Download an A4 Printable PDF of the map or a two-per-page A5 map with information on the reverse from FSW A5 Map and FSW A5 Map Information. This map is available in the dispenser boxes at many of the entrances to the woods.

Maps are also available from Selsdon Library.

Origins of the names of Paths & Plantations in Selsdon Wood

Over 80 name boards and plaques have been erected by the Friends of Selsdon Woods to mark features and footpaths and help visitors find their way around the woods. Of these, 57 name boards and one finger post were installed in 2011, purchased with the help of a London Tree and Woodland grant and a further 23 name boards were added in 2012 in addition to 2 plaques with information about the Jubilee and Centenary Plantations. We hope these signs will encourage you to explore the wood – there is lots to enjoy, even in winter.

Many of the names predate the FSW but we have named a few of the unnamed paths or fields to make it easier to give directions or identify locations where interesting species are to be found. These are identified with an * in the listings below. We chose names based on the advice of a local historian Ted Frith and the publication "Selsdon Wood Nature Reserve - An Illustrated History" published by Croydon Parks Department in 1986. All our suggestions were accepted by Croydon Council in 2010.

You may be interested in the derivation of some of the names used in Selsdon Wood.

Some names mark boundaries:

ADDINGTON BORDER – marks the old boundary between the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Addington estate and Croydon.

FARLEIGH BORDER – marks the present outer boundary of Croydon.

VALE BORDER – marks the border with Selsdon Vale.

Several of them commemorate past owners of the Selsdon Wood estate.

Full details of the history of the wood can be found on the History page. (Please forgive us for missing appropriate apostrophes from the sign boards but each character costs more.)

SMITH GROVE * – The Smith family, well known Sanderstead landowners, owned the land from the early 1800s until 1890.

STEVENS WALK – W. Stevens, a printer, owned it from 1890 to 1899.

NOAKES WAY * – W. Noakes, a brewer, owned it from 1899 to 1923.

The next owner was only interested in selling off Selsdon Wood for development, so we did not feel justified in commemorating him. Happily the site was preserved for posterity in 1935, when it was bought by generous public, local government and local organisations’ donations and presented to the National Trust.

VINCENT AVENUE – relates to the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Percy Vincent, who performed the official opening of Selsdon Nature Reserve in 1936.

LANGFORDS WAY – marks a favourite walk of Mr Langford, a tenant farmer, whose Selsdon Park farm occupied the present Aldi site.

Other names mark some of the woods and fields that make up the reserve:

COURTWOOD GROVE - Court Wood

BROOM PATH * – Broom Wood

GREENHILL WAY – Greenhill Shaw which is at the top of the first car park field. 

HILLOCKS WOOD – On the enclosure Map from the 19th Century the field was known as Hale Oaks. Hillocks is obviously a corruption and was probably a mishearing by the surveyors when the first Ordnance map was drawn in the1860s. The Hale in Hale Oaks is from Halh meaning a nook of land. often in the corner  of a parish. (Thanks to Ted Frith for this information.)

DAVID'S PATH * runs adjacent to David's Crook and was named by FSW.

Several names are associated with the flora and fauna:

AVIS GROVE - marks the bird connection.

BEECH GROVE

BLUEBELL GROVE *

LEAFY GROVE 

LINDEN GLADE – (see photograph below taken in autumn 2011) is surrounded by Lime trees. Linden is an old poetic name for the Small-leaved lime trees which were ancient members of the Wild Wood and were almost certainly replaced in much of Selsdon Wood by Hazel trees.

EAST, MIDDLE & WEST GORSE – are named for a large field that used to be covered with cultivated gorse but was taken over mostly by larch trees. Part of this area has been cleared and old gorse seeds have germinated restoring the area now named THE GORSES  to its former glory. 

CENTENARY PLANTATION – in 1983, one hundred oaks were planted to commemorate the centenary of Croydon Council.

JUBILEE PLANTATION – this celebrates the 1977 Silver Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen. It was paid for by Croydon Girl Guides Association. In 2012 Brownies and Rainbows carried out a further planting to mark the Diamond Jubilee.

One name commemorates a feature  – POOL GROVE - This leads to Linden Glade where there is a pool with a bird bath. See the Projects page for information about FSW attempts to repair it in 2016/2017 and developments in 2023/4. 

Although we have not produced name boards for the fields we have numbered and where necessary named them:

Field 1 GREEN HILL maintains its ancient name. It was given this name on Bainbridge's map of 1800 thought the Tithe map of 1844 named it Hill Field.

Fields 2, 3 & 4 used to be one large field – GREAT FIELD HILL (Bainbridge's map of 1800 and the Tithe map of 1844). We now call them:

Field 2 VALE MEADOW. 

Field 3 GREAT HILL.

Field 4 GREAT FIELD.

Field 5 DAVID'S CROOK maintains its ancient name. It was given this name on Bainbridge's map of 1800 and Selsdon & Croham Living History (1983) says the name is 180 years old.

Unfortunately, the source of some names remains shrouded in mystery.