Anerley, South East London, SE20

History

ANERLEY, locally a suburb of London, within the Urban District of Penge, is 7 ½ miles south-east from London, with a station on the Croydon branch of the London, Brighton and South Coast railway.

Holy Trinity is an ecclesiastical parish, formed November 1st, 1873, out of St. John’s, Penge, and St. Paul’s, Upper Penge, in Norwood parish: the church, in the Croydon road, and erected in 1878, at a total cost of £9,000, is a structure of red brick, with stone dressings, in the Decorated style, and consists of apsidal chancel, clerestoried nave of six bays, aisles, north porch, and a square tower, with octagonal spire, at the east end of the south aisle, containing one bell; the lower part of the tower serves as a vestry; the spire was added in 1890, and is 145 feet in height: the chancel roof is groined: the reredos is a fine work of Caen stone and alabaster, and there are several stained windows: the church affords sittings for 1,000 persons, one-third of the sittings being free. The register dates from the year 1874. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £450, derived from pew rents, in the gift of Miss A. Dudin Brown, and held since 1901 by the Rev. Harry Charles Sturdy M.A. of Christ Church, Oxford. St. James’s Mission church, in St. Hugh’s load, is attached to the church of St. Paul, Upper Penge, in Norwood parish.

The Congregational church, in Anerley road, erected in 1874-5, built of red brick, with white brick and Bath stone dressings, in the Romanesque style, and had a tower with an octagonal spire 150 feet high: the total cost was £12,500, and there was sittings for 1,300 persons.

The principal landowners are the Crystal Palace Company and Miss A. Dudin-Brown, but the land is principally held by small owners. The population of Holy Trinity ecclesiastical parish in 1901 was 5,816.

The North Surrey District School, Anerley road, erected in 1849, is a structure of red brick, & comprises a central block, wings, an infants’ department, two sets of probation wards, & a detached infirmary, chapel & outhouses, the whole being surrounded by about 58 acres of land, inclosed by a brick wall: the school, available for about goo children, is intended for the education of pauper children belonging to the unions of Lewisham & Wandsworth: the girls are trained for domestic service & the boys for various mechanical trades, & all the children, are taught to swim in large baths erected for the purpose; there is also a gymnasium & extensive play grounds: about 100 of the children are annually placed in a position to earn their own living: applications for the service of these children must be made personally to the managing committee, which meets every Monday, 2 p.m. at the school; John Frederick Thrower, superintendent; Rev. Montague Charles Sturges M.A. chaplain; Howard James Chaldecott, clerk.

— Kelly's Directory of Kent (1903)