Gipsy Hill - A P.S.

The Useful Spider?

A very youthful fbb was wholly ignorant of the origins of a little ditty sung to him by his mother as part of his happy childhood. The narrative involved a spider climbing up a spout and, tragically, being washed therefrom by meteorological precipitation. But the denouement was more encouraging for any passing arachnid. The sun came out, shining brightly, and the spider was able to re-ascend the drainage device with renewed and repetitive enthusiasm.

Little did fbb realise that the delightful ditty was originally penned by Frank Pick, chief executive and publicity guru in the early days of London Transport 《1933 to 1940).

Thanks to an anonymous donor, fbb has obtained Frank's original words.

Sadly it would be many years until London Buses was able to turn Frank's powerful verse unto a highly practical contribution to bus travel in the Metropolis. The first "Spider" maps appeared in 2002 and were greeted with a certain amount of acclaim by bus passengers.

Sadly, London Buses' enthusiasm for the genre has waned in recent years with the number of locations infested by "Spiders" now dramatically reduced. There is now no "Spider" for Gipsy Hill.

Shame!

Amazingly, fbb was eventually able to find a piece of ancient arachnid cartography for Gipsy Hill station.

It is posted on-line by Swansea University! Who else would be interested in this fascinating backwater of rail and bus transport in the Capital?

For his readers' education and excitement, fbb will publish it in two complementary sections; north eastbound from Gipsy Hill ...

... and Westbound via Crystal Palace.

You would have to admit than neither map is overburdening the potential user with too much information! But there are not a lot of buses at Gipsy Hill and only one that stops at the station.

Service 322, two stops to Crystal Palace, is reached by hanging a left as you exit the uncluttered station building.

For more entertaining treks towards Clapham Common, you cross Gipsy Hill (the road that gives its name to the station) and aim for the petrol station.

On the way, you will pass an understated and subtle reminder of where you are and where you might go.

With huge team effort from Friends of Gipsy Hill, artist Lionel Stanhope, Southern Rail and epic supporters Network Rail, SE19 got a bright and joyful mural on the station bridge on Gipsy Hill in the summer of 2020. This was a community project at all stages, from concept, to wording and colour schemes and even funding.

Trained as a sign writer, Lionel Stanhope lives in nearby Brockley and paints murals on the railway across London, working with Network Rail. His first vintage railway-style sign appeared in Herne Hill, and since then community groups like Friends of Gipsy Hill have crowd-funded to bring similar signs to communities across the capital.

The nearest current "Spider" to include Gipsy Hill is that for Crystal Palace from which fbb includes an extract.

It is fair to say that fbb has never been an expert in the design and philosophy of "Spider" maps. But on the full size version of the above, fbb spotted a new icon.

It looks like a demented, short sighted, black haired chicken. It goes with a London Underground roundel.

Can you guess what it means? fbb could not guess!

Here us what it we are told:-

What's wrong with a white on black roundel clasped by a stylised moon?

A bus passing Gipsy Hill station did not exist until 1992. That year the long-standing and long running-time route 2 from Golders Green to Crystal Palace ...

... was withdrawn. Its "replacement" was the current 322 which followed a more wiggly itinerary. To add to the fun, there was also a 2A and a 2B providing a complicated and frequent group of services.

Tomorrow, fbb will look at the 322.

Meanwhile, this block of flats is not far from Gipsy Hill station ...

... which, within its curtilage, hides a scary secret. More tomorrow.

Definitely not a secret are the next two pictures.

As you can see ...

... they both lay claim to being Gipsy Hill. As the lower picture us clearly a postcard of Southall station we can be sure that neither is our good friend close to Crystal Palace.

Neither is this ...

... unless Southern is testing a secret train design!

Isn't the internet wonderfully (un)helpful?

 Next Gipsy Hill bus blog : Thurs 23 July 

Gipsy Hill's New Look (Part 2)

Not Just Recent Changes

Careful observation reveals pretty icons for 'shelter' and one such can be seen in the distance in this view of Platform 1, for services to London termini. 

But the block with toilets and waiting room ...

