Place Name
Agricultural heritage. Selsdon Wood was once part of the Selsdon Park estate, owned by the Archbishops of Canterbury which was within the parish of Croydon. From at least the 16thCentury Selsdon was largely divided between two farms, Selsdon Farm in the north and Ballards Farm in the south. The Ballard family had been living in the area since at least the 13thCentury, with a Geoffrey Ballard featured in parish records of 1263. The family were evidently established enough for Ballardes Wood to feature in the records in 1544 and Ballards Farm was recorded in 1765.
