Close To Holmes

by Alistair Duncan

  The honours for Stanley do not end there. More recently the well known British Pub chain J.D. Wetherspoon opened an outlet in South Norwood High Street and named it The William Stanley. In common with many pubs of the chain the inside contains many pictures depicting the local area of the early 1900s and there are framed pictures of notable people with details of their connections to the area and their achievements. Significantly, Conan Doyle is not amongst the people mentioned97.

  St Marks Church, South Norwood (2008). Conan Doyle’s son Kingsley was baptised here in December 1892

  St Marks Church (1905) Courtesy of Croydon Local Studies Library

  The interior of St Marks Church (1905) Courtesy of Croydon Local Studies Library

  The unveiling of the Stanley Clock tower (1907) Courtesy of Croydon Local Studies Library

  The repainted clock tower today (2008)

  Despite the area’s dedication to William Stanley, Conan Doyle does have a couple of sites that refer to his connection to the area apart from his former house. Approximately five minutes walk from the Stanley clock tower there is a Doyle road. This road was originally called Farley Road but was changed some time after the end of the Second World War in order to avoid it being confused with another Farley Road situated three miles away. Whether it was renamed after Conan Doyle or not is open to debate but some local sources are certain that it was.

  Even closer than Doyle Road there is a mosaic which can be found under the railway bridge that crosses Portland Road. The mosaic was erected in July 1997 and commemorates the cultural, agricultural, industrial and literary aspects of the area.

  Conan Doyle’s name as featured on the mosaic under Norwood Junction Railway Bridge crossing Portland Road (2008)

  In Conan Doyle’s day South Norwood was part of the county of Surrey but it was incorporated into Greater London in 1965 as part of the Local Government act of 1963. The area today comes under the control of the borough of Croydon and is considered one of the most deprived areas of the borough. In view of this situation it is odd that the area does not do more to maximise its connections to Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes and thus put itself on the tourist map. It is conceivable that local residents baulk at the idea of attracting hoards of tourists but they would provide a much needed cash injection to the area and perhaps encourage other mainstream retailers and thus more employment.

  Stanley Halls where the mosaic was assembled (2008)

  The sign for Doyle Road, South Norwood (2008)

  Doyle Road looking north (2008)

  Upper Norwood’s principal claim on the attention of the Sherlockian lies in its connection to the story The Sign of Four. In this story, arguably the most famous Holmes adventure after The Hound of the Baskervilles, Major Sholto and his sons live in Pondicherry Lodge in Upper Norwood98. It is also here that Bartholomew Sholto meets his end at the hands of Jonathan Small’s ally Tonga.

  View from Centre Hill towards Westow Hill, Upper Norwood c1890. The original Gipsy Hill Police Station was down the road to the left.

  Approximately the same viewpoint (2008)

  The area was quite a wealthy one and Church Road (as shown below) was a very popular address for stockbrokers due to its proximity to no less than three stations that provided routes to London Bridge (and hence the City of London financial institutions). The three stations still exist today and are Gipsy Hill (opened 1856), Anerley (opened 1839) and Crystal Palace (opened 1854).

  A natural question to ask is why Sholto chose Upper Norwood in which to live. Given that he lived in fear of vengeance it is certain that he wanted to live somewhere where he could more easily guard himself. Despite how close it seems to London now, Upper Norwood (like South Norwood) was part of Surrey until the Local Government Act of 1963. It would have been a lot less built up in the 1880s and hence it was possible for Sholto to purchase a house that was walled off within its own grounds. The story makes clear his disinclination to use the Agra treasure and that he much preferred to possess it rather than spend it. However he must have utilised some of it, despite his statement to the contrary, in order to purchase his house, pay his staff and educate his sons (an army pension would certainly have been insufficient and he already had many debts). The most obvious solution is that some of the treasure was invested, perhaps on the stock market (Sholto was a gambler after all), after the purchase of Pondicherry Lodge in order to generate an income which enabled him to support his establishment.

  Church Road, Upper Norwood c1900

  Such an investment would need management and no doubt required Sholto to visit the City on occasion to do so. Hence he chose a location South of London and close to a rail line into London Bridge in order that he could access the City easily99. Upper Norwood is also the site of the second of the three police stations to which Thaddeus Sholto may have come when sent to fetch the police upon the discovery of his brother’s body. We have already looked at Bernard Davies’ theory as to the location of Pondicherry Lodge and hence the likelihood of South Norwood station’s candidature. However if you choose not to accept this theory it opens up the debate about which police station was the one visited (out of South Norwood, Upper Norwood and West Norwood) and makes things very difficult. The problem arises from a remark made by Holmes to Watson after they despatch Thaddeus to fetch the police. Holmes tells Watson that they have half an hour before the police arrive. So how does he arrive at this estimate?

