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SECTION A
NATURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS OF
BECKENHAM
The Borough has an area of 5,935 acres and extends from the
Crystal Palace Grounds to the fringe of the Kentish farmlands. It
occupies part of the extreme North-West corner of Kent.
The contours fall in height from South to North, so that the
district of West Wickham on the South side of the borough, averages
210 feet above sea level, whereas Beckenham proper, averages 150
feet above sea level. This is shewn by the Bench marks of West
Wickham which are 238 feet for Links Road, 202 feet for The Avenue,
and 190 feet for Ravenswood Crescent, to 111 feet opposite the Regal
Cinema at the lower end of the main street to 135 feet opposite the
Parish Church at the upper end of this street.
The South to North direction is followed approximately by four
streams—the Ravensbourne, the Beck, the Chaffinch Brook, and
Pool River. These are culverted through the greater part of their
course which is through beds of " Valley Gravel Half of the area
geologically consists of " Blackheath Pebble Beds " and the remaining
half of " London Clay
The Ravensbourne forms part of the boundary between Bromley
and Beckenham but otherwise is outside the borough. The Pool
River is formed by the junction of the Boundary Brook and the Beck,
the conjoined stream of which joins the Chaffinch Brook in Cator Park.
The Pool River leaves the borough in the Worsley Bridge area. The
Chaffinch Brook is formed from the South Norwood and St. James
Tributaries in the South of the borough.
The Climate is comparatively mild, and the annual rainfall is
low. The average for 1958 was 29.745 inches.
Beckenham is a coherent and well-ordered borough, with a wide
variety of houses, and possesses numerous privately owned Sports
Grounds and several Parks. It contains more than 2,000 acres of
open spaces. 180 acres of the rolling farmland and wooded areas to
the South between Well Wood (43 acres) and the Croydon boundary
were acquired under the Green Belt Act, 1938 and held on a 999 years
lease to act as a permanent barrier to any further outward spread of
Urban building.
Much of the development of Beckenham has taken place since
1925, and to-day it includes the districts of Lower Sydenham, New
Beckenham. Beckenham (proper), Elmers End, Shortlands, Park
Langley, West Wickham and Coney Hall. It is primarily a residential
borough of modern houses in the South half, with the well-ordered
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