SYDENHAM. 149 
The latter’s daughter and heir, Joan, married William Ford, and 
they sold the manor to Richard Howlet, of Lewisham, whose 
daughter, Rachel, became possessed of it under his will, dated 
8th September, 1560. At his death an inquisition was held, which 
declared all his lands in Sypenham to be gavelkind lands. Rachel 
Howlet married Robert Edmonds, and on her death in 1609 the 
property came to her three sons, George, Robert, and Abraham, 
as coheirs in gavelkind. Portions of the estate were sold at 
various periods. Some of the lands were purchased by the Rev. 
Abraham Colfe to endow the Grammar School. The fate of the 
manor house, known as Place House, has been already narrated 
(page 144). The whole of the property was probably situated more 
round Perystreet than in the district we now know as Sydenham. 
At this period Westwood (now Upper Sydenham) was. well 
wooded, and an order of Queen Elizabeth, dated 28th October, 
Piate 69.—THE DWELLING OF ALEXANDER ROBERTS AT SYDENHAM WELLS. 
1559, reserved the wood for shipbuilding. Sydenham may there- 
fore claim a share in the glories of the British Navy of that 
stirring petiod. 
In the middle of the 17th century the solitudes of Upper 
Sydenham were broken by the discovery of the medicinal character 
of the springs, which gushed forth in the hollow now occupied by 
Wells Park. Our knowledge respecting these springs is principally 
derived from a treatise on them by John Peter, physician, printed 
in 1681. From his account it would appear that in the year 1648 
a poor woman, suffering from disease, was cured by the waters, 
which thereupon became famous. Previous to this date the 
inhabitants had noticed that the water which trickled down the 
hillside was frequented by multitudes of pigeons. Wells were sub- 