  Presumably it is based on the time it would take Thaddeus to travel to and from the station and explain the crime when he arrived. Holmes does not specify which station Thaddeus should go to (he simply instructs him to ‘drive down to the station’) so it is logical to suppose that he would head for the nearest. However if you abandon the earlier theory you have no immediate way of determining the nearest station. When Inspector Athelney Jones subsequently arrives on the scene he appears to be aware of most of the events leading up to the discovery (even if he does draw inaccurate conclusions). This implies that a good part of Thaddeus’s time was spent explaining the full situation. This naturally leaves less time for travelling and implies a short distance to the station. This does not entirely lay the matter to rest however as Jones may have interrogated Thaddeus in the cab on the way to Pondicherry Lodge.

  Moving on from The Sign of Four, unquestionably the main attraction of the area was the Crystal Palace which had been relocated from Hyde Park and had been open since 1854, a mere five years prior to Conan Doyle’s birth. Twenty years later he would actually visit as part of a trip to London100.

  10 Gipsy Hill. At the time of The Sign of Four this building was the Upper Norwood police station (2008)

  A short distance from the old Gipsy Hill Police Station is Woodland Hill. In this immediate area there was an orphanage run by one Charles Chapman. Its claim on the interest of the reader lies in the fact that one of this orphanage’s residents was a Kate Russell. In 1879 she married Dr. George Turnavine Budd (Conan Doyle’s first medical partner) at a registry office in the Strand. At the age of seventeen she was not legally able to marry and was forced to lie in order for the ceremony to proceed101.

  Crystal Palace late 1800s

  Anerley is just south of Crystal Palace and its main claim on the attention of the Sherlock Holmes fan arises from its appearance in the story The Norwood Builder. A great many places in the Sherlock Holmes stories were made up by Conan Doyle and theories as to their real locations abound. However there is no such ambiguity with Anerley. In The Norwood Builder, John Hector McFarlane explains his story to Holmes upon his arrival at Baker Street and states clearly that he had spent the previous night in the Anerley Arms.

  The Anerley Arms102 was one of the many buildings occupying two areas known as the Anerley Estate (developed 1851) and the Anerley Station Estate (developed 1853). The area consisted primarily of shops with first floor flats and it swiftly became something of a commercial centre. The Anerley Arms was not the first business to occupy its site. It was built after the demolition of
the hotel and tearooms that were adjacent to the Anerley Gardens. The gardens were a major leisure site (opened in 1841) and in addition to the hotel and tearooms there were a band stand and a maze. The gardens also encompassed a section of the old Croydon canal and this was used for pleasure boating. Sadly the arrival of the Crystal Palace caused too much competition and the gardens began to lose visitors. They finally closed in 1868 and this was when the tearooms were demolished and replaced with the present public house.103 With The Norwood Builder being said to have been set in 1894104 the Anerley Arms would have been a relatively new pub having been open only twenty-six years by the time McFarlane stayed there (assuming that the pub opened in the same year the tearooms were demolished).

  Anerley Arms in 2008

  The Anerley Arms today is a relatively quiet place being some small distance from the main retail area of Crystal Palace. With the exception of some all too modern features the interior is very much as it would have been in late Victorian times and it is quite possible to imagine what it would have been like filled with Victorian customers who were perhaps waiting for a train or paying a visit for a quick post-commute drink on the way home from the City of London.

  West Norwood has only been known as such since 1885. Prior to this it was known as Lower Norwood. The name simply referred to the fact that the area was at a lower altitude to the other Norwood districts. In 1880 the first moves to change the name were taken. The reasons for the change are unclear but perhaps it was felt that the prefix ‘Lower’ implied a lower class of people or standard of living to Upper Norwood.

  Norwood Road, West Norwood early 1900s

  The name change was by no means a universally popular idea. Many businesses opposed it due to the costs involved in legally changing their names. Similarly the legal position of large numbers of title deeds containing ‘Lower Norwood’ was a cause of concern to some residents105. Despite this the name change went ahead.

  In the late 1700s Lower Norwood contained a relatively small number of fully detached houses or villas. They were usually occupied by the better off as the working class were generally to be found in South Norwood. The arrival in 1854 of the Crystal Palace in Upper Norwood changed the housing situation beyond recognition. The increase in population that this and the improved rail links brought to the area led to many of the residential properties being demolished to make way for newer terraced and semi-detached dwellings that could accommodate more people in the same space106. In fact the arrival of the Crystal Palace vastly improved the amenities for both Upper and Lower Norwood as the tenfold increase in population that occurred between 1851 and 1901 led to proper supplies of water and gas coming to the area as it became worthwhile for companies to invest in the necessary infrastructure. Prior to this the water in Lower Norwood had all come from wells.

  Conan Doyle would certainly have travelled through this area whenever he travelled from South Norwood to London. In fact it is not unreasonable to suppose that he may have house hunted here before finally ending up in Tennison Road. His knowledge of the area, however it was obtained, certainly inspired one of his Sherlock Holmes stories.

  In The Norwood Builder Jonas Oldacre is a resident of Lower Norwood and it is here that he meets, at his home, with John Hector McFarlane as part of his plot to frame the latter for his murder. The curious thing to note is that Lower Norwood is referred to as such throughout the story. By the time the story was published it had been many years since the area had been renamed to West Norwood107.

