Hello! I am Jack Chesher, a London tour guide and explorer of London’s off-the-beaten track history. I have been to visit a true hidden historic gem in South London that I have wanted to visit for a long time…
I took the Southern Railway train from London Bridge to Crystal Palace, which takes less than half an hour and cost me just £6.50 for a return with my railcard. If you are travelling with children, by the way, they can go for just £2. Make sure to skip third-party booking fees by purchasing your tickets on the Southern Railway app.
The Crystal Palace Subway
The Crystal Palace Subway is a real hidden historic treasure of South London and has recently, thankfully, been partially restored. It is open to the public for open days and is available to hire for events.
Designed by Charles Barry Junior, it was the beautiful first class entrance for passengers arriving by train to see the Crystal Palace.
A brief history of The Crystal Palace
In 1851 the Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton and made from cast iron and plate glass, was erected in Hyde Park. It was built to be an awe-inspiring exhibition hall for the Great Exhibition.
You can see a bust of Joseph Paxton in Crystal Palace Park today.
Its official full name was the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations and it was the idea of Prince Albert and civil servant Henry Cole, intended to showcase all the great inventions and technological advancements not just in Britain but across the world.
The exhibition was unbelievably successful and attracted an estimated six million visitors. Considering the population of the United Kingdom was 21 million at the time, this was a huge achievement.
It was only intended to be a temporary addition however to Hyde Park and in 1852 a new site on Sydenham Ridge in South London, now the North of Crystal Palace Park was selected.
The Crystal Palace was dismantled, moved and rebuilt in an enlarged form, with 200 acres of grounds with gardens, ornaments and sculptures (the most famous of which I will come to later on in the post). It opened to visitors in June 1854 with a new station, Crystal Palace Station, to serve it.
In 1865 a high-level station was opened, with the first class passengers using the Crystal Palace Subway as a walkway to the Palace itself. Groined arches of coloured brick and stone and a Byzantine-style vaulted ceiling led to a vestibule roofed with glass and iron.
The end of the Crystal Palace and World War Two
On the 30th November 1936 a devastating fire consumed the Crystal Palace. The cause is not known but thankfully no-one lost their lives.
The Crystal Palace would have possibly struggled to survive the Blitz anyway. The Subway was used as an air raid shelter during the war. You can see the old channel for the urinals when it was in use as an air raid shelter.
The park itself was used as a military base and as a site to dump rubble from bomb damage.
The high-level railway shut in 1954 and was demolished. The Subway was thankfully kept but shut up for years. Many locals remember going into the abandoned subway as children to play. In 1972 it was designated a Grade II listing by Historic England to protect it and this was upgraded to Grade II* in 2018.
In 2024 a £2.8 million restoration project was completed, the first of three stages, but as mentioned above, it is now open for open days and events.
Other remnants of The Palace
The subway is probably the most impressive relic of the Crystal Palace but I also went to check out other survivors.
The terraces, also designed by Paxton, still survive today. The upper terrace was home to the building itself and both upper and lower also had ornamental gardens on them.
Six sphinx sculptures also survive today, based on the Great Sphinx of Tanis, held in the Musée du Louvre in Paris.
There is also a surviving cast-iron column from the palace. In around 1990 it was excavated from brickwork and erected on the terrace near to where it was found.
Crystal Palace Park Trust, who are in charge of the park today, and Bromley council are working together on a restoration project to restore the terraces and the dinosaurs. The works should be completed in September 2026. Thank you to the Crystal Palace Park Trust for giving me access to the Subway.
The dinosaurs
I also went to see the famous Crystal Palace Dinosaurs.
These were designed by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins in 1854, created to go alongside the Crystal Palace to show off Britain’s preeminence in natural sciences, geology and palaeontology.
They were the first ever full scale statues of extinct animals and are invaluable both historically and scientifically. Many are not accurate to how we think, based on today’s advanced expertise and evidence, these creatures looked like, but were based on the best scientific knowledge of the time.
The models are interestingly arranged in age order, from the early amphibious animals that lived around 250 million years ago…
Through to the dinosaurs... This is an Iguanodon.
Current scientific thinking is that the spike on its nose should actually be on its thumb. This discovery was made about 25 years after the models were made.
And finally the mammals. This is an Irish elk which is thought to have gone extinct around 8000 years ago.
There is even more to see
Crystal Palace Park really is the gift that keeps on giving and there are loads of activities suitable for families.
They have a Victorian maze, created in 1870 and one of the largest in the country.
You can see animals, such as alpacas, at the Crystal Palace Park farm.
You can also go and see the Crystal Palace Bowl.
This outdoor amphitheatre opened in 1961 and became a popular venue for music gigs. In 1971 a series of one-day music festivals started here called The Garden Parties. Pink Floyd and Elton John both performed, as well as Bob Marley. Crystal Palace Bowl was in fact where, on the 7th June 1980, Bob Marley and the Wailers performed their largest ever and final UK concert.
In 1997 a permanent stage was designed by Ian Ritchie Architects, a striking, sculptural design that has been nicknamed ‘the Laptop’.
It sadly hasn’t hosted gigs in years and there are ongoing discussions about future uses for it. It is currently seating for the Concert Cafe where you can grab a tea and cake.
Other food options include Brown and Green Life, near the dinosaurs, who serve breakfasts, lunches, hot drinks and snacks.
Thank you so much for joining me for this exploration of the historic treasures of Crystal Palace Park!
If you like to read more about what is going on at the park, you can find the Crystal Palace Park Trust’s page here. There are some maintenance and improvement works going on in the park this summer, so do check it out before visiting.
Thank you very much to the Crystal Palace Park Trust for allowing me access to film the Subway/Park.
About the author
Jack Chesher is a London tour guide, explorer and author of two bestselling books London: A Guide for Curious Wanderers and London: The Hidden Corners for Curious Wanderers. In 2020 he started his blog and social media accounts called Living London History. What started as a pandemic project, has turned into his full-time job, running walking tours, writing books and creating content. Jack grew up in Essex and now lives in North London.