Dacres Wood Nature Reserve

Dacres Wood Nature Reserve is next to the railway line on the site of the former garden of a Victorian house called Irongates. It takes its name from Dacre House, which was once located in the area; in 1767 it was owned by Sir Samuel Fludyer, for whom the grounds were laid out with advice from landscape designer, Lancelot 'Capability' Brown.

Relics of a loop of the Croydon Canal were discovered in the Nature Reserve in 1990. The Canal had opened to great acclaim on 23 October 1809 but was only in operation until 1836, closing on 22 August, the first canal to be abandoned by an Act of Parliament. It had opened for trade in 1807 from a junction with the Grand Surrey Canal at New Cross and its 15 km route went through Brockley, Honor Oak, Forest Hill and Sydenham to South Norwood. Its main function was the transportation of agricultural produce to London, and of coal southwards from the Thames. It was part of a grander scheme to create an inland route between the Thames and Portsmouth. Passing through such a hilly area, the canal route tried to follow the contours but still required 26 locks in two flights between New Cross Gate and Honor Oak, which proved disastrously slow. The Company foundered despite attempts to raise income through osier and angling licences, and boat trips. After its demise the London & Croydon Railway Company purchased the canal and, the route of the railway being more direct, a number of the old loops of the canal were then abandoned, largely drained, infilled and built on.

One of these discarded loops became part of the garden of Irongates, which together with the garden of the adjacent house, Thriffwood, recalled in a nearby street name, was wooded by 1895, the two gardens separated by a belt of trees. The OS 1st Edition map, Kent VII, of 1863/70 shows a section of the 'Old Canal' in a wooded area where Thriffwood and Irongates were later constructed, which are shown on 1895/6 and later OS maps. Both houses were demolished by 1962, the site of Irongates now a block of flats, Homefield House. Its former garden was owned by the GLC, then passing to Lewisham Council who originally intended further housing. However, it was taken over by Lewisham Parks Department in 1984 and became a nature reserve in 1989. Some of the dense growth was cleared and the woodland included a few huge Turkey oaks as well as ornamental shrubs probably dating from the Victorian garden. The presence of marshy land to the east of the site and flooding of nearby houses led to the discovery of the former Croydon Canal and in 1990 a pond was formed by digging out the canal bed, and a new smaller pond was created in the north. A wooden footbridge has been built over the marshy area linking the ponds. The ponds and wetlands are of major nature conservation importance and the nature reserve is designated as a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation. Included in this designation is the adjacent railway cutting, which is vegetated with young oak and sycamore woodland, bramble scrub and rough grassland, complementing the habitats in the nature reserve. A field centre was opened in 1993 and is available for use by schools and serves as a base for volunteer workdays.

Dacres Wood Nature Reserve is overseen by LB Lewisham's Nature Conservation Section, supported by the Friends of Dacres Wood, a group of local volunteers committed to supporting conservation and enjoyment of the site. The Friends and Users meet every three months to discuss how improvements can be made, and assist with maintenance and management of the nature reserve. The Friends open the nature reserve to the public on the last Saturday afternoon of each month. The site is otherwise locked for health and safety reasons but is often used by both schools and conservation volunteers.