In the sixteenth century, the woods on Sydenham Hill were reserved by
Elizabeth I to provide timber for shipbuilding. The oak-lined formal avenue, known as Cox's Walk, leading from the junction of
Dulwich Common and
Lordship Lane was cut soon after 1732 by Francis Cox to connect his Green Man Tavern and Dulwich Wells with the more popular
Sydenham Wells. When the poet
Thomas Campbell lived in Sydenham (between 1805 and 1822) he visited his friend
Dr Glennie, in
Dulwich Grove. After the relocation of the Crystal Palace in 1854, the Dulwich Estate made plots along
Sydenham Hill available on long leases, and a series of large houses was built. Between the junction with Crescent Wood Road and Cox's Walk there were seven houses. One of the largest was The Hoo, standing almost opposite the present 36 Sydenham Hill. The
folly was in the former grounds of
Fairwood at 53 Sydenham Hill; the house was first occupied by
Alderman David Henry Stone. Stone commissioned James Pulham & Son to build the folly. Incised lines simulating stonework on the folly's arch resemble those on the bridge in
Buckingham Palace Gardens. The Pulham catalogue indicates that the firm of
James Pulham and Son worked extensively in the
Sydenham/
Dulwich area in the 1870s. In the grounds in front of
Kingswood House, there are remains of features in
Pulhamite. , painted by Camille Pissarro in 1871. The
Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway went through Sydenham Hill Wood, the
Dulwich College estate and two tunnels, terminating at the west of the Crystal Palace. It opened on 1 August 1865. In 1871,
Camille Pissarro painted the view down the tracks to Lordship Lane from the wood and brick bridge on Cox's Walk. The image, of a train billowing steam, grasps the optimism of the
Industrial Revolution. In 1908 the footbridge was renewed in
teak and iron to the same design as the original. map, showing buildings and garden paths on the southeast edge of the wood In 1982, Southwark Council leased the Wood to
London Wildlife Trust to manage as a nature reserve. London Wildlife Trust's Southwark Wildlife Group ran a "Save the Woods" campaign backed by West Lewisham MP John Maples and other local MPs. Dulwich MP Gerald Bowden asked the Secretary of State for the Environment to intervene. A full-page Evening Standard article set the scene for a New Year public inquiry into the Plan. The January inquiry heard evidence from a dozen ecologists on the Wood's wildlife diversity, other witnesses describing the Wood's educational and amenity value, visited the site and listened to views from several hundred members of the public at an evening meeting at
Kingswood House. Southwark MP Simon Hughes spoke in favour of saving the wood in the
House of Commons. Further, Dulwich College Estates applied for planning permission to build 36 flats on the site of Beechgrove House (former home of
Lionel Logue). In July 1985, the Local Plan inspector reported that most of the Wood should be protected from development. The written report was published in the same week that Southwark Council's planning committee rejected the Beechgrove application. In advance of a public inquiry into the Beechgrove plans held in November 1986, Gerald Bowden MP said: "I’ve never had quite such a wide range of ordinary people writing to me on one subject. There is very broad opposition to the flats." The inspector's decision against the plan was hailed as "Wood reprieve a policy precedent." "The need to preserve areas of existing natural woodland within the urban areas is of as much importance in preserving our heritage and improving the quality of the environment as that of preserving the countryside," the inspector said. In 1988 there were still many
rhododendrons, a lone
monkey puzzle, the
cedar of Lebanon, fragments of Pulhamite ornaments and the folly. From here it flows across the golf course, then alongside Cox's Walk, under Dulwich Common and into the lake in
Dulwich Park. In wet weather it rises above the drains and flows along the road around Dulwich Park by Frank Dixon Way. == Wildlife ==