... clearly also offers shelter. In the good old days both platforms had canopies, but if you are travelling eastbound these days ...

... your canopy as illustrated here is now a thing of the past. But you do have a couple of mini bus shelters.

Look at the footbridge ...

... in the past and now fitted with new overall roof.

There are no lifts, but it appears that there is a step free access to Platform 1 only; OK if you are travelling TO London ...

... but you are stuck with steps on the way back! The step free access is a bit odd as it seems to be a bit of an afterthought. At one time it was via bike stands and bins.

It now has proper signs in heritage colours.

The exit is signposted from the platforms ...

... and to the buses.

But there is a bit of an identity problem with this exit.

There are parallel roads adjacent to this side entrance.

Is it Salisbury Road ...

... Alexandra Drive or even Mountbatten Close? And what's the point of having barriers if you can get in or out avoiding them completely?

Here is a view showing both parallel roads looking towards the bike sheds.

Notice the big station sign in Southern Green?

That is beside the "Station Garden" between the station building on Platform 1 and the parallel Salisbury Road. This is part of the excellent work of the station's "Friends" ...

... which had a Fete a few days ago ...

... and has just opened a Petanque (a k a Boules) rink/court/alley for the delectation of the locals.

Nice!

There are plenty of trains at Gipsy Hill ...

... with each service running every 30 min. The xx58/28 from London Bridge is shown in full on another table.

Six trains an hour in both directions seems a good service.

Innit?

But what about those buses?

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Meaningless Blog Stats

Earlier today this blog passed nine million all time page reads.

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 Next Gipsy Hill blog : Weds 22nd July 

Gipsy Hill's New Look (Part 1)

A chum sent fbb a link to a recent 'Ian Visits' blog, always a good read and exclusively about London. The report was about improvements to a suburban railway station.

Although he finds it hard to admit it, the old bloke must confess that he had no idea where Gipsy Hill station might be. The colour of paintwork did, however, suggest Southern as a possible clue.

The rather insipid green on the door and dado suggest 'Southern' ...

... which seemed a good place to start.

And there it was, one stop short of Crystal Palace ...

... and there it is, lower right.

Now fbb has written before and oft about his limited understanding of the former Southern Railway suburban network; that is the real Southern Railway, not the privatisation upstart!

The published diagram is complicated enough, but the track plans are beyond the ability of your blogger's brain to comprehend or remember.

Carto is excellent but remains a challenge.

The 'Windrush' label supplants 'Overground' for part of the much extended East London line. 

The closed line ran to the other Crystal Palace station ...

... High Level, which closed in 1954. This edifice was linked to the doomed Crystal Palace itself by a magnificent subway, now restored but not yet open to the public.

But it is only a short walk from the site of the High Level station and subway to Gipsy Hill station.

Gipsy Hill station takes its name from the road on which it sits ...

... which probably does have a link with Gypsies, despite the different spelling. None other than diarist Samuel Pepys ...

... tells us that his wife visited a gypsy encampment at Norwood, but fails to say why! Back then, the Gipsy Hill community would not have existed!

Talking of famous people, Patrick Grant ...

... of 'The Great British Sewing Bee" hails from Gipsey Hill. Thus spake, not Zarathustra, but Wikipedia, so it must be right.

And so to the uncluttered station (below, top) originally opened in 1856.

Compared with Gipsy Hill station, recent and cluttered.

With a revised entrance below left, but still cluttered.

And now ...

... tada! ... neat and tidy ...

... and the staff and VIPs basking in its clutter-less glory.

Soithern is upholding Gipsy Hill as the precursor of many more statiion unclutterings. But Great British Railways might curtain Southern's nobly plans.

One particular delight of the station building that has been retained is the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway crest.

This appears in simplified form on the eaves of the station building.

For the record, the cross is London, the dolphins are Brighton, the crescent and star are Portsmouth and, erm, the other one, of course, is for the Cinque Ports.

One consequence of the decluttering seems to have been the removal of the coffee shop ...

... which may, or may not, be a permanent de-clutter.

But there is more to be enjoyed in and around this apparently rather ordinary station.

 Next Gipsy Hill blog : Tuesday 21st July