I grew up in that park in the 80”s. Scrambling around the ruins. There were a few tunnels and hidden basements here and there. Many have been closed off since. Annoyed that the parks move to become a ‘country park’ means they let everything get overgrown. This first steps at the north end were completely clear of greenery right up into the nineties. Also there is a blue stain porcelain floor under the brush at the top of the stairs there. Before the caravan park came in, in the late 80’s the other side of the wall was completely overgrown but underneath was several greenhouse frames complete with trees growing through from the floor that were once contained in pots still visible in the bark in pieces.
Your quality of matching old photos to the location of where they are now, is simply sensational! Thankyou so much for your work, effort and knowledge 🙏🏼
My feelings exactly. I've done a bit of fiddling with Google Earth (and street view) trying to match those images with historic photos from my home town in California, and it's NOT easy! For reasons unknown, this video showed up in my UA-cam suggestions, and I'm very glad I clicked on it. Well done. I do believe I'll be watching a lot more of your videos in the near future.
Deserves an award, what a fantastic documentary. I played there in the 1960's upto 1975 and I can't believe how much of the ruins has gone and has overgrown, there was much more to see and play around when I was a boy. I Remember motor racing, 2 fishing lakes, a zoo, an adventure playground, a ski ramp, fantastic dinosaurs and the ruins. From watching your excellent video so many memories have come flooding back thank you.
When I was a boy, in the early 60s, you could climb up and see into huge rooms under the terraces that were absolutely packed with statues from around the park. Fascinating place. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
I've lived in this area. all my life it was great to see how it used to look. Apparetnly my Grandad watched it buring down and like you say it could be seen from miles away. Thanks for all the hard work you've put into this.
I used to live in Mitcham in the 80's & an old neighbour of mine said he put a ladder up against his house & climbed up to see it burning in the distance.
@@AdventureMe It's obvious this place was all Hydro Turbine Powered to me.. I doubt there is any old records of those installations though. It will have been deleted and replaced by fake history.
I live right next to the park and walk around it every day. I thought I’d seen everything in the park but clearly not! Can’t wait to go exploring tomorrow!! Amazing.
Loving this, another subject close to my heart. When my Dad was 3 my Grandfather held him up to his bedroom window to show him the glow in the sky as the Palace burned. The reservoir was always roofed over and part of the North Transept. I understand it is still very much in use. The South Tower actually acted as a chimney when the Palace burned and although they wanted to save it, it was by then part of the local water supply network, the heat of the fire effectively sintered the brick work. As a Kid in the early 1970's Dad took me there on a couple of occasions. Back then you could still see where the molten glass had flowed down the stairs, still fenced of in those days. He also managed to wangle a short visit to the tunnel that connected the LCDR High Level Station under the road to the Palace entrance. I remember it as a dingy, dirty, dark place with a beautiful vaulted roof. Wish I'd taken more notice but I was a strange Kid who had been promised a visit to Foyles Bookshop (I still have the books I bought (wangled out of Dad)... Thank you so much for bringing back so many good memories.
Thanks for the memories Douglas. I wish I had seen it all those years ago. You might be right about the reservoir, it did look too flat. Part 2 is out next week.
That was amazing Darren. Love your fading past and present photos. I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t heard of this building. It’s end so tragic. Music makes me feel nostalgic. Very moving Darren very moving indeed. Thank you.
I haven’t been to Crystal Palace Park since I was a child and I remember going on a 122 bus from Woolwich to Crystal Palace and when the pylon was in sight we knew we were nearly there. Happy childhood memories ❤️
A wonderful building that really should of been properly looked after,the likes of which we will never seen again . Great informative video well done .
Nice to see you back in the south again to explore one of my favorite places to walk around . Is just so much to find there . Loving the overlays brings it to life . Part one was great , looking forward to parts 2 and 3 . Is nice to have someone else's view on something you know well . Keep up the great work Darren .
They used to do walks where you could do in the tower remains. The museum is sadly shut at the moment. I'm pretty sure the stones are part of the stairs that were removed. The stairs at the back were added much later in it's life and lead to the first floor, underneath that was the basement. The metal posts you found were the original posts from the palace. That's the outside wall. They cut them off at ground level after it had burnt down. They are 8 inches wide, 8 feet apart. It was the worlds first modular building. Your images at 14 minutes shows where the posts were. The guy who was responsible for putting the column there took me on a personal guided walk. The rubble you found where it's raised up is from the blitz. They filled in the basement with it. There are old cars and bomb damaged buildings. If you go in many woods there are signs of bricks being dumped from WW2. The terraces have been restored in the past but need doing again. The statues were sold off after the fire and are copies of the originals. After the fire many were sold off. You can see some in peoples gardens and dotted around the local area. THe bolts you found were probably from the stairs you thought the cast iron posts were for. I"m pretty sure the back stairs were mostly concrete posts (but I might be wrong). Great video. I hope the above is of some interest. I used to be fascinated by the park and have been on many guided tours of it, including tours of the underground vaulted access from the high level train station.
