Woodside Green

Woodside Green is a traditional village green, with horse trough, post and rail fencing, and a public footpath running across it. Woodside Green is an old hamlet, referred to in an Indenture of 1662 and the Croydon Inclosure Map of 1800 shows the green. In 1870 the north east part of the site was proposed as a site for a new church by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, but local pressure opposed this, one resident engaging workmen to fill in the ground as fast as it was dug for foundations, as a result of which in 1871 the land was granted by copyhold by the Commissioners to Croydon Local Board of Health on condition it was 'forever kept as an open space and used as, and for, a place of recreation for the use of inhabitants of the parish of Croydon and of the neighbourhood and for no other purpose'. Later in the same year the freehold was conveyed to the Local Board 'freed from all incidents whatsoever of copyhold or customary tenure to be held and used for the purpose of public walks, recreation or pleasure grounds only'. In 1888 the adjacent Poplar Farm was acquired by Croydon and its land was eventually added to the Green.

Boundary trees include mature lime and more recent Tilia cordata 'Green Spire'; low white post and chain surrounds the green, which is divided into 3 parts by roads. In the middle a stone drinking trough that was set up for cattle and horses remains as a feature. A War Memorial is at the apex of the Green with shrub planting carried out in 2001. Although largely surrounded by Victorian and later housing, a few older houses remain, such as the weather boarded houses at no.169 and no. 2, and no. 88 is a mid C19th barge boarded cottage orné. St Luke's Church, built c.1885 is to the north in Woodside Road. In Woodside hamlet there was a racecourse where Croydon races were held from 1864.