  As we have already seen, Oldacre took his train to London Bridge from South Norwood. This is implied by Holmes’s deduction that Oldacre’s handwritten will was written on an express train (which are only available from Norwood Junction in South Norwood). However we need to ask why he did this. West Norwood got its railway station in 1856 and it is true that originally it was on the line that served Victoria Station. Therefore, on that basis, it made sense for him to take a train from South Norwood as this was the most direct means of reaching London Bridge. However, according to the 1897 Royal Atlas of England and Wales, it was possible to reach London Bridge from West Norwood. It may well have taken longer and required some changes but it was possible. So the only reason for going all the way to South Norwood for a train was to get an express that made few stops (in fact only stopping at New Cross en route to London Bridge).

  However, one has to wonder what Oldacre’s hurry was as no doubt most of his nefarious plans had been made well in advance and a slightly longer train journey would have allowed him more time to draft his infamous will. Perhaps Conan Doyle wrote the story this way purely to set the scene for Holmes’s subsequent deduction.

  Jonas Oldacre is scared out of hiding place in his Lower Norwood House in The Norwood Builder

  One of the most famous (or infamous) residents of West Norwood during the life of Conan Doyle was Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840 – 1916). Between 1883 and 1885 he patented the design of the machine gun that bears his name. Originally an American, Maxim became a British subject and it was in his West Norwood home that he further developed his design. His gun had been initially rejected by the United States military but was welcomed by the British armed forces. It was later to be sold to other European countries and was used to devastating effect during the First World War. Upon his death Maxim was buried in West Norwood cemetery108.

  West Norwood is also the last of the three possible locations for the police station visited by Thaddeus Sholto in The Sign of Four. This station would have been the closest of the three to London and the main aspect in its favour comes from Athelney Jones. When he arrives on the scene at Pondicherry Lodge, he mentions that he was ‘in Norwood’ on another case. West Norwood stands alone in the fact that it is often referred to simply as Norwood without a prefix. Of course another interpretation was that Jones was simply grouping all the districts together under one heading for convenience.

  Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim in 1912

  90 The choice was disclosed by Conan Doyle in a list of twelve stories revealed in 1927.

  91 Although the station is called Norwood Junction today it has only been known as such since 1955. Since it opened in 1839 it has had four names and was known simply as Norwood Station at the time of The Norwood Builder and The Sign of Four.

  92 Source: Metropolitan Police Official Website.

  93 Please see bibliography for full details of Mr Davies’ book.

  94 Jack Tracy, in his book The Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana, expresses his preference for South Norwood Police Station.

  95 Source: Diocese of Southwark Websit.

  96 St Marks church was built much earlier in 1852 and the architect was a G.H. Lewis.

  97 The present author is attempting to get this oversight corrected at the time of writing.

  98 As just discussed, the potential candidate Kilravock House is now considered to be in South Norwood.

  99 If Kilravock House was indeed the model for Pondicherry Lodge the closest stations would have been at Thornton Heath (opened 1862), Selhurst (opened 1865) and Norwood Junction (opened 1839). The latter, as we know, provided express trains.

  100 Source: Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes by Andrew Lycett.

  101 On the Trail of Arthur Conan Doyle by Brian Pugh and Paul Spiring.

  102 It is interesting to note that in the 1977 edition of Jack Tracy’s The Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana, an asterisk precedes the entry for the Anerley Arms. This denotes that the entry is fictitious. Presumably Tracy had not been able to verify its existence at the time.

  103 Source: Ideal Homes: Suburbia in focus.

  104 Dakin and Klinger agree on this date.

  105 Story of Norwood by JB Wilson.

  106 British History Online.

  107 According to many sources the date of the story’s setting is 1894 and it was published in 1903. Both dates are some time after the renaming to West Norwood. This was the second story to have input from Conan Doyle’s friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson (see secti
on on Liverpool Street Station). As we saw, the idea for using the wax impression of a thumbprint as a means of incriminating someone came from Robinson. However one has to wonder why Conan Doyle purchased the idea from him at all. At the time he paid out for this idea Sherlock Holmes had been dead at the foot of the Reichenbach Falls for eight years and there were as yet no plans to resurrect him. So why did Conan Doyle purchase an idea that was only really suitable for a crime novel? Perhaps he was already toying with the idea of Holmes’s return or maybe he had an idea for a non-Holmes story where the idea could be used.

  108 The Norwood Society

  Croydon

  Croydon is built on the site of an ancient Saxon settlement. During the middle ages it was a centre for charcoal production, leather and brewing. Centuries later it was also the site of the world’s first horse drawn railway which was used to transport goods to and from Wandsworth. This was to subsequently become an important mode of transport which over time facilitated the transformation of Croydon into a London commuter town.

  The increasing popularity of Brighton in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (thanks in no small part to the Prince Regent – later George IV) led to Croydon becoming an important stop for stage coaches en route to the coast from London. In 1839 Croydon’s transport connections were improved further with the opening of the London and Croydon Railway. The route started from West Croydon station and ran all the way to London Bridge. This had the effect of making Croydon an attractive place to live for the Victorian middle class who were drawn to the leafy suburb with its swift access to the City of London. In the late 1880s it was possible to reach the City of London from Croydon in around fifteen to twenty minutes which is not much different from the journey time today.