Great videos - a place close to my heart, my mum now in her 70s grew up in Crystal Palace, she lived on gypsy hill. Her and her friends used to play in the park growing up, she was fascinated by the palace, and would do similar explorations of the area and park same as you did, she said one day - playing up the top of the park - they a terrace feature that was normally boarded up - was open - they wandered in and found the old ornate subway that ran under the road to the palace. Later years they opened it up to the pubic, still do now I thing, needless to say as kids my mum and Nan would take us to the park, and showed us all the little hidden gems left from the Palace, I’m pretty sure over by the water tower base - the one you can get to - there’s a steel beam - bolted to the ground that looks like one of the old frame pieces? Really enjoyed this video, I just as fascinated as my mum. She’ll love this - I’ll send her a link :)
Absolutely loved that as I am also a huge admirer of The Crystal Palace. I am simply blown away not just by the sheer size and scale of the structure but its breathtaking beauty too. It is criminal that it was allowed to go to a state of disrepair and that it burned down was a massive tragedy. Can you imagine the visitors it would attract today? I am really looking forward to watching the next one and thanks for your hard work and effort; it is greatly appreciated and the overlays were stunning as per usual. Great job and loved the music too.
Thoroughly enjoyed your video and am really looking forward to the next two. The music had a fitting melancholy quality that suited the remains of the palace grounds. It's a real shame that Bromley council will not restore the stonework on the terraces. At least the subway is being restored at long last after local pressure. I really liked the way you managed to superimpose images of the Crystal Palace onto what is left today so seamlessly. Thank you for a fantastic documentary and I really hope that you can do more than just two more.
I remember seeing the remains of the metal arches to the roof of the old high level station peeping over the walls! Me and my mate, years later, explored the site of the station and discovered the secret Alhambra covered way, which no doubt you will cover in further videos! Very interesting and clever transitions!
Yup, the blending in of the old buildings into the modern day scenes really brings the old back to life. Interesting stuff, looking forward to the next 2 parts.
Fascinating stuff. About 15 to 20 years ago, I attended a 2 day athletics meeting at Crystal Palace and stayed in the 1960s tower block that lies between the stadium and the site where the Palace stood. I remember getting up on a sunny Sunday morning and looking out of the window of my room and trying to imagine what it would be like if the Palace was still there as the foundations were still clearly visible.
Amazing video! Very sad that this whole area has fallen into such dereliction. Why aren’t archaeologists investigating the ruins? Surely the large mound and other areas would reveal many treasures from the Victorian era. We don’t really value our past in this country like others do. Of course it is not surprising really, as the country is run by Philistines, whose main interest is stuffing their faces in posh London restaurants and drinking in the House of Commons bar!
It is sad to see the beautiful structures of the past, now non existent. But because of you Darren, we can relive this past experience. Thanks so much. Will look forward to Part 2 and 3. Cheers mate! 🏴😊👍🇺🇸
As a South Londoner I can only say thank you for shining a light and exploring such an iconic site! It's been years since my last visit... well worth a return!
So happy you’ve made these! I’ve always been fascinated by the Crystal Palace. Partly because of its iconic history and fame in its day and partly because there’s still such a ghost of the building and it’s surroundings remaining. Great video! Will look forward to the next one - thanks!
Amazing video! I live in Crystal Palace now, and I remember going to the park once and seeing all the ruins. It’s incredible to see the history of the place!
Absolutely brilliant as usual Darren. I stayed just up the road a couple of years ago to visit a travel trade exhibition at Excel and it was around Bonfire night. The fireworks display was awesome, but I now realised that walked right past that curved wall and never knew it was the base of one of Brunel's water towers. Incredible. The dinosaur park is excellent, so can't wait to see that, as well as the railway stations and hopefully the pneumatic railway remains too. A little side story. I was waiting for a train to crystal palace and a guy had just missed his train. He looked at the board and it said. 6 minutes till next one. He went nuts!!. "Six minutes..six minutes. ". he shouted. I said, try living where I'm from, north of Watford, where they are every hour, if you're lucky! He just went "Humph" and walked off. Lol. Many thanks for all your hard work, research and editing. Trust me, it is very much appreciated. Cheers.
Thanks. Yes 6 minutes is such a shock to us. They don't know how lucky they are darn sarf. The pneumatic railway and dinosaurs are in the next two, along with much more.
Superb! Visited a few years ago and this brought back good memories. The old picture fade ins work so well with the hauntingly good music. Top work and thanks for making these vidoes!
Excellent, very interesting Darren, while watching your presentation l was studying the 3D Google Earth images at the same time, I never realised just how much still remains today, having never been there I assumed the site was all reclaimed parkland but looking closer as you show us there is a treasure trove of history.
Very interesting video, I always thought the palace burned down in Hyde park, I never knew it was moved, and if I am not mistaken it was Prince Albert who came up with the idea of building the iron and glass structure for the great exhibition. 👍👍.
Wow! As the Founder Chairman of the Crystal Palace Foundation established in 1979 who erected the Paxton Crystal Palace Corner (pcpc) on the palace site in 2008 (14:00 - 15:00 in this video) I would personally like to congratulate you on this jolly good film. Well done sir.
