History of Barry Road...

[trentk69]

Hi guys,

I thought I would throw this one out there, but does anyone have any idea of the history of Barry road.

I know this is a huge topic, which I have been looking on the internet for information on, but I am interested in anecdotes, events etc.

For example, was the road bombed during the wars, or any famous people or events been or taken place on the road?

Any infamous old building / pubs etc.

The reason I ask is that I am moving to Barry Road soon, and would like to know a little about the place to impress my friends and family when they visit.

Thanks in advance

[Ted Max]

Halliwell Court used to be called Queen Elizabeth II Court but was renamed after Gerry Halliwell who used to live there in her topless model days.

[macroban]

I had friends living at Halliwell Court during the 1960s so this can't be true, but they did tell me it was built on the bombed out Old Spice factory.

[Brendan]

Old Spice Girl factory perhaps.

[Siduhe]

Not sure if this is the kind of thing you are interested in, but Barry Road appears (in part) on the Booth Poverty Map of 1898 which I find a pretty fascinating snapshot of life in London and how it's changed. It's firmly at the mixed/comfortable/middle class end of the spectrum.

The last flat I lived in was smack bang middle of what would have been a black/dark blue area (not in leafy SE22 I hasten to add)...

Hope the link works, if not it's right at the Southern edge of the Poverty Map

http://booth.lse.ac.uk/cgi-bin/do.pl?sub=view_booth_and_barth&m.l=1&m.d.l=0&m.p.x=10823&m.p.y=11199&m.p.w=500&m.p.h=309&m.p.l=0&m.p.p.l=1&m.t.w=128&m.t.h=80&b.p.x=18838&b.p.y=17104&b.p.w=500&b.p.h=309&b.p.l=1&b.v.x=192&b.v.y=228

[jack]

I was always told that Lord Haw Haw lived in Barry rd before his "Germany calling" days, now is that interesting or what

[Jennys]

I assume Barry road is after the architects,Barry, father and son. welcometodulwich.co.uk has this entry about them:

Much of Dulwich as we know it today was laid out or built in the reign of Queen Victoria. During this period first Sir Charles Barry, and then his son, known as Charles Barry junior, held the post of Architect and Surveyor to Dulwich College. The two Barrys left their mark everywhere in Dulwich but especially on the old and new College buildings. Sir Charles Barry, architect of the Houses of Parliament, designed the charming Old Grammar School, in a style rather like a Tudor building. The Old College looks as it does today thanks to Charles Barry junior, who added the cloisters and steeple. But Charles Barry's most famous achievement, the grandest of all Dulwich's Victorian buildings, is, of course, Dulwich College, College Road.

The College Estates had gained a large amount of money from the sale of land to the railways, when they constructed their lines through Dulwich. Barry was therefore able to make the new College as magnificent as he wished. He put into it ideas from various places. The general style, the campanile or bell-tower, and the terra-cotta decorations on the exterior, are modelled on North Italian palaces and cathedrals he had visited. The Great Hall resembles the mediaeval Westminster Hall which he had helped his father to restore.

As Dulwich spread out beyond the old village, following the arrival of the railways, it was Charles Barry who was responsible for planning the development. Blanch, the Camberwell historian, wrote in 1875,'either from his designs or under his supervision have been erected those numerous mansions and villas which (much to the advantage of college revenues) have in a few years, converted the quiet woodlands of Dulwich into a busy, though still pretty, and even rural, suburb of the great metropolis'.

[chichirara]

I have heard that the house on the corner of Uplands and Barry Road has a Krays connection, can any one tell us more! Welcome to Barry Road

[stench]

Jack, as far as I know, William Joyce aka Lord Haw Haw lived just off Dulwich Common, in a little road called Allison Grove up near the College. I got this from Brian Green's excellent History of Dulwich which you'll find in local libraries and bookshops. Of course he may also have lived in Barry Road at some point... it's just he's more commonly associated with Allison Grove. Either way, I wouldn't expect a blue plaque anytime soon!

[Louisa]

http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/images/southwark/dulwich/lordship-lane-00633-640.jpg

Barry Road in 1900, a mix of old and new (similar to today). Modern Victorian terraces sit alongside old farm labourers cottages. Those people in the pictures look like rural people to me.

Louisa.

[lozzyloz]

Judging by the shadows I would say this was photographed at 11.37 am on Goodrich Rd. If it were Barry Rd it would line up with the tower.

[macroban]

The photo looks like Lordship Lane just North of The Plough.

The original The Plough Building was a clapperboard(?) cottage similar to those in the photo.

[Louisa]

Yes macroban, the original Ploug building was made of clapperboard and I have some paintings which I found pictures of online which support this. Very much like most of rural Kent and Surrey, the ED area and Peckham Rye had lots of clapperboard cottages before the Victorian brick invasion. Very few survive today, just a few in Dulwich Village and up by the college on Pond lane?

On another Barry RD note, we cannot mention the history of this street without mentioning the name "Dick Emery" a famous comedian during the 1970's on Thames Television in London. I've stuck a youtube clip up (not for the politically correct amongst you but very suited to it's time). The Dick Emery Show

Also, the Clock House (kind of Barry RD, was an off licence right up until the mid 1960's, not a pub!).

Louisa.

[lozzyloz]

Yes I think you are right Macroban. However The Plough (current building) was built in 1865 so that probably isn't it in the background.

[macroban]

I think the 1865 Plough would be off-photo-right.

[lozzyloz]

Is the tree on the right the one that used to be in the Car Park then?

Ah! Just realised the clapperboard building is Le Moulin. Nothing's changed then.