place name
Grove Hill House, after which this street is named, was an 18thCentury mansion built by the Quaker physician and philanthropist, Dr John Coakley Lettsom in 1799. Its name has its roots in the topography of the area, reflecting the estate’s proximity to The Grove, which on John Rocque’s 1741 map of Camberwell appears as an area east of modern Camberwell Grove, at that time a private, tree-lined avenue. Lettsom sold his mansion, famous for its gardens, hothouses and orchards, in 1810 and from 1819 the land was quickly converted to streets and terraces. The house itself however survived for some 60 years after that. Before Lettsom’s time, this land was part of the ancient manor of Camberwell which is mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 as belonging to Haimo. In the late 19thCentury the name Grove Park only applied to the western end of Chadwick Road, itself named after its developer, William Chadwick in the 1840s. By the 1950s it had been amalgamated with Craighallion Gardens and the entire street became Grove Park.