The Crystal Palace must have really been a sight to see. Wish it survived so it could still be enjoyed today. Another great watch. You seem to enjoy your work. Thanks again for your time and work.....
I grew up in the 80s in grange wood park spa park and the Crystal Palace park thank you so much for making this truly amazing film you’re cinematography is sublime and brought back so many happy memories of cycling round this park on my bmx pretending to be street hawk little did I know or the rich history around me at the time. Thanks again and please keep up these amazing videos 👍
I remember my father telling me that he went up there when it was burning and saw molten glass running down the road. You wouldn't be allowed anywhere near such a disaster nowadays. Thanks for doing this, look forward to the next episode!
@@AdventureMe Haha... I did out of curiosity, I'd never heard of him before... so?... I'm being called a 'stud' eh? Lol I've been called worse things. Oh, while I'm here, can I ask a favour? Can you do more adventures when it's boiling hot so we get to see you with your shirt off... ;) lol
Fascinating. I agree about the matching of old photos to present locations. It makes everything - the past - so much more vivid. It's difficult to find any such connections to The Past over here. :(
Hi Darren, superb stuff here, somewhere I've never been, I didn't think there were any remaining parts left at all, what I've always wondered is how a building made entirely of iron & glass managed to catch fire, more likely it was the contents inside that started the fire. If it had not had the fire, it probably would have been a target during WW2. Just imagine what an attraction it would have been today! At least the name lives on in many ways, the park, station, football team & of course the TV transmitter mast, one of the most iconic ones in the UK. Can't wait for Pt2.
I have visited many times when I visit my parents in Upper Norwood (about a mile away) Never noticed any of the features in these videos . Will look out for them next time
Thanks for the quality video Darren, I live 5 minutes walk away from the park and go there every week. Sad to see though how it has deteriorated over the years since I have been there. Nobody wants to spend any money on it these days sadly. Keep up the great work!
Fantastic amount of research and facts. Exceptional period graphics, so well overlaid onto modern landscape. Brilliant work. The architect Owen Jones was indeed a talented man. From Thailand.
It’s such a lovely park and the remains of Cyrstal Palace is very interesting. Have you been in the tunnel from the high level station that goes under the road to the palace it is fabulous We have been going to Cyrstal Palace Caravan club site for about 20 years for about 10 days a year. The site is just by the north tower but sadly it is close December 21 Look forward to the next 2 video’s
Great video, I grew up in Crystal Palace, spent so much time in that park truly is a magical place, explored the old tunnels years ago around the top station, very eeire along with the headless statues etc haha
Thank you for this (and part 2) superb tour of Crystal Palace and the story behind it. Looking forward to seeing part 3. My Dad was 16 in 1936 and remembers seeing the glow of the fire from near Hanger Lane.
Hey , this place is amazing , this place truly is belongs to everyone as i judge how this place is built and your story. Wow , i am speechless ! I hope one day this whole place will stand again for everyone in the world but much better and stronger than before! thanks for the whole video ! 👌
Always love the story of Crystal Palace and so glad to have stumbled upon your videos. At last someone has done a proper job of superimposing old pictures on the modern site so you can really see where things were and the scale of it all. I’ll have to follow you round next time I’m there!
Ah this was a brilliant watch didn't want it to end. love the then and now scenes fascinating stuff would love to see more like this thanks you for posting
My grandfather was one of the firemen who fought the blaze. He said it was more memorable than a few years later fighting fires in The London Blitz. Superb documentary, I'm only sorry I never saw it earlier when we lived in Brixton and Crystal Palace was only up the road.
Absolutely brilliant video I had no idea that so much remains of crystal Palace i still can't get my head round how you find these things lol but keep up the good work from joff
The way that you corrected " concrete bases" into rendered brick (11:24) for instance, is the mark of a man happy in his skin. By not editing it out it shows how natural and flowing the presentation is and is one of the best ways to connect yourself with your audience. I've come here via Jago Hazzard in/on London and am all the happier for it. Thanks.
@@AdventureMe Thanks. Subscribed after a marathon sesh of all three Crystal Palaces. Thought I was the only nutter up and commenting at this hour, Saturday morning or no Saturday morning. Now for some shut-eye in an attempt to get shiny and perfect.
That was absolutely fascinating, learnt a load of facts. Superb merging as usual👍🏻 You're keen - London in the heat, no thanks!!!! Thanks Darren, roll on next week!!!!
Wow brilliant I had no idea about all this, or that it was moved and made bigger. 😮 It was massive and must of been a sight in its hey day. Can’t wait for the next part of it, thanks Darren. 😎
Love your enthusiasm, the photo overlays are brilliant as they were on your Butlin's Filey video. I too have been fascinated by The Crystal Palace (this is my second time watching this video), looking forward to the rest of this series and will be having a mooch around this park in the future hopefully.
Fascinating look at a remarkable building lost to history, one it's a shame we'll never experience for ourselves. I live not far from Alexandra Palace, which suffered its own fire in the 80s, but which thankfully survived largely intact.
