Parks and playgrounds directory

Location

Upper Norwood, between South Norwood Hill and Auckland Road with Auckland Rise to the north and Tummonds Gardens to the south. Pedestrian entrances from South Norwood Hill and Auckland Rise.

Area

16 acres 7.08 hectares.

Facilities

• Extensive woodland
• Pond and open space

Toilets are adjacent to the park entrance in Church Road. The woodland is locked at night.

History

Beaulieu Heights is perched on a slope which runs from Church Road down to Auckland Rise. The woodland was part of the Great North Wood but more recently the grounds of two large houses, Hazelwood and Beaulieu Lodge.

Thomas Bainbridge's Map of Croydon in 1800 shows the area as belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the 1870 Map shows the woodland which is very similar in extent to today's area. Beaulieu Mansion and gardens is still in use and is situated at the top of the hill. The mansion served as a hotel for many years before being turned into an old peoples home.

The Park was formed from the gardens of these two large houses when the land was acquired from the Church Commissioners in 1938, but it was not opened to the public until after the war. South Norwood Hill was formerly Beulah Hill or Beggar's Hill, the latter name probably arising from the gipsies who frequented the Great North Wood.

During August 1976 when there was a very hot summer over one acre of the Oak woodland was destroyed by fire. This area was subsequently cleared and reinstated and the plants and animals which thrive in the woodland soon started to re-colonise the ground.