Time Walk
Downhill to Lansdown Hill
This was once simply a way to get somewhere else — downhill, towards Lansdown Hill. Walking it today, three things stand out: the red brick bulk of a Victorian church, the sense of a road laid out all at once rather than grown over centuries, and a quiet residential edge where newer houses meet older ones.
Beneath the pavements lies an old manorial boundary and the ground of a 19th-century orphanage. The street's name, oddly, is not explained anywhere in the records consulted for this page.
Name Origin
A Name Without a Record
Canterbury Grove was built as an estate road by the trustees of Lord Thurlow, following his death in 1806, under an Act of Parliament obtained in 1809 to speed up building in the area. That Act fixed when the road came into being, but not why it carries the name it does.
The sources used here do not explain the choice of "Canterbury" for the street.
History
On the Edge of Levehurst
Once laid out, Canterbury Grove came to mark part of the boundary of the Manor of Levehurst, which by 1825 was bounded by Leigham Vale to the north, Norwood Road to the east, the parish boundary to the west, and a line roughly 100 yards south of Canterbury Grove itself.
Within a few decades the road had a substantial institutional neighbour: land fronting Canterbury Grove, conveyed to trustees by Barnett Meyers in 1859 and 1860, became the site of the Jewish Orphanage. Bloom Grove, a nearby street, once connected through to Canterbury Grove.
The Jewish Orphanage that once stood near Canterbury Grove occupied land conveyed by Barnett Meyers in 1859 and 1860, part of which fronted directly onto the street.
Culture
A Lombardic Church
Its red brick sets it apart from the houses around it on the street.
People
A Resident's Memory
Roy Leslie Winstanley remembered Canterbury Grove from around 1925, describing a road leading downhill from Thurlestone Road to Canterbury Grove and on to Lansdown Hill. His account is the only personal recollection of the street held in the sources used here.
Recent Times
Building Round the Corner
By around 1960, new building was still reaching Canterbury Grove. Five houses at the north end of nearby Thurlestone Road were built around that date, and two of these, on the east side, formed part of a self-build development that extended round into Canterbury Grove itself.
On the Map
Canterbury Grove Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Canterbury Grove?
The street was built as an estate road by the trustees of Lord Thurlow under an 1809 Act of Parliament. The sources used here do not explain why it was given the name Canterbury.
What is Canterbury Grove known for?
It is known chiefly for the red brick Lansdowne Evangelical Free Church, built in the Lombardic style in the 1880s, and for having once formed the edge of land belonging to the Jewish Orphanage.
When was Canterbury Grove built?
It was laid out as an estate road following an Act of Parliament obtained in 1809 by the trustees of Lord Thurlow, who had died in 1806.