moved to Eastern Road in 1951. In those days Eastern Road was just a rough surface of stones as it wasn’t tarmacked until the late 50s or early 60s. I remember many happy times playing cricket in the summers on the field adjacent to Eastern Road, using the trunk of a large silver birch tree as a wicket. I also remember clearly a not so happy time when I believe a boy was killed after he fell out of one one tall trees nearby. I was there when it happened and can remember him on the ground bleeding from his eyes and ears, motionless. I went to Gordonbrock school from 52 until 59, cutting across the green (as we called it) to cross Adelaide Avenue and go down the alley to Ivy Lane. The houses in Eastern Road in 1951 originally numbered 5 to 14, (numbers 1 to 4 having been bombed in the war) but after the flats in Great for Close were built we all have to add ten to our house number so that the numbers went from 15 to 24. I recall climbing many of the trees on the left where you went up to the school, the putting green and tennis courts, the playground with the swings and sandpit, and a wooden cafe over towards the top of Montague Avenue. Also the was a brick structure, I never knew what it was for, at the top of Eastern Road which I remember climbing and sitting on the top on the day that happened to be Princess Margaret’s wedding day to Tony Snowdon. I remember the Whites lived upstairs at number 5 and Miss Morris and Miss Woodward lived on the ground floor. Number 6 was occupied by Mrs Glennan and her daughter Gladys. The Pott family lived upstairs at number 7, with Mrs Sutton downstairs, the Pragnalls at 8, the Harveys at 9, the Mathews at 10, Mr and Mrs Lague at 11, another family called White at 12, Pullen at 13 and Thomas at 14. I moved from Eastern Road nearly 40 years ago, but always thought that Hilly Fields was a lovely place to grow up in, happy days indeed!
Looking at the above posts i’m very sorry to say i can’t recall Stephen Russell (it was a very long time ago) although we were very close neighbours, are roughly the same age & attended the same school but i do remember Raymond Mills & his family very well & when the prefabs were demolihed we were all moved to Dulwich & they became our next door but one neighbours, happy days. I have to say my mother loved the prefab more than she ever did our brand new council house.
I have been searching for years about my family living in a Nissan hut (Brockley?)after the WW11 …I have a photo of my mum and myself with the corner of the Nissan hut in the background . I was about 2 years old (born in 1949). . I can remember years later my dad talking about it . So strange as my dad lost his War medals and I described the path attached to the said Nissan hut ,leading to chain link fencing …and remembered somehow of burying his medals by the side of the path . It seems that there is information about prefabs but never living in a Nissan hut ? Any information would be most grateful . Thankyou !
I lived at number 5 from1946 -58 next to Len Gribble, my best friend Terry Abel lived there as well , we used to have great fun when my parents and his went to the pub.I have great memories of living there .I also went to Gordonbrock school It would be great to see some pictures of the prefabs and perhaps hear from anyone who knew me, I now live in Australia and come back each year to see my family
Hi tom
Terry is my half brother now lives in Kew Also Jean lives in Blackheath Cynthia lives in Phoenix USA
All I can remember Torridon rd infant/juniors and Catford boys
School on top of hill was called prison on the hill?????
[…] informationLondon Gardens OnlineThe history of Hilly FieldsDetailed information about Hilly Fields todayConsult The ever-reliable ‘Running Past’ about […]
I too enjoyed my childhood at no. 30 Hillyfields in one of the prefabs from 1946-1956. Up the hill there was a wooden hut selling drinks and ice cream. When a cricket match was on I used to collect the empty drink bottles and return them to the cafe and collect 1p a bottle (or was it 1d old money). Climbed the trees and played in the park and I also attended Gordonbrock school. I have photographs of our prefab and showing the open space of Hillyfields in my childhood. The good old days to remember.
Thanks Valerie Ann for your memories, if you can scan or photograph your photos from the park we’d really love to see them. Have you seen this cine film from the 1960s, we were sent it sometime ago along with some photographs of the pre fabs. Love your enterprise at collecting the bottles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miEl6JNT0p0
I have a set of ‘The Children’s Encyclopedia’ inscribed inside ‘J.Hooker, 7 Hillyfields Crescent Brockley’. Does anyone remember this person? When would J.Hooker have owned these books?
Born in 1949 I attended Gordonbrock school and walked each day from Overcliff Rd,sometimes even going home to lunch so no lack of exercise there. I was in Mr Daley and Miss Smith’s class. Three of us met again at Essex University years later so they must have got something right!
Hilly fields was our playground. It provided play equipment, tennis courts,putting green and a good field for flying kites,dog walking and sledging. I remember the scent of the hawthorn trees along the ‘rough’ road on a May afternoon after school.
