Westcombe Park
| Westcombe Park | |
|---|---|
 Westcombe Park
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| Westcombe Park shown within Greater London | |
| OS grid reference | TQ402780 |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | SE3 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| EU Parliament | London |
| London Assembly | |
Westcombe Park is a largely residential area in Blackheath in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, south-east London, England. It is bounded by the main London-Dartford railway line to the north, the Blackwall Tunnel southern approach to the east, the Blackheath common to the south and a road, Vanbrugh Hill, to the west (named after the architect and playwright Sir John Vanbrugh who built his house Vanbrugh Castle nearby in Maze Hill).
Westcombe Park largely comprises the northern half of the Blackheath Westcombe ward of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, which in 2011 had a population of 26,914.
Westcombe is a topographical place name, derived from Combe, a common old English word for 'valley', often formed into a compound name - in this case with the adjective 'West'.
Much of Westcombe Park lies within the Westcombe Park Conservation Area, designated in 2002.
Its most notable existing landmark, and only Listed building (grade II), is Woodlands House, in Mycenae Road. This four-storey Georgian villa (architect: George Gibson) still lies in its own grounds and was built between 1774 and 1776 for John Julius Angerstein, a Lloyd's underwriter and merchant whose collection of old master paintings was bought for the nation in 1824, following his death, to form the nucleus of the National Gallery, London.
The Angerstein family continued to live in Woodlands House until about 1870. It was later acquired by Sir Alfred Yarrow, a shipbuilder, in 1896.
From about 1923, the house served as a convent; neighbouring Mycenae House (formerly Kidbrooke House) was built in 1933 to provide dormitory space for the Little Sisters of the Assumption convent. Woodlands was then acquired by the London Borough of Greenwich in 1967 and opened as a Local History Library and Art Gallery (Woodlands Art Gallery) in 1972, while Mycenae House continues to serve as a community centre. Woodlands was leased by the London Borough of Greenwich in November 2007 to The Greenwich Steiner school.
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Wikipedia