Fascinating and really quite a haunting video, thanks loads for sharing. I always find it strange how a building made entirely from iron and glass could actually burn down, or indeed catch fire in the first place. Makes me wonder if it was deliberately destroyed due to the ongoing maintenance costs, which must have been huge.
Look up the Sutro Bath House in San Francisco, California. Similar construction, but much smaller. By the 1960s it had closed down and most of the interior furnishings had been removed when it "mysteriously" caught fire and burned down. I think it was later proven to be arson.
Darren you certainly are very versatile in your adventures, magnificent, well done, superb superimposing as usual. I shows once again what great engineers the Victorians were and with such elegance too, just like what many railway station architectures were. Keen to watch the rest.
I also met an old lady, back in the 80s who used to rent out her shed to the visitors to the park. They came in horse drawn carriages! And I met an elderly gentleman who, as a child, remembers being paid a penny to use a taper and light the candles for the evening displays. He described them as like Shippam’s paste jars with a candle in.
Very interesting and great quality video mate. Also very sad to watch, imagine all the great times families had in the park over the years and yet no attempt of restoring this magnificent building was made, a real piece of history.
Just stumbled across you videos absolutely brilliant I love looking at history of old building and ruins and seeing what they once was fantastic work love the matching of the photos to today brilliant looking forward to more vids mate
What an excellent video. This place has been on my bucket list to sell thanks for giving me an advanced perspective. There seems to be a lot more artefacts hidden away (or not so hidden in some cases) of the old buildings so looking forward to following in your footsteps! And looking forward to parts two and three.
I grew up in that park in the 80”s. Scrambling around the ruins. There were a few tunnels and hidden basements here and there. Many have been closed off since. Annoyed that the parks move to become a ‘country park’ means they let everything get overgrown. This first steps at the north end were completely clear of greenery right up into the nineties. Also there is a blue stain porcelain floor under the brush at the top of the stairs there. Before the caravan park came in, in the late 80’s the other side of the wall was completely overgrown but underneath was several greenhouse frames complete with trees growing through from the floor that were once contained in pots still visible in the bark in pieces.
Your quality of matching old photos to the location of where they are now, is simply sensational! Thankyou so much for your work, effort and knowledge 🙏🏼
Thanks Emma. My speciality.
I agree. Excellent work 👍🏻 would have been a sight to behold that’s for sure …
My feelings exactly. I've done a bit of fiddling with Google Earth (and street view) trying to match those images with historic photos from my home town in California, and it's NOT easy! For reasons unknown, this video showed up in my UA-cam suggestions, and I'm very glad I clicked on it. Well done. I do believe I'll be watching a lot more of your videos in the near future.
Deserves an award, what a fantastic documentary. I played there in the 1960's upto 1975 and I can't believe how much of the ruins has gone and has overgrown, there was much more to see and play around when I was a boy. I Remember motor racing, 2 fishing lakes, a zoo, an adventure playground, a ski ramp, fantastic dinosaurs and the ruins. From watching your excellent video so many memories have come flooding back thank you.
When I was a boy, in the early 60s, you could climb up and see into huge rooms under the terraces that were absolutely packed with statues from around the park. Fascinating place. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
The Palace existed for 85 years (not all in that location), now has been gone for 85 years. Thanks for a fascinating video, well done.
Thanks for the info!
I've lived in this area. all my life it was great to see how it used to look. Apparetnly my Grandad watched it buring down and like you say it could be seen from miles away. Thanks for all the hard work you've put into this.
Thanks for watching
I used to live in Mitcham in the 80's & an old neighbour of mine said he put a ladder up against his house & climbed up to see it burning in the distance.
@@AdventureMe It's obvious this place was all Hydro Turbine Powered to me.. I doubt there is any old records of those installations though. It will have been deleted and replaced by fake history.
I live right next to the park and walk around it every day. I thought I’d seen everything in the park but clearly not! Can’t wait to go exploring tomorrow!! Amazing.
Thanks Leigh. Enjoy the exploring.
@@AdventureMe I never realised there was still that amount of parkland left in the area.
Loving this, another subject close to my heart. When my Dad was 3 my Grandfather held him up to his bedroom window to show him the glow in the sky as the Palace burned. The reservoir was always roofed over and part of the North Transept. I understand it is still very much in use. The South Tower actually acted as a chimney when the Palace burned and although they wanted to save it, it was by then part of the local water supply network, the heat of the fire effectively sintered the brick work. As a Kid in the early 1970's Dad took me there on a couple of occasions. Back then you could still see where the molten glass had flowed down the stairs, still fenced of in those days. He also managed to wangle a short visit to the tunnel that connected the LCDR High Level Station under the road to the Palace entrance. I remember it as a dingy, dirty, dark place with a beautiful vaulted roof. Wish I'd taken more notice but I was a strange Kid who had been promised a visit to Foyles Bookshop (I still have the books I bought (wangled out of Dad)... Thank you so much for bringing back so many good memories.
Thanks for the memories Douglas. I wish I had seen it all those years ago. You might be right about the reservoir, it did look too flat. Part 2 is out next week.
