The Homestead, Bedford Park

The Homestead south towards Wellesley House and The Elms.

The Homestead rear view towards Wellesley House and The Elms.

1867 Map of Wellesley Road

I don't know when The Homestead (1) and The Elms (2) were built but it can be seen in the following 1867 map that they predate Croydon High School for Girls. The two houses were probably built at the same time and the from aerial photos that they were built to the same plan. The only differences were due to the extensions at the back and side. The Homestead had a Bedford Park postal address because its entrance was originally on Bedford Park. During the First World War the house was used to create medical supplies for soldiers. It was taken over by Croydon High School for Girls in 1918.

House number 3 on the map became the office for the council parks department and number 4 is Netherton House which was later named Ruskin House. Wellesley House, which is marked as such on the map, was built in the 1850s. House number 5 is St Leonard Lodge.

Postcard showing The Homestead

I would guess that this postcard shows the school sometime in the 1930s or perhaps a little later. The building in the bottom right of the postcard is The Homestead. The bottom left shows the back of the school and the St Leonard Lodge. The following picture shows The Homestead from the same angle.

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Lunar House

It is interesting to think of the occupants of The Homestead wandering around totally unaware that this garden and house would one day be the site of one of the most important buildings in the UK. Since its construction in 1970 Lunar House has been the place where immigration into the UK has been organised. Every day since 1970 thousands of immigrants and asylum seekers have visited Lunar House to formalize their citizenship. Millions have passed through its doors. This little spot of land will have more impact on the cultural and social history of the UK than anything that happened in Hastings, Runnymede or Downing Street.

Wellesley Road is the UK's Ellis Island but I doubt if any immigrant has viewed the hideous Lunar House with the same enthusiasm that immigrants to the US are said to have felt on seeing the Statue of Liberty. When I lived in Croydon it was a common sight on Wellesley Road to see long queues of unhappy looking recent immigrants outside Lunar House and other Home Office buildings on the street. I don't know if they were unhappy because of Home Office red tape or whether it was a natural reaction to the ugliness of the street.

A Sunny Afternoon in 1899

The Primrose League was a Conservative Party organisation which had more than 2 million members at its peak. It had 6000 members in Croydon in the 1890s. The Primrose League seemed to be based on the three pillars of "merry England", empire and free enterprise. By the time the organisation folded in 2004 the first two pillars had been toppled by free trade, the corollary of free enterprise.