Bloomfield Hall
At the time of the Lambeth enclosure in 1806, Bloomfield Bower belonged to George Lyne. He must have had a weakness for the name ‘Bloomfield’ which belonged to his house in South Norwood Hill in which he lived before 1803. Bloomfield Hall was rebuilt on a grand scale not long after the enclosure and continued to be one of the two or three great mansions of Norwood well into the 20th The Bloomfield Hall residence was sited in Central Hill opposite Mary Nesbitt’s property which later became the convent Virgo Fidelis. The Bloomfields estate boundary was Central Hill: Salters Hill: Whiteley Road and Roman Road (later Roman Rise). Later the road Bloomhall Road was named after the estate. From all accounts it was a most magnificent property, set amongst various species of trees. One visitor described the inside of the house as very lavish and homely. At the bottom of the estate, Whiteley Road, there was an entrance for the market garden in Bloomfields. Letting adver That splendid RESIDENCE “Bloomfield”, Central Hil, Norwood, is to be LET, with immediate possession, the property having just changed hands. The grounds have been laid out with consummate taste. The lawns, shrubbery, plantations, pasturage, and walled kitchen garden, occupy 19 acres. The scenery from the mansion is unequalled for grandeur, embracing in one magnificent sweep Dulwich Woods, Lord Thurlow’s Park, Herne and Tulsa Hills London, with its St Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, & c, and in the distance , Highgate, HamPstead, &c. The mansion consists of 31 rooms, stabling for seven horses, coachhouse, conservatory, 44 long, &c – The house and grounds are only to be viewed by an order, to be obtained at the office.
In July 1897 Norwood decorated in honour of a visit by HRH Princess Christian of Schleswig Holstein who came to receive contributions towards the Diamond Jubilee Fund for Norwood Cottage Hospital in Hermitage Road. Friends of the Cottage Hospital met at Bloomfield Hall. Union Jacks lined Central Hill with a Guard of Honour furnished by the band of the 2nd East Surrey Regiment lining the way to Tritton Fields. A huge marquee was erected and a small one for the princess with refreshments. When war did break out in 1915, the grounds at Bloomfield Hall were used as a training range for the Upper Norwood Volunteer Training Corp who established a rifle range there. The years 1922/23 saw the beautiful house Bloomfields being derelict and acquired by Lambeth Borough Council for a building development. 318 houses were built as a council estate called Bloomfield estate.
