Sydenham Hill Station

On a sunny day outside of the morning and evening rush hours is there a more pleasant way to get around London than on the overground train system? Some of the stations are oases of calm and beauty, probably none more so than Sydenham Hill Station, with its long platform surrounded by trees on both sides.



The station straddles the social divide at that the far south end of Dulwich, with one platform approached from College Road, home to the public school, and the other approached from the back of the Kingswood Estate, managed by Southwark Council (click map to enlarge).


The station opened in 1863, and its location is a testament to the local politics of land ownership - Dulwich Estate fought to keep railway lines only at the edge of its estate.

Pissarro painted a scene nearby in 1871. The vantage point is evidently just north of the station (looking in the direction of West Norwood cemetery) and although the station itself is not shown the smoke from a train as it makes it way along the cutting can be seen on the right of the picture. The picture is known as 'Near Sydenham Hill'.

See also: Camille Pissarro's Lordship Lane Station.