Penge, Surrey

Description
Penge, a hamlet in Surrey, formed out of the ecclesiastical parish of Battersea. It forms the boundary of London with the great county of Kent and the county borough of Croydon, and is in the S.E. Postal District. It is 7 miles from London, and has stations on the Brighton railway at Anerley, Crystal Palace, and Penge, and on the L.C. & D.R. at Penge. The population, corrected to the end of 1894, is 20,589. The Crystal Palace is in this hamlet, which enjoys great advantages from the drawing, engineering, and other schools at the Cyrstal Palace, and an excellent second-grade established by St John's parish, available to all upon very slight admission fees. The Free Libraries Acts were adopted by a large majority in 1892, and the library with its several departments has been a great boon. A very pretty recreation ground of about 4 1/2 acres in the Bechenham Road was opened in 1889. For county council purposes Penge forms part of the Dulwich division of the administrative county of London. Its churches are St John's and Christ Church (Penge), Holy Trinity (Anerley), and St Paul's and St James' (Upper Norwood). The living of St John's is a vicarage; net value, £370, in the gift of the Court of Watermen and Lightermen. The church is a stone building in modern Gothic with a spire 135 feet high. Christ Church is an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1885. The living is a vicarage, valued at about £200 per annum from pew rents. There are Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, Wesleyan, and Roman Catholic chapels. The Congregational Chapel in Anerley Road is an exceptionally fine building. The North Surrey District Schools are established here for children of the metropolitan unions, and are beautifully placed in a park-like rolling country of 46 acres. King William IV.'s Naval Asylum and the Watermen's Almshouses are at Penge. The Naval Asylum is for twelve decayed widows of naval officers, and was founded by Queen Adelaide. The Watermen's Almshouses were built in 1850 at a cost of £5000, and comprise forty-one residences. Each inmate has an income of £30 yearly. Penge also contains a good vestry hall, a lecture hall, and a police station.