This amazing glass building was huge at some 1,848 feet long and 480 feet wide. Made from iron & glass it towered into the sky with its massive towers at each end in a 200 acre Park. It must have been a sight to see as it sat on one of the highest points in London. How they ever moved this over the River Thames in the 1850's is beyond me, but they did and reconstructed it. It is also famous for having the world's first public flush toilets; these were for men only, it took another ten years to accept that women should have them as well. A pneumatic railway was built, the first the world had ever seen. Amazingly it was only 30 years before this that Dinosaurs were first discovered. So when this huge park was being built it was decided to include education as a topic. The Dinosaurs the Victorians built are what they thought they may look like, and are still there, as you will see. This Aerial picture was taken in 1934.
Here is the first bit as you enter through the Crystal Palace Parade.
To enlarge any photo please click on it.
The Victorians were really into carpet bedding. With all the new plants coming in from all over the world and inexpensive glass for greenhouses, they could grow them, and show them off en mass.
Even to this day most places in the UK, especially the public parks, still use bedding.
This bedding scheme is huge. I do not agree with doing it with stone as it should be done on grass, the green foil of the grass sets the plants of perfectly.
To the side and in the centre is another Victorian favourite Magnolia grandiflora.
Apart from the surface the Victorian plants are superb, if a bit young. This is due to a lot of money being spent on a recent refurbishment. I love to see an Acer and Monkey puzzle trees or Arucaria arucana. The Victorians loved these and they are all over the Park and everywhere in the surrounding area.
Some more of this area.
The trees throughout the Park are stunning, having been planted when the park was being built and some a lot earlier.
The staff has put up signs that direct you on a very short walk of half a mile, a stroll of one and a half miles or a brisker walk of three miles. But you will not see the entire park on a three-mile walk. These avenues are amazing to me, probably because I love trees.
Looking down on some of the remains of the Palace and a memorial constructed with one of the small iron girders left after the disaster! The whole area was designed in tiers, with the memorial at the top and then going down through each tier.
This was not the top bit of the Crystal Palace just one of the entrance and walkways that hosted 2 million people a year. It is just to give you some idea of the size both ways. It is however the original site of the Palace.
There are quite a lot of these Sphinxs on the steps, some are looked after and some are not!
Left to rot but the ones the public can see do get cleaned. This is not the way to look after a Historic site.
Behind the picture on the left you can just about see the steps and the upper walkway. That is how big this place was and there is more including wonderful architecture.
A Buddleia growing on the top of one of the walls and a bit of the side of this awesome place.
A breathtaking clump of Cedars and then a look a bit lower!
A lovely oak in the distance, then what the Victorians called the Umbrella tree, a weeping Ash or Fraxinus excelsior ' pendula' set against a Cedar. What a true delight!
Here is a closer look at this beauty and a willow with some more of the old buildings in the background.
Now for some Dinosaurs in the Victorian Dinosaur lake. This is what the Victorians assumed Dinosaurs looked like. Someone needs some help looking after the tree ferns as most of them do not look well. The tree fern stumps are the brown things with no leaves at all.
Like everything in this place, these are huge.
The Crystal Palace was also famous for being the world's first theme park and had a rollercoaster as well as the weird Dinosaurs.
Amazing, a tree fern that is alive!
Another live tree fern, not big or very well, though.
To the side of the Dinosaur lake is what they call the tidal lake. This is the stunning entrance. It is full of Willows, Dawn Redwoods, Sequioas, cedars and many more. This is a dream for me.
The smaller dark tree is an old monkey puzzle completely choked with Hedra helix or English ivy. A small bridge leading to a great surprise.
Then you come on this, I had to stop and have a look.
For once I was speechless! The sheer size, not more than 8 miles from Central London, is totally awe inspiring, and the duck on the left did not have much to say either.
Another baby monkey puzzle tree. In a place this size and with its history I was wondering where the Blue Cedars were, I did not have to wait long.
You really are spoilt for choice in here.
Moving on, a rather unusual planting of trees. A Sequioa to the left then a purple Beech to the right, but in the middle, one tree that has made my walk even better, a weeping Hornbeam or Carpinus betulus 'Pendula', how fantastic is that? More Willows on a bank.
I love playing conkers, the conker nut is in the middle. They are also called Horse Chestnuts or Aesculus hippocastanum. You get the nut out of the prickly shell and put a hole through the middle, then put a bit of string through the hole with a knot in the end to hold your conker. You bash someone else's conker and they bash yours till the one that is left intact is the winner! Look at that gorgeous Cedar against the sky, the sky did not stay like that for long!
I will leave you for the moment with some Mallards playing with some rather large Mirror Carp.
Thank you for being with me on my little wander around some of this amazing place. I hope you will join me for more in the next article, where you can find out what happened to the Crystal Palace.
It also has a children's Railway, a Park Farm and a cafe. If you wish to walk around and have a picnic you can do that anywhere you so wish, and it is FREE!
It is strange that this park also holds our National Sports Centre, yet recently it was under threat as people wanted to build on it. After the Olympics with the new facilities being built there, they may get their wish and destroy this magical place. A long-fought-over local issue is whether to build on the open space which was the location of the original Crystal Palace building or to leave it as parkland as the GLC had done. Any development would be within the London Borough of Bromley, but would affect residents in neighbouring boroughs and the access to the sports centre. It would also affect the skyline view across the whole of London.
All pictures are my own apart from the the Aerial 1934 Picture. This is a common copyright expired picture due to the 70 year old rule.
Links, I will put some more on in Part 2.
Crystal Palace BBC Panoramics.
The Great Exhibition and the Palace.
Regards.
Neil.
For Nancy.
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