The area of South Norwood was a small hamlet until a period of expansion began in the mid-19th century which roughly coincided with the arrival of the railways. Incidentally at around the same time, an experimental atmospheric railway was being tested in Norwood and its track had to pass over the London to Brighton trainline. This led to Norwood being the location of the world's first ever railway flyover. This was followed by further expansion when engineer and inventor William Ford Stanley had a factory built, and this was followed by his technical school in the early 20th century. He also built himself two residential properties in the area and one of them was subsequently used for a short period to house Britain's youngest female killer, Mary Bell.
The local area has a claim to fame in that in 1966, the Jules Rimet Trophy (The original FIFA World Cup), which was stolen from Westminster Central Hall was found under a bush on Beulah Hill, Upper Norwood by a dog called Pickles who subsequently became a national hero. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, lived in the area between 1891 and 1894. His house on Tennison Road now has a blue plaque commemorating his time there.
The far south-eastern corner of the district is now a 116-acre natural space and has quite a varied history. It is known to have once been the site of a medieval double-moated manor house owned by a travelling Crown Judge called Robert de Retford. The manor house was known as 'Leweland' before evolving into 'Lewemote', and it is thought to have suffered from extensive flooding due to its location on low lying land. It appears to have been demolished by the mid-15th century. Later records show its name as 'La Motes'. The area sits on London clay which is perfect for brick making, and the Portland Road Brickworks occupied part of the site from the end of the 18th century.
The next significant usage of the land was from 1865 when 'South Norwood Irrigation Farm' later known as 'South Norwood Sewage Works' was opened. It wasn't a particularly successful sewage works as the drainage was very poor, however, it was quite successful when it came to agriculture. Despite this, it remained in use until 1967 when it was finally closed down for good. For the next fifteen years the land was left alone and it naturally regenerated into grasslands and wetlands. In 1982 the land was declared as 'Metropolitan Open Land', and at the end of the decade work began on transforming it into a park. After the Second World War, tonnes of spoil/rubble from destroyed buildings had been disposed of at the site, so it was gathered up and used to create an artificial mound which is the highest point in the otherwise pancake-flat area. In 1989 the site was officially opened as South Norwood Country Park.
The park covers 116 acres and is largely a haven for wildlife including at least 59 different species of bird including owls, woodpeckers, kingfishers, cuckoos, starlings and skylarks. There are a number of species of reptiles and small mammals present in the park. It is also home to around 19 species of butterfly, which is apparently an unusually high number for an urban park. Given that the focus of the park is on wildlife and nature, there are not a lot of facilities on-site. There is a small children's playground, a currently unused visitor centre building, a refreshments kiosk and a small car parking area. An interesting fact is that the historic border between Kent and Surrey runs through the park. Towards the end of the 1990s the Croydon Tramlink line was constructed through the west and south sections of the park.
On 8 July 2017 the park became home to a free, weekly, timed 5 kilometre event called South Norwood parkrun which is open to all abilities including those who wish to walk. It is a well-established community event which also offers a wide range of volunteering opportunities. The parkrun meeting point is located adjacent to the visitor centre building (currently closed, see below) and playground. This central point is also where the start and finish areas are. It is also where the briefings take place.
When the event first started the toilet facilities at the Croydon Sports Arena were available to people attending the parkrun, however this arrangement no longer appears to be in place. Sadly there are currently no toilet facilities available within the park either and as I understand it, this is largely due to an arson attack on the Visitor Centre in April 2020. As of December 2024 the council has not begun the process of restoration and it is unclear if it ever intends to. The closest alternative toilet facilities that I am aware of are in the Beckenham Elmers End Tesco Superstore which is just to the east of the park. We had a pit-stop at the McDonalds on Wickham Road (A232) to use their facilities.
My first visit was on 15 July 2017 where I took part in event number 2. Almost seven-and-a-half years later, on 14 December 2024, I revisited and took part in event number 323. There are two main options for car parking. Firstly, there is the car park at the adjacent Croydon Sports Arena, which is free-of-charge. It is also possible to park for free in the small car park within the country park, but bear in mind it only holds about 30 or so vehicles. These two car parks are mentioned on the parkrun's course page as the best places to park. It also mentions that there is no parking on the adjacent residential roads. While I appreciate the underlying intention to avoid causing issues with local residents, this information does not appear to be correct. From what I could see the side roads did not have any parking restrictions at all. However they were full of parked vehicles, so are obviously in very high demand. Those visiting parkrun should just stick to the car parks mentioned above.
