A History of Petts Wood
Millennium Edition
A book by Peter Waymark
Published by Petts Wood and District Residents Association
Price £5.95
William Willetts pamphlet "The Waste of Daylight"
Petts
Wood has been acclaimed as one of the best examples of the inter-war
London suburb, created by Basil Scruby, the developer, as a high quality
estate in a rural setting only a short train journey from the city. At the
heart of the book is the story of how a quiet landscape of woodland, lakes
and strawberry fields was transformed from the late 1920's into an
attractive residential area planned with the railway station and shops at
its center, and the growth of a community with it's churches, pub, cinema,
sports clubs and societies.
Long
before it was a suburb Petts Wood was a wood, probably named after the
Pett family who for 200 years were the nation's leading shipbuilders and
now preserved by the National Trust. Other famous names celebrated in the
book are William Willet campaigner for daylight saving in the early years
of the 20th century, and Charles de Gaulle, who lived in Petts
Wood during the Second World War as he led the Free French from his
British Exile.
Later
chapters examine the impact on Petts Wood of post war social trends, such
as the coming of mass car ownership, the pressure for office space and
deterioration in law and order. The book also charts a shopping revolution
with a supermarket open seven days a week causing the closure of so many
of the small shops which gave Petts Wood it's 'village' character. At the
same time, local pressure to save surrounding green belt land and to have
three important areas of the historic estate designated as Conservation
Areas has done much to keep Basil Scruby's vision intact.
This
millennium edition of A History of Petts Wood is the fourth. The
book first appeared in 1979, to mark the 50th anniversary of
Petts Wood Residents Association, and proved so successful that further
editions were published in 1983 and 1990. The first edition had a modest
64 pages and 14 illustrations. This latest edition, which has been
substantially revised, updated and enlarged, has more than 140
illustrations, of which 30 are new. The book is again a local project,
published and funded by the residents association.
The
author, Peter Waymark, is a retired journalist who spent most of his
working life on The Times.
See if you can pass the Petts Wood History Test