I also remember collecting coins that had fallen from the pockets of the cricket spectators on the bank after a match. A useful addition to pocket money!
Wow amazing to find this website & see how many people remembered Gordonbrock school. I am now 83yrs but still remember walking to school from my then home in Ladywell Rd where I was born in 1937.I remember all the shops & shopkeepers in Ladywell. From Gordonbrook school I went on to Plassy rd It would be wonderful to be in contact with anyone who lived near at that time. Ladywell has changed so much since then but the older I get the more I cling on to past memories.Cos time is running out. I now live in Hertfordshire.
I forgot to mention that I of course used to play in Hillyfields a lot. At one time I had a puppy who used to sit on one of the benches then I would walk a long long way away and call him and he would jump off the bench and run to me. Sadly my mother wouldn’t let me keep him so I had to take him back to the pet shop in Catford. I cried all the way home.
I lived at 148 Adelaide Avenue, in a bottom flat opposite Hillyfields from 1957 – 1961, upstairs flat 148A was occupied by two spinster sisters who were in the Salvation Army and they used to knock every Sunday to take me to Sunday school. Opposite were 2 rows of prefabs and my best friend Diane Colver lived in the second row immediately opposite. We both went to Gordonbrock School. Later we moved down the hill to 85A to be closer to the train station, I was so sorry to move away from Hillyfields.
Well, before my time no doubt. But there is a Carol Cross (Hooker) who posted above. She was living on Adelaide Avenue, but maybe it is a relative?
Thanks Linda for you contribution. We’d love to hear more about Hilly Fields in the 1950s. We’re very short of photographs from this time, should you ever come across any. Do you remember the bandstand. My neighbour remembers it from the 1960s but it seems to have been removed at some point in the early 1970s maybe?
Hello Adela, we’d be pleased to hear any reminicenses from playing in Hilly Fields. Was the playground built when you were at school and do you remember the bandstand? Take care.
Hello There, Keith Foster, born in 1953, lived at 17 Cliffview Road until 1970. Also went to Gordonbrock School, walking over the Hilly Fields. Just read the above about Octavia Hill ‘saving’ Hilly Fields, My life would have been completely different had she not been successful!
I used to play up the Hilly Fields like many of the above, and at 14 years old used to play Football with a group of lads on Sunday Mornings, one of whom, Len Franklin started Hilly Fields Football Club in 1967, I joined them when I was a bit older and stayed with them, as a player, manager, secretary etc.. until 1999. Players from all around, Overcliff, Brookbank, Fossil etc.. We had a reunion in 2019 and 9 of the originals turned up! See http://www.hillyfieldsfc.co.uk or Facebook HILLY FIELDS FOOTBALL CLUB.
I don’t have any photos of the park itself.
Perhaps l should explain that Hilly Fields is the very reason for my existence!
My parents met up there before WW2 but then went away to fight and didn’t come back for 6 years. I do have a pic of my dad sitting in front of the chestnut palings that l remember so well. l think he remembered seeing the glow from the Crystal Palace fire in 1936 and also the German passenger airship passing overhead. People took fewer photos in those days though.
I’m not sure about the bandstand. Was it near the old refreshment hut?
I lived at 133 Breakspears Road from 1947 until 1953 when I joined the RAF as an apprentice I was 10 yrs old in 1947 so I went to Gordonbrock school andjust after I was 11 I attended Brockley County Grammar school until I joined the RAF Hilly Fields was a wonderful place for a school and enjoyed walking to and from school across the park
Happy memories!
I was born in 81 Adelaide Avenue on 14 December 1945 and went to
Gordonbrock school where I passed my 11plus thanks to Mr Daley and Miss Smith. My aunt and her 3 boys lived at 85 Adelaide Avenue and I used to spend most of my summer holidays with them. I remember Ian Foster who I used to walk up the hill with as he had a leg problem.
There was a boy called Leslie Barklamb in our class who used to sing Blue Suede shoes quite well!
Those were the days!
I lived with my parents at 42 Montague Ave ( which was one of the prefabs on Hilly Fields ) until 1958 when we moved to Foxboro Gdns in Ladywell. What lovely times they were living on Hiily Fields. Over the back fence and you were immediately in wide open spaces playing football and cricket.
I lived in upper brockly Rd and went to mantle road school played football with the church on hilly fields and old enough to remember the barrage balloons during the war but have wonderful memories left for Australia in1950 and have had a great life but still remember my roots and also loveing reading your memories
Hi & a big hello to all of you especially to Peter Hardwick‘s page.
I was also at Brockley County Grammar & can share your memories
& emotions during the 60‘s. I had friends in Breakspeare’s Rd. Lived in Harefield Rd
& often played on Hillyfields after school.
Would be great to exchange these happy memories.