I Too used to love going to Foyles bookshop with my father. Thank you for the memories, I am 77 years old today!
@@peterbrameld696 It was fantastic! The smell of the place, all those books... Happy to make you smile Peter.
The underpass with that vaulted ceiling is still there.
That was amazing Darren. Love your fading past and present photos. I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t heard of this building. It’s end so tragic. Music makes me feel nostalgic. Very moving Darren very moving indeed. Thank you.
Thanks Shirley.
I haven’t been to Crystal Palace Park since I was a child and I remember going on a 122 bus from Woolwich to Crystal Palace and when the pylon was in sight we knew we were nearly there. Happy childhood memories ❤️
What I've always found amazing is how it was dismantled piece by piece from Hyde Park and reassembled at its final site.
Yes. Although it was totally remodelled too. Just the basic materials were re-used
The building wasn't the same to be fair, it was massively expanded by Paxton.
A wonderful building that really should of been properly looked after,the likes of which we will never seen again . Great informative video well done .
A _wonderful building that really should_ *have* _been properly looked after_
What a shame your 11 years of free education were wasted!
The transitions between old and new are done perfectly Can't wait for parts 2 & 3
Nice to see you back in the south again to explore one of my favorite places to walk around . Is just so much to find there .
Loving the overlays brings it to life .
Part one was great , looking forward to parts 2 and 3 .
Is nice to have someone else's view on something you know well .
Keep up the great work Darren .
What a fantastic video - well paced, excellent research and professional. Brilliant work.
Enjoy the video. This is a 3 part series with a new release every Sunday at 5pm.
Thank you that was very interesting I didn’t realise the Crystal Palace lasted 80 years
Thanks Ron. Yes. Longer abandoned than open.
They used to do walks where you could do in the tower remains. The museum is sadly shut at the moment. I'm pretty sure the stones are part of the stairs that were removed. The stairs at the back were added much later in it's life and lead to the first floor, underneath that was the basement.
The metal posts you found were the original posts from the palace. That's the outside wall. They cut them off at ground level after it had burnt down. They are 8 inches wide, 8 feet apart. It was the worlds first modular building. Your images at 14 minutes shows where the posts were. The guy who was responsible for putting the column there took me on a personal guided walk.
The rubble you found where it's raised up is from the blitz. They filled in the basement with it. There are old cars and bomb damaged buildings. If you go in many woods there are signs of bricks being dumped from WW2.
The terraces have been restored in the past but need doing again.
The statues were sold off after the fire and are copies of the originals. After the fire many were sold off. You can see some in peoples gardens and dotted around the local area.
THe bolts you found were probably from the stairs you thought the cast iron posts were for. I"m pretty sure the back stairs were mostly concrete posts (but I might be wrong).
Great video. I hope the above is of some interest. I used to be fascinated by the park and have been on many guided tours of it, including tours of the underground vaulted access from the high level train station.
Great videos - a place close to my heart, my mum now in her 70s grew up in Crystal Palace, she lived on gypsy hill. Her and her friends used to play in the park growing up, she was fascinated by the palace, and would do similar explorations of the area and park same as you did, she said one day - playing up the top of the park - they a terrace feature that was normally boarded up - was open - they wandered in and found the old ornate subway that ran under the road to the palace. Later years they opened it up to the pubic, still do now I thing, needless to say as kids my mum and Nan would take us to the park, and showed us all the little hidden gems left from the Palace, I’m pretty sure over by the water tower base - the one you can get to - there’s a steel beam - bolted to the ground that looks like one of the old frame pieces? Really enjoyed this video, I just as fascinated as my mum. She’ll love this - I’ll send her a link :)
Absolutely loved that as I am also a huge admirer of The Crystal Palace. I am simply blown away not just by the sheer size and scale of the structure but its breathtaking beauty too. It is criminal that it was allowed to go to a state of disrepair and that it burned down was a massive tragedy. Can you imagine the visitors it would attract today? I am really looking forward to watching the next one and thanks for your hard work and effort; it is greatly appreciated and the overlays were stunning as per usual. Great job and loved the music too.
Thanks Jeff. It is such a shame.
Thoroughly enjoyed your video and am really looking forward to the next two. The music had a fitting melancholy quality that suited the remains of the palace grounds. It's a real shame that Bromley council will not restore the stonework on the terraces. At least the subway is being restored at long last after local pressure. I really liked the way you managed to superimpose images of the Crystal Palace onto what is left today so seamlessly. Thank you for a fantastic documentary and I really hope that you can do more than just two more.
Thanks Gary. The photo fades are my speciality. There's lots more in the next two.
I remember seeing the remains of the metal arches to the roof of the old high level station peeping over the walls! Me and my mate, years later, explored the site of the station and discovered the secret Alhambra covered way, which no doubt you will cover in further videos! Very interesting and clever transitions!
Thanks Michael. What's the Alhambra covered way? Do you mean the subway?
@@AdventureMe yes, the subway between the railway station and the crystal palace
Yup, the blending in of the old buildings into the modern day scenes really brings the old back to life. Interesting stuff, looking forward to the next 2 parts.
