A History of Sydenham Hill Wood at Dulwich Library

A talk about the history of Sydenham Hill Wood & Cox's Walk at Dulwich Library in partnership with Southwark Council

Join London Wildlife Trust at Southwark Council's beautiful Dulwich Library for a talk about the history of Sydenham Hill Wood.

Sydenham Hill Wood is one of the largest remaining remnants of the Great North Wood, a landscape of woods and commons which stretched from Deptford to Selhurst and has origins in the wildwood that colonised after the Ice Age ended 10,000 years ago. The Wood has a fascinating cultural history, with a number of interesting individuals having lived nearby within the Great North Wood. These include John Ruskin, Lord Byron and the speech therapist, Lionel Logue, made famous by The King's Speech. The former lived in a house which was once a part of Sydenham Hill Wood.

The Wood itself was saved from development in the 1980s resulting in a nature reserve loved and managed by members of the local community, the very people who saved it 33 years ago.

Today London Wildlife Trust volunteers rekindle ancient land management of coppicing, pollarding and dead hedging to aid the regeneration of the Wood's flora and fauna.

This is a free talk on behalf of Southwark Council.

For more information about Dulwich Library please follow this link to the Southwark Council website.