Stars of the South

I'm new to South London and the other day took my first trip south on the 432 bus to Anerley from Tulse Hill, through Gipsy Hill - where REAL gipsies hung out in the 18th century - to Crystal Palace Park. The reconstructed Crystal Palace from 1854 was destroyed in a fire in 1936 but the massive terraces and the equally massive rail station survive, testifying to the huge draw of the place in the late Victorian period. Surviving also are the dinosaurs, as the world's first dinosaur models, unveiled in 1854 and representing the latest thinking of dinosaur expert Sir Richard Owen in regard to shape and colour.

Later discoveries may have rendered Owen's theories extinct in their turn, but they have survived the neglect and the weeds and have been restored as Grade I listed monuments and now wait to take their place in the planned reconstruction of Paxton's original park and palace. True stars of the South.