Fascinating stuff. About 15 to 20 years ago, I attended a 2 day athletics meeting at Crystal Palace and stayed in the 1960s tower block that lies between the stadium and the site where the Palace stood. I remember getting up on a sunny Sunday morning and looking out of the window of my room and trying to imagine what it would be like if the Palace was still there as the foundations were still clearly visible.
Amazing video! Very sad that this whole area has fallen into such dereliction. Why aren’t archaeologists investigating the ruins? Surely the large mound and other areas would reveal many treasures from the Victorian era. We don’t really value our past in this country like others do.
Of course it is not surprising really, as the country is run by Philistines, whose main interest is stuffing their faces in posh London restaurants and drinking in the House of Commons bar!
It is sad to see the beautiful structures of the past, now non existent. But because of you Darren, we can relive this past experience. Thanks so much. Will look forward to Part 2 and 3. Cheers mate! 🏴😊👍🇺🇸
Thanks Martin
Great video. This makes me nostalgic for an era that I wasn’t alive for .
I remember first hearing about this. Such a beautiful building. All that history lost inside nevermind the Palace itself.
As a South Londoner I can only say thank you for shining a light and exploring such an iconic site! It's been years since my last visit... well worth a return!
I had to do it. Always been fascinated by it.
Really looking forward to this series! Loved the history intro
Thanks Angela
@@AdventureMe also want to say I absolutely love the photo overlays...thanks for taking the editing time to do that, it makes it really special
Many more to come in the next parts.
This is an amazing video, so detailed. I need to go back to Crystal Palace park and explore everything I missed
So happy you’ve made these! I’ve always been fascinated by the Crystal Palace. Partly because of its iconic history and fame in its day and partly because there’s still such a ghost of the building and it’s surroundings remaining.
Great video! Will look forward to the next one - thanks!
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
Amazing video! I live in Crystal Palace now, and I remember going to the park once and seeing all the ruins. It’s incredible to see the history of the place!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Absolutely brilliant as usual Darren.
I stayed just up the road a couple of years ago to visit a travel trade exhibition at Excel and it was around Bonfire night. The fireworks display was awesome, but I now realised that walked right past that curved wall and never knew it was the base of one of Brunel's water towers. Incredible.
The dinosaur park is excellent, so can't wait to see that, as well as the railway stations and hopefully the pneumatic railway remains too.
A little side story. I was waiting for a train to crystal palace and a guy had just missed his train. He looked at the board and it said. 6 minutes till next one. He went nuts!!. "Six minutes..six minutes. ". he shouted.
I said, try living where I'm from, north of Watford, where they are every hour, if you're lucky!
He just went "Humph" and walked off. Lol.
Many thanks for all your hard work, research and editing. Trust me, it is very much appreciated.
Cheers.
Thanks. Yes 6 minutes is such a shock to us. They don't know how lucky they are darn sarf. The pneumatic railway and dinosaurs are in the next two, along with much more.
@@AdventureMe I totally agree mate.
Cheers
@@AdventureMe oh and thanks for the heads up on dinos and rail things. Cheers
Superb! Visited a few years ago and this brought back good memories. The old picture fade ins work so well with the hauntingly good music. Top work and thanks for making these vidoes!
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
Excellent, very interesting Darren, while watching your presentation l was studying the 3D Google Earth images at the same time, I never realised just how much still remains today, having never been there I assumed the site was all reclaimed parkland but looking closer as you show us there is a treasure trove of history.
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
Very interesting video, I always thought the palace burned down in Hyde park, I never knew it was moved, and if I am not mistaken it was Prince Albert who came up with the idea of building the iron and glass structure for the great exhibition. 👍👍.
Wow!
As the Founder Chairman of the Crystal Palace Foundation established in 1979 who erected the Paxton Crystal Palace Corner (pcpc) on the palace site in 2008 (14:00 - 15:00 in this video) I would personally like to congratulate you on this jolly good film.
Well done sir.
Thanks John. Hopefully I did it justice. Did you watch all three videos?
Amazing work! Well done sir.
Very informative, well presented and the blending from new to old pictures is brilliant. Thank you.
The Crystal Palace must have really been a sight to see. Wish it survived so it could still be enjoyed today. Another great watch. You seem to enjoy your work. Thanks again for your time and work.....
Thanks Mike. Yes I love telling these stories.
Brilliant...! When we were kids, the stairs were used as seats for the motor racing. We sat there and watched James Hunt racing in about 1972...
Thanks John
I used to live near Crystal Palace park and was there at the start of the Crystal Palace Foundation. Can’t wait to see your videos
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
Wow, fantastic stuff Darren. I worked in Croydon for a couple of years and never walked across to see this, my loss!
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
I grew up in the 80s in grange wood park spa park and the Crystal Palace park thank you so much for making this truly amazing film you’re cinematography is sublime and brought back so many happy memories of cycling round this park on my bmx pretending to be street hawk little did I know or the rich history around me at the time. Thanks again and please keep up these amazing videos 👍
Thanks for watching. More to come.
