There is always interest in the history of our local area, and in particular some of the grand houses that existed in the mid 19th century that are the likely reason for the roads (boundaries of properties), unusual plot shapes, and some remaining clues like trees.
I hope we can use this topic for general observations - and really interesting topics can then be split off into their own topics
Thought it might be connected with Observatory House (which has a great history connected with Edwin Clark and Robert Stephenson) but on checking, not so. Not sure if this helps but interesting nonetheless! coleson's coppice - Sydenham Town Forum
I wonder if the house marked S D is The Grange?
“where John Crossley Fielding, a stockbroker, lived between 1854 and 1878.”
https://sydenhamsociety.com/2013/03/the-folly-in-sydenham-hill-woods/
The page also mentions (Josiah) Latimer Clark at Sydenham Hill, Edwin’s brother.
The Grange is much further down the road, on the south side of what is now Benson Road, so rather different 
On a different note, I was exploring some OS maps from just after the Second World War and noticed this detail around the station. Note the very even sized properties, and strange alignment, between Stanstead Road and the Railway. This are almost certainly post-war prefab houses. I didn’t know we had them in this area, but it is good to see.
Interestingly they must have ben removed relatively shortly afterwards to build the larger estate that is there now (whose garden now makes up most of this space and is sadly rather neglected)
(note: of course this is sadly because the houses that had been here were hit by a V2 bomb and totally destroyed:
I also notice confirmation that the building next to the station was in fact an electrical substation for the trams that came through here (there’s some confusion about the age and purpose of this building as I believe there have been at least 3 different buildings on this site)
And doesn’t Edwin Clark link us back to the Croydon Canal. I recall in information exchanges with Andrew that he invented the Anderton Lift - canal engineering. Observatory House had the struggling Croydon Canal running at the bottom of the garden - might have inspired the Lift invention.
