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General Information
Norwood Green, which covers a space of approximately ten
acres, takes its name from the Saxon ‘Norwude’ or ‘Norwode’,
formerly a chapelry in the ancient manor of Hayes, under
the control of the see of Canterbury.
I have reproduced overleaf an old postcard showing Norwood
green, including Friar’s Lawn, as it looked in 1917.
Although the Great War was building to a climax a short distance
away in Flanders, life here was still very rural and peaceful. |
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At that date the parish included the church of St. Mary the
Virgin, an ancient structure dating from the Norman period;
four almshouses for four widows; and a public as well as
a private lunatic asylum.
In 1917 each of the 2.014 inmates of the former institution
received two shillings (10p) a week from the parish. The
wall letter-box was still emptied four times a day and the
post office was open until 7.30 in the evening.
Carter Paterson & Co. carried mail and parcels to London
twice daily; Lord Hillingdon was lord of the manor; the Earl
of Jersey owned most of the land. Should anyone have sought
to take it from him, his Lordship would have looked for protection
to a police force of fourteen constables and one sergeant
under the leadership of Superintendent Charles Hunt. No one
could remember when he had last been confronted with a murder
enquiry.
The spiritual well-being of Norwood Green was in the charge
of the Rev. Jim Macdonald. A graduate of Trinity College,
Dublin, in 1917 he had held the living for thirty-seven years.
He enjoyed the use of a magnificent rectory together with
approximately eighty acres of the finest glebe land.
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