I remember my father telling me that he went up there when it was burning and saw molten glass running down the road. You wouldn't be allowed anywhere near such a disaster nowadays. Thanks for doing this, look forward to the next episode!
Great video as ever Darren... amazing to see how much is actually left of The Crystal Palace... looking forward to Pt. 2
You look like captain Lee from below deck on your profile picture.
@@AdventureMe Pmsl... Not sure whether to take that as a compliment... but better than Santa or Uncle Albert from Only Fools And Horses I guess... lol
@@martint6819 You should Google captain Lee. He's a stud. The old gals love him.
@@AdventureMe Haha... I did out of curiosity, I'd never heard of him before... so?... I'm being called a 'stud' eh? Lol I've been called worse things. Oh, while I'm here, can I ask a favour? Can you do more adventures when it's boiling hot so we get to see you with your shirt off... ;) lol
I think I've made Darren blush... lol
Fascinating. I agree about the matching of old photos to present locations. It makes everything - the past - so much more vivid. It's difficult to find any such connections to The Past over here. :(
Glad you enjoyed it
Hi Darren, superb stuff here, somewhere I've never been, I didn't think there were any remaining parts left at all, what I've always wondered is how a building made entirely of iron & glass managed to catch fire, more likely it was the contents inside that started the fire.
If it had not had the fire, it probably would have been a target during WW2.
Just imagine what an attraction it would have been today!
At least the name lives on in many ways, the park, station, football team & of course the TV transmitter mast, one of the most iconic ones in the UK.
Can't wait for Pt2.
Yes so true. Yes it was the contents that burned. The palace succumbed to the heat instead. Basically melted.
Great video and this is my old Manor born bread around this place.
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
I have visited many times when I visit my parents in Upper Norwood (about a mile away) Never noticed any of the features in these videos . Will look out for them next time
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
I'm looking forward to when you explore what's left of the old race track (if you do of course!)
I don't really cover it. But you can see lots of it in the next video.
Thanks for the quality video Darren, I live 5 minutes walk away from the park and go there every week. Sad to see though how it has deteriorated over the years since I have been there. Nobody wants to spend any money on it these days sadly. Keep up the great work!
Glad you enjoyed it
Fantastic amount of research and facts. Exceptional period graphics, so well overlaid onto modern landscape. Brilliant work. The architect Owen Jones was indeed a talented man. From Thailand.
Thanks mate
It’s such a lovely park and the remains of Cyrstal Palace is very interesting.
Have you been in the tunnel from the high level station that goes under the road to the palace it is fabulous
We have been going to Cyrstal Palace Caravan club site for about 20 years for about 10 days a year.
The site is just by the north tower but sadly it is close December 21
Look forward to the next 2 video’s
Yes the high level features in part 3.
@John Nichols Is the caravan site closing permanently? What is the reason for that, it's been there for decades!
The council are going to build on the land. The lease on the land is up
@@NOWThatsRichy The Caravan site is open till late 2022 now the council want to build flats there
Great video buddy 👍 looking forward to the rest
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
Fantastic video. Love your work.
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
Great video, I grew up in Crystal Palace, spent so much time in that park truly is a magical place, explored the old tunnels years ago around the top station, very eeire along with the headless statues etc haha
Thanks mate. Glad you liked.
Thank you for this (and part 2) superb tour of Crystal Palace and the story behind it.
Looking forward to seeing part 3.
My Dad was 16 in 1936 and remembers seeing the glow of the fire from near Hanger Lane.
Excellent. Fascinating, well produced
Discovered this by accident. Fascinating video and your interest and passion shine through! Looking forward to catching up with the next two videos.
Thanks. I really enjoyed making this one.
Hey , this place is amazing , this place truly is belongs to everyone as i judge how this place is built and your story. Wow , i am speechless ! I hope one day this whole place will stand again for everyone in the world but much better and stronger than before! thanks for the whole video ! 👌
Thanks for watching
Always love the story of Crystal Palace and so glad to have stumbled upon your videos. At last someone has done a proper job of superimposing old pictures on the modern site so you can really see where things were and the scale of it all. I’ll have to follow you round next time I’m there!
Thanks Alan. Glad you enjoyed it. I noticed there wasn't much on UA-cam about it, so set out to change that.
Ah this was a brilliant watch didn't want it to end. love the then and now scenes fascinating stuff would love to see more like this thanks you for posting
Thanks Mick. Plenty of similar stuff on my channel.
My grandfather was one of the firemen who fought the blaze. He said it was more memorable than a few years later fighting fires in The London Blitz. Superb documentary, I'm only sorry I never saw it earlier when we lived in Brixton and Crystal Palace was only up the road.
So interesting - can’t wait for the next 👍🏻
Thanks Kevin.
Very sad to see that so little is left, or is inaccessible, of this magnificent structure. Thank you for showing us around.
