Why is East Dulwich's postcode SE22?

[TonyQuinn]

This has been troubling a number of us in my workplace over the past couple of days so would appreciate any help.

South East London's postcodes, unlike the equivalent in South West London, follow an alphabetical pattern as opposed to geographic. Following SE1, which is Southwark's postcode and related to where the main sorting office is, the rest of the postcodes in South East London follow the alphabet.

Hence

SE2 is Abbey Wood, SE3 is Blackheath, SE4 is Brockley, SE5 is Camberwell....I hope you get the idea.

So why is Dulwich Village SE21, East Dulwich SE22, Forest Hill/Honor Oak SE23, and Herne Hill SE24.

Huge kudos to the person who can explain why that little pocket of South East London is not included in the original postcodes.

Thanks

TQ

[Townleygreen]

Because - I believe - ED was in the second set of (slightly) outer London codes, which are again alphabetical - as

SE20 Anerley

SE21 Dulwich

SE22 East Dulwich

SE23 Forest Hill

SE24 Herne Hill

SE25 South Norwood

SE26 Sydenham

SE27 West Norwood

Thamesmead, SE28 was added in the 70s or 80s

Send me the kudos now please!

[jimbo1964]

Good knowledge.

[TonyQuinn]

Think you may have it Townleygreen. Well done. Congratulations. All the best and have a top weekend.

One thing though, apart from Thamesmead, the SE20s are the most western postcodes. They weren't in SouthWest originally were they or was there an S postcode like North London's N?

[ratty]

S is Sheffield is it not?

[TonyQuinn]

Wonderful response Ratty....this is one of the best threads I've read on here for a longtime.

[StraferJack]

And london lost NE and NW because of Newcastle

[TonyQuinn]

StraferJack, I believe NE and NW still exist. Excuse me for asking, but are you talking to us from the future? How are things then?

[StraferJack]

Do they? Such as where?

(that sounds crotchety in print, but I'm just curious)

[milk76]

This is a cool thread.

NE was moved to Newcastle ans S to Sheffield. The districts from the old NE went into the E code and the S areas were split between SW ans SE.

[Townleygreen]

No, Tony, they weren't in the SW zone, and there'e never been a S code either. It was literally that there was a second wave of SE districts created, some years after the first ones.

There is a NW postcode, though no NE one. N and E cover that area.

[drew]

This gives a good summary:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_postal_district#Changes_to_NE_and_S

I agree, good post!

[StraferJack]

doh of course there is an NW postcode - it's not like I haven't been that way

I'm such an idiot - I just assumed that as NE had been moved, NW had as well

forgive me

[Townleygreen]

The one postal district that doesn't seem to fit is Upper Norwood, which follows SE18 Woolwich. Maybe it was added at some stage before ED, Herne Hill etc.

I am wrong, there was a S code at an early stage, later split into SE and SW. milk76 has it right.

[TonyQuinn]

Fascinating stuff...I'm a Londoner for over 40 years and didn't know there wasn't an NE code. Amazing.

Apparently Anthony Trollope got rid of the NE and S codes in 1866.

Yes John Major's favourite author!

[Ridgley]

Great knowledge from both of you, as I have always wanted to know that type of history forgive me for changing the topic a little but I always wanted to know why some places are the following

Grove

Muse

Place

[womanofdulwich]

you could win a pub quiz if you read everything on here ;)

[Huguenot]

I don't quite understand your question Ridgley.

A grove is a small group of trees, and since ED was predominantly a rural area until just over 100 years ago there's lots of 'grove' street names in ED.

A mews (as in a row of buildings) is mainly used now to describe a converted stable block, but the history of the word is from the building used to house hunting birds. They were called 'mews' because it was where the birds were put when they were moulting, and the french word for 'change' is 'muer'.

So if you like, 'mews' means 'changing rooms'.

A place just means a location. Nothing complicated there - it comes from the latin word for courtyard.

[edhistory]

Don't believe everything you read on Wikipedia or in a Postal Museum "Archive Information Sheet".

Here is a poor quality photograph of the Official 1870 map. It is thought that only a couple of examples survive.

East Dulwich Postal District was created c1895.

SE22 is not the same as East Dulwich. The SE22 sorting office processes mail for some parts of East Dulwich.

John K

[Huguenot]

"Don't believe everything you read on Wikipedia or in a Postal Museum "Archive Information Sheet". "

You can be a bit frustrating sometimes John K, and I don't want to wind you up.

However, if you know something better why don't you just tell us what it is? What is the information you have that's more accurate?

[Dodo1]

Hi

Just noticed on Google maps that (even though we are ED) accoring to them we are in Camberwell- other half not pleased!

[Moos]

Camberwell is a much older settlement, so the whole area was previously included in Camberwell parish before being further split up. Mr. Chener Books is your man for local history.