Duppas Hill

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Duppas Hill is a park and surrounding residential area in Waddon, near Croydon in Greater London (and historically in Surrey). It is thought to be named after a family called 'Dubber' or 'Double'.

Duppas Hill has a long history of sport and recreation. It is said that jousting took place there in medieval times and the story goes that Lord William de Warenne was treacherously slain there during a joust in 1286.

Duppas Hill was a cricket venue in the 18th Century and is believed to have been used for major matches by the Croydon club as early as 1707 when the Croydon club played the London Club. It was certainly in use in 1731 when it is mentioned in H T Waghorn's Cricket Scores 1730-1773 and in two subsequent matches between Croydon and London. The last mention is in 1747.

Duppas Hill was the site of the Croydon workhouse. In 1726, the Vestry of Croydon resolved to erect the town's first workhouse at a site on what was then 'Dubber's Hill'. The establishment was open by the end of the following year and governed by a committee of Trustees. In 1836 it became the Croydon Poor Law Union workhouse. The workhouse moved to Thornton Heath in 1866 but the infirmary remained in the Duppas Hill buildings until 1885 and the founding of what became Mayday Hospital close to the new workhouse.

There has been a public park at Duppas Hill since 1865, when the Croydon Board of Health bought land from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for £2,000 to create Croydon's first recreation ground. It was laid out with paths, a bandstand, pavilion and an ornate drinking fountain. The Board of Health had to deal with cattle trespassing, drinking booths and other problems. The Board had proposed enclosing it with iron posts and railings intending to turn the area into a park rather than a recreation ground for all to enjoy sports and games freely, and in particular aimed to restrict horse-riding. Some of the Board wanted to ban horse-riding completely on the public open space, others to ban grooms exercising horses but not the general public riding for pleasure. Sir Francis Head, a famous soldier who lived at Duppas Hall overlooking the park, chaired a large public meeting to prevent the enclosure, wrote letters and memoranda to the press and headed a memorial of 3,500 people protesting against enclosure. He argued that the horse riders protected defenceless ladies, but he was eventually satisfied with notices forbidding people from exercising their horses, with Duppas Hill becoming the space for recreation it still is today.

The ground was used for public celebrations and firework displays. On the eve of the 1926 General Strike, Duppas Hill was the venue of a mass rally of trade unionists and workers. During World War II Duppas Hill hosted a baseball match between American and Canadian soldiers.

Today the park is still a recreation ground and cricket is still played there. Part of the site was used as the Heath Clark school, later part of Croydon College, which has now been developed into housing.

[edit] References

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians - various publications;
At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742 – 1751 by F S Ashley-Cooper in Cricket Magazine (1900) (ASW);
Cricket Scores 1730 - 1773 by H T Waghorn (WCS);
Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley (FL18);
Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley (FLPV);
From the Weald to the World by Peter Wynne-Thomas (PWT);
Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 by Arthur Haygarth (SBnnn);
The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC)
History of Duppas Hill, Croydon Council
(1997) Hidden History in Croydon's Parks, Croydon Council