Gipsy Hill

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Coordinates: 51°25′22″N 0°05′05″W / 51.4229°N 0.0848°W / 51.4229; -0.0848
Gipsy Hill

View of Gipsy Hill, looking north towards the City of London
Gipsy Hill

 Gipsy Hill shown within Greater London
OS grid reference TQ332710
London borough
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region London
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LONDON
Postcode district SE19, SE27
Dialling code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
EU Parliament London
UK Parliament Dulwich and West Norwood
London Assembly
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UK
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Gipsy Hill is an area of South London within the London Borough of Lambeth. It borders the London Boroughs of Southwark and Croydon.

About the area

Gipsy Hill is the name of the main road that runs in a southerly direction from Gipsy Road, near its junction with South Croxted Road, up to Westow Hill in Upper Norwood. It takes its name from the presence of Gipsies in what was a relatively remote rural area until Gipsy Hill railway station was opened in 1856. On 11 August 1668, Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary that his wife had visited "the gypsies at Lambeth"; they may well have been located in this area.[1]

Gipsy Hill is also a geographical expression for the hilly area in the south-eastern corner of Lambeth that is situated south of Gipsy Road and east of Salters Hill.

Gipsy Hill ward is represented by three elected members of Lambeth Borough Council and includes some areas that are often identified as parts of West Norwood and West Dulwich.

Gipsy Hill Police Station is located on a road named Central Hill about 50 m from the top of the one named Gipsy Hill. It is London's highest Metropolitan Police station.

In Lunham Road there is a decommissioned nuclear bunker. The 18-room bunker was constructed between 1963 and 1966 as part of a block of flats on the Central Hill Estate called Pear Tree House.

Schools

(Note that as of the start of the school year in 2012, Kingswood School was split across two sites, with infants and nursery at Kingswood Lower Site (formerly Norwood Park Primary School) and juniors at Kingswood Upper Site). The expansion of Kingswood was driven by the school's success and huge popularity within the local area. It consistently performs in the high nineties in its Year Six SATs, and is outstanding in Ofsted reports. It is also a national school of excellence, and as such mentors failing schools that need to improve. So far it has taken on both Paxton and Elm Wood schools when they were put in special measures, and under the umbrella of the Gipsy Hill Federation, both schools have turned around and now also have Outstanding ratings by Ofsted.

The school did become a pupil referral unit, Park Campus. The council developed part of the site for this unit, which has a roll of around 80 pupils under the age of 16. The remaining school buildings are now Kingswood Lower Site, with 14 classes from nursery to year 2. Pupils at Kingswood Primary go to the Kingswood Upper Site (just further up Gipsy Road) for Year's 3 to 6.

  • Paxton Primary School, Woodland Road, SE19 1PA[2]

There are no secondary or private schools in Gipsy Hill itself, but a number operate nearby in areas such as West Dulwich and West Norwood.

Churches

The following congregations meet in buildings that are readily identified as places of worship:

  • Berridge Road Community Church (Anglican), Berridge Road, SE19 1EF[3]
  • Christ Church, Gipsy Hill (Anglican), 1 Highland Road SE19 1DP[4]
  • Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, Whiteley Road, SE19 1JT
  • Upper Norwood Methodist Church, Westow Hill, SE19 1TQ[5]

These buildings were constructed as places of worship but are now used for other purposes:

  • Former Gipsy Hill Wesleyan Chapel, 16 Gipsy Hill, SE19 1NL - converted into flats.
  • Former Gipsy Road Baptist Church, 226 Gipsy Road, SE27 9RB - upper part converted into flats, ground floor used by a nursery.

Nearest places

a boundary marker for Camberwell Parish on the route of the Effra at Gipsy Hill is now partially buried by later layers of pavement.

Nearest stations

Notable residents

References

  1. ↑ "Tuesday 11 August 1668 (Pepys' Diary)". Pepysdiary.com. Retrieved 2013-08-18. 
  2. ↑ "History of the School | Kingswood Primary". Gipsyhillfederation.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-18. 
  3. ↑ "Christ Church Gipsy Hill". Gipsyhill.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-18. 
  4. ↑ "Christ Church Gipsy Hill". Gipsyhill.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-18. 
  5. ↑ Balston, James (2012-12-07). "The Triangle SE19: Upper Norwood Methodist Church". Thetrianglese19.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-18. 

External links

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