The area is pretty well connected, so it is fairly easy to reach using public transport. Firstly, the aforementioned tram line means that you can use Tramlink services which connect the area to Croydon, New Addington, Beckenham, Mitcham and Wimbledon. There are two Tramlink stations at the park and these are Harrington Road, which is closer to the parkrun meeting area, and Arena which is further away but still easily within walking distance. Mainline trains also pass close to the park - the closest are Elmers End served by Southeastern Trains running between London Charing Cross and Hayes (Kent), and Birkbeck served by Southern services running between London Bridge / London Victoria and Bromley. However, the much larger Norwood Junction station, also served by Southern services, is also not too far away. Norwood Junction is also served by London Overground services on the Windrush Line which runs between West Croydon and Highbury and Islington.
The best bus services seem to be the 354 and 356 which stop to the northeast of the park on Elmers End Road, or the 289 and 367 which stop near the Tesco. The 289 also has additional stops on Long Lane which may be a little closer. There are cycle racks within the country park near the parkrun meeting point and also within the sports arena car park. I should also note that when entering the park from the southwest you need to cross over the Tramlink line. There's not a bridge or anything, you have to walk (or drive if accessing the on-site car park) directly across the tram line itself, and the trams whizz along quite quickly.
The parkrun takes place over a two-lap clockwise course which covers almost the entire park. The current course configuration has been in use since event 104 on 6 July 2019 and is not the same as the original course that was in use when I first visited in 2017. The surface underfoot is mostly a slightly stony hard path, but there is also a section which ventures off-road and can become very muddy in unfavourable conditions. I would lean towards wearing trail shoes at this course especially over the winter. The hill profile remains flat throughout most of the course, but there is one fairly gentle incline towards the end of each lap. The course is not particularly well-suited to wheelchairs but participants pushing buggies should be fine.
It's not the easiest course to describe in detail and I'd say it would be extremely difficult to turn up and freedom run the course without being familiar with it beforehand. Anyway, from the start the course heads northeast where there are a few gently meandering sections on an otherwise straight path which leads all the way to the most northerly point of the course where a marshal directs participants onto the path which runs along to southern side of the lake. Again there are a few meandering bends as the path progresses alongside the lake, however the areas to the sides of the path are so dense with trees and bushes that the lake cannot be seen until a small clearing at the end of the path reveals a view across it.
The route then crosses a small stream which I understand may be a section of the Chaffinch Brook, and then follows the path which runs alongside the stream. Initially there are a few fun twists to negotiate before it once again turns into a straight path. A second crossing of the stream follows and the course then heads around to a marshal point where the participants are directed off of the main path and onto the off-road section.
In the summer the path can become lined with a thick coverage of thistles and stinging nettles, with just a single-file path to navigate through. In the winter the nettles are not a problem, but it can get pretty muddy. It can also be a little uneven in places so watch your step around here. The path is easy to follow and it slowly works its way down to the course's most southerly point, running adjacent to the tram line for a bit.
A sweeping right-hand turn directs the route back towards the north, where it continues to follow the off-road path. The end of the off-road section is marked by a short climb covering about 100 metres or so which starts with 3.6% gradient through a sparse line of trees followed by a shallower incline of about 1.5% which gradually increases to 6.1%. The route then works its way around the southern end of the car park via a steep, sharp downhill of around 6% which requires a little care as it can be muddy. The end of the lap is found just around the next corner. The second lap is identical to the first and participants can simply enter the finish funnel at the end of lap two. Barcode scanning takes place adjacent to the finish.
The course was very well laid out, with arrows and cones being placed at all the junctions around the route, plus there were a good number of marshals positioned in all the right places. In total the split of surfaces during the lap was around 1.5km hard surface and 1km off-road, making it 3km hard surface and 2km off-road over the course of the full 5 kilometres. The total elevation change was recorded as 18 metres on my Garmin, so it's not that far off being a flat course. For further detail on the course please feel free to view my GPS data on Strava or the Relive course fly-by video on YouTube.
Snacks and drinks (now including tea and coffee) can be purchased from the community-run kiosk next to the playground. Any profit made is re-invested back into the park with the aim being to help re-connect the local community to the park. Should breakfast be required you would have to look elsewhere. The results were processed and uploaded shortly after the event had finished and there were 109 finishers at event 323 on 14 December 2024. This is on the lower side of the expected numbers which are usually in the 150-200 range. The nature of the park means that it is not suitable for other events such as festivals or fireworks displays, so any cancellations of the parkrun would most likely be weather-related. I'm only aware of one cancellation to date and that was during the Beast from the East in 2018.
Post-parkrun unless you want to explore the park further, there's not really anything else to do on-site. If you happen to have kids with you, they would of course be able to spend some time in the playground. We popped over to the mound to check out the view from the top, and we also did a bit of tram spotting from the main crossing point. After that we decided to make a move, so headed off home. A huge thanks to all of the volunteers and locals that welcomed us to their event.
Related Links:
- My South Norwood parkrun GPS data (14 December 2024)
- The Relive fly-by video (14 December 2024)
- My original course GPS data from 2017 (course no longer in use)
- Original course Relive fly-by video (course no longer in use)
- The London parkrun venues (blog7t)
