Croham Hurst

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This article is about Croham Hurst SSI. For the former Girls School, see Croham Hurst School.

Croham Hurst
Site of Special Scientific Interest

Country	England
Region	London
London borough	Croydon
Location	Croydon
- coordinates	51°21′3.32″N 0°4′38.35″W / 51.3509222°N 0.0773194°W / 51.3509222; -0.0773194Coordinates: 51°21′3.32″N 0°4′38.35″W / 51.3509222°N 0.0773194°W / 51.3509222; -0.0773194
Area	33.6 ha (83 acres)
Notification	1975
Managed by	Natural England
Area of Search	Greater London
Interest	Geological and Biological
Website : Map of site

Croham Hurst is a 33.6 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation in South Croydon in the London Borough of Croydon. It was notified in 1975.

The site is a steep hill, which is ancient woodland, although there are few very old trees because until the railways made cheap coal available, the timber was used for fuel. On the lower slopes there is a diverse community of plants dominated by oak and hazel on rich soils overlying chalk. Further up the trees are mainly beech on Thanet Sands, and towards the top the main trees are oak and birch on the acidic Blackheath pebble beds.^[1]^[2]

The Thanet Sands have eroded, but the Blackheath beds are bound by a natural cement, and this has resisted erosion to make a natural cap to the hill. The top is mainly bare of trees, with rounded pebbles made when the area was the base of shallow seas in the Eocene epoch around 50 million years ago. The sparse vegetation at the top is mainly wavy hair-grass, heather and bilberry.^[1]^[2]^[3]

History

Its human occupation goes back thousands of years. In 1968 two hut sites were discovered with low turf walls, which were part of a Mesolithic settlement around 5,000 to 3,000 years BC. Neolithic flint tools show that settlement continued into the later Stone Age. There is also a Bronze Age round barrow, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, although the only visible evidence is a plaque marking the site.^[2]^[4]

In the medieval period Croham was one of the four manors in the parish of Sanderstead. In the late sixteenth century its then owner, Sir Olliphe Leigh of Addington, sold it to John Whitgift, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Croham Hurst then became part of his Whitgift Foundation, an educational and nursing charity which is still operating today. In the late nineteenth century Croham Hurst became a popular spot for visitors, few of whom knew that it was not public property. They were shocked when it became known in 1898 that the Foundation wanted to sell the site, with the lower slopes being developed. Croydon people launched a vigorous campaign to save the site, which resulted in the whole of it being acquired by Croydon Corporation on 8 February 1901,^[2] which became part of the London Borough of Croydon in 1965.

Access

There is access from Croham Manor Road, Bankside and Upper Selsdon Road.

Gallery

Noticeboard
Wood
Path
Path
Grassland
Plaque for Bronze Age barrow
View from hill

References

External links

v t e Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Greater London

Biological	Barn Elms Wetland Centre Bentley Priory Brent Reservoir Chingford Reservoirs Crofton Woods Croham Hurst Denham Lock Wood Downe Bank Epping Forest Farthing Downs Frays Farm Meadows Hainault Forest Hampstead Heath Woods Happy Valley Hayes Common High Elms Ingrebourne Marshes Inner Thames Marshes Kempton Park Reservoirs Keston Common Mid Colne Valley Oxleas Woodlands Richmond Park Riddlesdown Ruislip Woods Ruxley Gravel Pits Saltbox Hill Syon Park Walthamstow Marshes Walthamstow Reservoirs Wimbledon Common

Geological	Abbey Wood Elmstead Pit Gilbert's Pit Harefield Pit Harrow Weald Hornchurch Cutting Wansunt Pit

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