I forget as I travel that I know where I’m going, but I was asked recently ‘where is Elmers End?’ so if you follow this link it will take you there on Google Maps. It’s a suburban area just south of Beckenham, east of Crystal Palace and north east of Croydon. It’s also one of the ends of the London Tramway that serves an area in the west at Wimbledon and Beckenham in the east.
I hope this helps?
However, when I told my wife where I was going, her first reaction was to ask if it was anything to do with Elmer the patchwork elephant…I leave you to make up your own minds.
Elmers End – a neighbourhood
I have to say this was a very disappointing day out as Elmers End had very little to offer as did its neighbouring surrounds as I stroll aimlessly to Birbeck, Clock House, New Beckenham and a return to Beckenham which seems to be the focal point for the surrounds.
This is very much a commuting area relying on transport links to Croydon and Wimbledon by Tram and Central London and south to Hayes by mainline. The station is adjacent to a large Tesco superstore, and it’s about a five minute walk to ‘the green’ surrounded on one side by local shops, and on the green is a local description of how Elmers End may have acquired its name.
I spot a ghostly shop sign above a closed down cafe: Greenwood’s Corner and on close analysis the sign claims to have been a ‘Noted House of Leather…..Repairers’. If you can decipher the remainder, do please let me know.
Religion in the community
My mood for the day is also affected by the dull, overcast and showery conditions, so understandably there is no one out and about and I find myself taking solace from the religious building I walk past. As I pass the main cemetery and crematorium, I find a discarded packet of cigarettes warning of the risks of lung cancer quite an interesting juxtaposition. The cemetery is also the resting place for the final remains amongst many others, of W.G. Grace and Thomas Crapper.
Other buildings I passed included: the parish church of St James Beckenham, St John Coptic Orthodox Church; St Michael and All Angels in Birbeck and St Paul’s Church in New Beckenham.
Birbeck and Clock House
More streets with few shops and rows upon rows of houses with only the transmitter from Crystal Palace in the background for company. However some artwork in Birbeck catches my attention and what I can only describe as a de-antlered naked reindeer which I assume has been left in an empty shop in preparation for the festive season. Either that, or an unwanted artefact left when the shop closed.
Clock House’s main attraction is the redeveloped area outside the library where the Beckenham Baths once stood but now replaced by a fashionable spa. The Baths were where Duncan Goodhew and Margaret Wellington, both Olympic swimmers, trained. There is also an impressive Victorian building, Venue 28 now a community centre, where Lord Byron’s wife and mother to Ava Lovelace once lived.
Christmas is coming
…and finally, as I walk around the oak tree lined avenues of very fashionable New Beckenham, I look up and see how the mistletoe has manifested itself. A reminder of the seasonal changes and that Christmas is coming…
Picture of the Day
It was a cold, dank and miserable winter’s day in Elmers End, and to be honest there was nothing inspirational about the area…
BUT, this made me smile…that of a laundry service with a catchy web address emblazoned across a delivery van ihateironing.com – the name says it all really and a brief chat with the van driver reveals he gets quite a few smiles from drivers when he’s stuck in queues.
No particular photographic technique used here, it’s a simple point and shoot, but the picture does help to remind me of the day out at the terminus of one of London Tram’s lines.
Settings: Camera – Canon EOS 200D; Aperture – ƒ6.3; Shutter Speed – 1/200; Focal Length – 41mm; Film Speed – ISO61600; Google Photo Filter – Auto
Social Media
YouTube, Instagram, Google Photos, Triptipedia – here I share some tips I use when travelling around London. A different twist on my ‘end of the line’ story
For more info, lookup Elmers End and its station on Wikipedia