Thanks Thomas. More to come
Absolutely brilliant video I had no idea that so much remains of crystal Palace i still can't get my head round how you find these things lol but keep up the good work from joff
Been looking forward to this since I saw the teaser, disused railways included ofc lol, I love these videos, I'd love to join you one day :)
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
The way that you corrected " concrete bases" into rendered brick (11:24) for instance, is the mark of a man happy in his skin. By not editing it out it shows how natural and flowing the presentation is and is one of the best ways to connect yourself with your audience. I've come here via Jago Hazzard in/on London and am all the happier for it. Thanks.
Thanks mate. I like to make sure I am natural but also not afraid to admit mistakes. Nobody is shiny and perfect, least of all me.
@@AdventureMe Thanks. Subscribed after a marathon sesh of all three Crystal Palaces. Thought I was the only nutter up and commenting at this hour, Saturday morning or no Saturday morning. Now for some shut-eye in an attempt to get shiny and perfect.
Just catching up on these superb videos. I would love to go back in time and wander around inside the Crystal Palace !
Me too
Nice to see that the Sphinxes have been repainted, they're looking really nice now.
Amazing the way you overlay the old photos!
Thanks for watching.
Really enjoyable video. It's an interesting subject in its own right but I also like the way you put the video together and structure your reports.
Thanks mate. More to come
I loved this!!! Great presenting and editing!
Thank you so much!!
The superimposed pictures from the same angle are magnificent
That was absolutely fascinating, learnt a load of facts. Superb merging as usual👍🏻 You're keen - London in the heat, no thanks!!!! Thanks Darren, roll on next week!!!!
Superb video, looking forward to the next one.
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
@@AdventureMe cannot wait 👍
Wow brilliant I had no idea about all this, or that it was moved and made bigger. 😮 It was massive and must of been a sight in its hey day. Can’t wait for the next part of it, thanks Darren. 😎
What a Nice and informative Series you Got here m8 ❤️ great work love it 👍👍
Thanks Brian
Superb video can't wait for the next pt
I can't wait I live in Brixton and often go to crystal palace park for a walk. 👍
Thanks Maggie. Hope you enjoy.
@@AdventureMe absolutely brilliant can't wait for the next one.👍
Outstanding documentary in every way, you should be very proud 👍
Thanks Tom. This was a personal passion of mine.
Love your enthusiasm, the photo overlays are brilliant as they were on your Butlin's Filey video. I too have been fascinated by The Crystal Palace (this is my second time watching this video), looking forward to the rest of this series and will be having a mooch around this park in the future hopefully.
Thanks Jon. Glad you enjoyed it.
One of the best videos I have seen, brilliant mate
Thanks mate. Much appreciated.
Not very often I subscribe to a youtube channel after watching just 1 video. Looking forward to seeing all your others
Thanks Ellis. I have a lot of similar things to this and coming up too.
Fascinating look at a remarkable building lost to history, one it's a shame we'll never experience for ourselves. I live not far from Alexandra Palace, which suffered its own fire in the 80s, but which thankfully survived largely intact.
Incredible video, what a place!
Fascinating and really quite a haunting video, thanks loads for sharing. I always find it strange how a building made entirely from iron and glass could actually burn down, or indeed catch fire in the first place. Makes me wonder if it was deliberately destroyed due to the ongoing maintenance costs, which must have been huge.
A discarded cigarette apparently. The insides were highly flammable, the rest just melted around it.
Look up the Sutro Bath House in San Francisco, California. Similar construction, but much smaller. By the 1960s it had closed down and most of the interior furnishings had been removed when it "mysteriously" caught fire and burned down. I think it was later proven to be arson.
Darren you certainly are very versatile in your adventures, magnificent, well done, superb superimposing as usual. I shows once again what great engineers the Victorians were and with such elegance too, just like what many railway station architectures were. Keen to watch the rest.
So interesting. Love seeing how it used to be. Thankyou 🙏
You have done a brilliant job it’s so fascinating. I’m so glad so many things are left to see.
I also met an old lady, back in the 80s who used to rent out her shed to the visitors to the park. They came in horse drawn carriages! And I met an elderly gentleman who, as a child, remembers being paid a penny to use a taper and light the candles for the evening displays. He described them as like Shippam’s paste jars with a candle in.
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
Very interesting and great quality video mate. Also very sad to watch, imagine all the great times families had in the park over the years and yet no attempt of restoring this magnificent building was made, a real piece of history.
Glad you enjoyed it
What an amazing video, excellent work.
Also very sad knowing that's all that remains of such an impressive construction.
Thanks Gaz
fantastic vid as usual darren
Beautiful To Relaxing Moment keep it Up…
Just stumbled across you videos absolutely brilliant I love looking at history of old building and ruins and seeing what they once was fantastic work love the matching of the photos to today brilliant looking forward to more vids mate
What an excellent video. This place has been on my bucket list to sell thanks for giving me an advanced perspective. There seems to be a lot more artefacts hidden away (or not so hidden in some cases) of the old buildings so looking forward to following in your footsteps! And looking forward to parts two and three.
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
Lovely job. Cheers buddy
Thank You. Part 2 is out next Sunday.
Brilliant video. CP Park is one of my favourite places to be even now but I do wish more could be done with it in terms of restoration and facilities.