The estate behind Dulwich Hamlet football ground

[Weegee]

Ive just moved into the estate near Sainsburys

on St Francis Drive...behind Dulwich Hamlets football ground.

I was curious to find out the history of this site...ie

when was it built, what was there before?

Ive read that the Hamlet Football ground was formally

located on what is now Sainsburys..

I heard that there used to be a hospital here..is

that true?

[ratty]

I live there too. My neighbour has been here since the houses were built. (About 14 years ago).

used to be St Francis Psychiatric Hospital I believe.

[macroban]

See this thread.

[Muttley]

Weegee Wrote:

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> I was curious to find out the history of this

> site...ie

> when was it built, what was there before?

>

> Ive read that the Hamlet Football ground was

> formally

> located on what is now Sainsburys..

>

> I heard that there used to be a hospital here..is

> that true?

Others can fill in more details, but broadly this:

What is now Sainsbury's car park was (until about 1992??) sports ground for Kings College, with tennis courts at the top end, a sloping cricket/football pitch lower down. The land occupied by the Sainsbury building itself was also presumably part of the sports ground. Dulwich Hamlet football stadium was roughly in the same location as it is now, but had a big old stand so probably had a larger footprint than the modern ground.

At the end of St Francis Road was the old St Francis Hospital (ex workhouse, according to others). Wasn't there also a residential block for staff, which I remember as being several storeys and post-war.

The small block now occupied by Domino Pizza was semi-derelict until Domino refurbished it in the 90s.

[Tony.London Suburbs]

Is Kings College(formerly Sainsburys) Sports Ground still in Dulwich Village please?

Had a good Club House and great Grass Courts there.

[Weegee]

Thanks guys

I found this link to the the workhouse in Constance Road....I think

the picture halfway down is our estate...as viewed from the

football ground?

[ratty]

Cool pic - thanks

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/Camberwell/CamberwellConstance3.jpg

Welcome to the hood!

[ratty]

BTW Tony - the answer to your question is yes

[lengthmad]

Must agree, very hood like on Sunday with the music from Dulwich Hamlet football ground at maximum base and volume, felt sorry for the nearby residents.:'(

[Keef]

Tony, I think you mean The Griffin (so named after the old Midland Bank logo). Didn't know Sainsbury's owned it, it was Midlands, and is now Kings, but could have been otherwise in between.

[ratty]

lengthmad Wrote:

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> Must agree, very hood like on Sunday with the

> music from Dulwich Hamlet football ground at

> maximum base and volume, felt sorry for the nearby

> residents.:'(

SO that was where it was coming from - fooking sh1te music too! wnakers!

[Weegee]

Hi Ratty

cheers for the welcome

The music was from an event celebrating Jamaican Independence Day..

[ratty]

Well all I could hear was an annoying bass undertone that kept my baby awake and upset the cats!

;)

[Tony.London Suburbs]

ratty Wrote:

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> BTW Tony - the answer to your question is yes

...Thanks...

[Tony.London Suburbs]

Keef Wrote:

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> Tony, I think you mean The Griffin (so named after

> the old Midland Bank logo). Didn't know

> Sainsbury's owned it, it was Midlands, and is now

> Kings, but could have been otherwise in between.

....Thanks Keef..It was indeed The Griffin!...Funny thing I used to Captain The Sainsburys(Hate the apostrophe!) Table Tennis Team in Blackfriars though I did not work for them.Played some Team-mates at Tennis on their superb Grass Courts and for years played my Mates there(though none of us had a right to be there)..To add to the fun after I dropped out my best M8 carried on playing there with his other Mates!..so the connection was even more remote!..On the final day they arrived as usual only to be told that they were not allowed there anymore as it was now not Sainsburys but Kings ownership!...They then explained that for the previous x years they should not have been there anyway>:D<

[Rabbler]

The hospital,which ended up as part of Dulwich Hospital, but was St Francis Hospital, had wards for geriatric patients for it's latter years. I don't know if it had specific psychiatric wards, I would have thought not, with the Maudsley being so close.

With regard to what went where, give or take a few yards:

The Kings College Sportsground went from where the St. Francis Park open space is now, up through the Sainsburys carpark, to the adventure playground boundary. It was a very underused private sportsground, that was prone to waterlogging.

The currently Dulwich Hamlet ground is roughly on the site of the previous Champion Hill Stadium(1931-1991, with a 30,000 capacity); the site of Sainsburys & part of the car park was the old Top Pitch, or training ground.

It was owned by Kings College London (the university people, not the hospital) & as part of this Kings relocated to the Griffin, in the village.

The current ground opened on 3rd October 1992.