An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace Park
Dinosaurs, sphinxes and stations.
(Photos November 2007, words Feb 2008, © urban75)
Fresh from our trudge around Sydenham, we braved the fading light and f-f-freezing temperatures to take a stroll around Crystal Palace park.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-36.jpg) Crystal Palace transmitter, built in the mid-1950s on the site of the old Aquarium.
At 222 m (728 ft) high, the tower was the tallest structure in London until the skyscraper at One Canada Square tower at Canary Wharf was built in 1991.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-37.jpg) The remains of one of Brunel's pumping stations, used to supply the fountains in the old Crystal Palace.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-33.jpg) Inside the Crystal Palace Museum.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-38.jpg) Stairs, sphinxes and transmitter.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-39.jpg) Sphinx detail.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-40.jpg) Crystal Palace colonnade.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-41.jpg)
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-43.jpg) With funds raised by public subscription, this bust of the master architect Sir Joseph Paxton was unveiled at a Fete in June 1873, marking the 20th year of the Palace.
Now stuck forlornly by a car park on a cheap-looking brick plinth, the Grade II listed bust originally stood on a huge brick affair looking towards the Palace building over a large pool.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-42.jpg) The back of Joe's 'ead revealing the name of the sculptor, William Woodington.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-45.jpg) Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, opened in 1964.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-46.jpg) Curious white pyramid things.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-47.jpg) Football ground with the 15,000 capacity athletics stadium in the background.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-44.jpg) We stopped off for a tea in the no-frills cafe in the park.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-51.jpg) With the light fading fast and the park about to close, we took a walk by the lake where you can find 'life-sized' models of dinosaurs and other extinct creatures.
In 1852, the sculptor Waterhouse Hawkins was hired by the Crystal Palace company to create 33 life-size concrete models of extinct dinosaurs, a job that took some three years.
Collaborating with the English biologist and palaeontologist, Sir Richard Owen and other leading scientists, Hawkins was given some idea of the size and look of the models, with one of the Iguanodons (above) being so large that a 20-strong dinner party was held inside on December 1853.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-49.jpg) The lack of light added an air of mystery and realism to some of the concrete models.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-50.jpg) A look across the lake.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-52.jpg) An Ichthyosaur seen next to a Plesiosaur.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-48.jpg) Modern deer sculpture.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-53.jpg) You can still feel some of the grandeur of the impressive Crystal Palace (Low Level) station, which was opened on 10 June 1854 by the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway to take the crowds to the Palace.
Sporting French and Brighton Pavilion influences, a 720ft (216m) colonnade used to provide sheltered access to the Palace.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-54.jpg) The cavernous station serves lines to London Victoria, West Croydon, London Bridge , Beckenham Junction and Smitham.
![An autumnal walk around Crystal Palace park, London Borough of Bromley, south London, England, November 2007 - photo feature](images/crystal-palace-55.jpg) The station stands by the junction of two lines, with the these platforms serving the Sydenham route, with more modest platforms on the southern spur to Beckenham Junction.
In 1911, the line was electrified between Balham and Crystal Palace on 12 May 1911, and the timetabled journey time of fifteen minutes to Victoria has never been equalled.
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