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Comment by andybak | Hacker News Reader

I used to walk home through the ruined grounds of this when I was at school. It was fenced off and pretty strange and creepy. Headless statues and vast terraces of stone alcoves. Almost looked like it could be from a game like Journey.

It's now been tidied up and is open to the public as part of the park. I'm glad I got to experience it when it was still strange and mysterious.

There's also an abandoned train station and huge blocked off train tunnel quite near. We used to make up ghost stories about the place.

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> I'm glad I got to experience it when it was still strange and mysterious

Yeah, there's something about a raw location that has a much better connection to the history. Bletchley Park today (still a good museum) is almost a theme park when compared to what it was 10 years ago. There are still a few pure historic sites around that haven't had the chance to visitor attraction treatment but almost by definition they're harder to find.

Except if you go around the rear to TNMOC.

That somewhat reinforces my thesis - 10 years ago you didn't need to go around the rear as there wasn't a fence separating the two.

I live basically opposite it.

It's such a great, strange park. Lots of random abandoned follies. I've been mugged there twice but still it feels weirdly safe. It has such a great view at night and feels so desolate and strange especially with the antennas. Going there when there's a good level of fog is excellent.

Youve got South Norwood one side and Dulwich on the other. Crystal Palace is right on the cusp of being mugged and stepping on an artisan terrier.

It's great fun walking the line :)

Also walked through often on my way to school, and had sports at the NSC regularly, A lovely place most of the time. The hedge maze was always fun as a kid too, but the scale of the terraces and their staircases was always something that seemed larger than life to a 12 year old kid

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