Bridges to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

The environment

Installation of the bridge enables increased access by contractors and volunteers in order to maintain the landscape, including the ability to introduce new plants where appropriate, maintain existing plantings and manage invasive species. In addition to these general benefits, the installation of the bridge greatly facilitates the ‘Palaeo Planting Project’. When the Dinosaurs were erected in the 1850s, they were surrounded by palaeo-plantings that aimed to be appropriate to different geologic ages over deep time. This living horticultural feature has largely been lost. Since 2018, the Friends of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs have been running a ‘Palaeo Planting Project’ to restore it with the help of the community. FCPD held our first “palaeo-planting” session since the bridge was built on 27 June 2021. The project was set up with advice from a horticultural specialist and a palaeobotanist, and seeks to approximate vegetation appropriate to the geological age of the walk through Deep Time, concordant with the animal sculptures. This communicates the narrative of changing ecosystems through time, with extinctions and origins, which is an essential underpinning to recognising the reality of climate change. There is also a positive narrative of the expansion of biodiversity in the co-evolution of flowering plants and insect pollinators, which the Palaeo Plantting Project seeks to recreate in its appropriate place in the representations of the Cretaceous, along with the stupendous dinosaurs.

The local economy

Our plans for increased use of the islands, enabled by the bridge, have been slowed by Covid. However we have started to deliver some smaller events to test both the general access and Covid-safe arrangements, and we are working hard on a series of exciting events for the future. In the meantime, stories about the bridge have been included in local and specialist press, as well as shared widely on social media, which may encourage people to visit the Dinosaurs (and so the local area & benefit the economy more broadly). The fabrication of the bridge was carried out by a local company, Cake Industries, also benefitting the local economy.

Volunteering, jobs & education

During the development of the bridge project, we received a great deal of help from volunteers, from individuals crowdfunding the bridge itself, to a small but significant number of people coming forward and offering to help, who have subsequently gone on to be regular volunteers for the charity. We are currently working with LBB, IDverde and Historic England on future plans for the bridge’s use, including volunteering and other opportunities for the public to be involved. As part of these plans we will be looking at ways in which we can encourage further volunteering.

Arts, culture & heritage

The ‘Crystal Palace Dinosaurs’ are a set of approximately 30 sculptures of extinct animals, 15-40 geological displays and related landscaping laid out in a walk through geological Deep Time in the vicinity of the tidal lake in Crystal Palace Park They were constructed in 1853-1855 as part of the South London Crystal Palace, and have remained largely in the places we find them today. The statues represent the first ever attempt anywhere in the world to model extinct animals as full-scale, three-dimensional, active creatures from fossil remains. They now form part of the Crystal Palace Park, owned by the London Borough of Bromley, and are a much-loved local landmark. The public can freely view them from footpaths around the lake. The site is listed on Historic England’s National Heritage List for England as Grade 1 monuments, and also on their Heritage At Risk register. Safe, secure access to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs is vital for conservation monitoring, repair of the sculptures and grounds maintenance to protect this magnificent historic site. As a much-loved local heritage asset, they are also a popular choice for locals who wish to volunteer and to learn more via outreach opportunities. All this was made significantly more challenging when the original bridge to the islands was removed in 2017. We have worked with architects Tonkin Liu, engineers Arup and metal fabricators Cake Industries to design a beautiful and fit-for-purpose pedestrian bridge. We have support from the park’s landowner, London Borough of Bromley (LBB), and Historic England (HE) and on 13 January 2021 the bridge was installed. Prior to the development of the bridge, access to the islands was dependent on a temporary bridge being erected, which could only be done occasionally. With the new bridge in place, access for maintenance and conservation, as well as some public access as part of responsibly-guided tours and volunteering opportunities, is now possible. We are currently working with LBB, IDverde and Historic England on future plans for the bridge’s use, including volunteering and other opportunities for the public to be involved.

Activity, health and leisure

Our plans for increased use of the islands, enabled by the bridge, have been slowed by Covid. However we have started to deliver some smaller events to test both the general access and Covid-safe arrangements, and we are working hard on a series of exciting events for the future.