After 200 years, the Crystal Palace dinosaurs are looking better than ever

Inside one South London park, birds, squirrels, and dogs aren’t the only animals you’ll encounter.

If you make your way through the gates of Crystal Palace Park, you’ll find dinosaurs — concrete dinosaurs, that is.

The giant beasts have stood in the park since Queen Victoria was on the throne.

In recent years, though, they’ve needed a bit of TLC — the animals have had barely any maintenance since they were first built, almost 200 years ago.

Bromley Council used £22 million in funding to give these dinosaurs a new lease of life, while the National Lottery Heritage Fund gifted £5 million.

The project has been in the works since last year, when the dinosaurs were temporarily removed so they could be restored and painted in line with their original colours.

At the time, they’d been placed on the Heritage at Risk Register, which seeks to protect historic buildings in need.

Now that the restoration has been finished, South Londoners will be pleased to hear that these friendly-looking reptile replicas are out of danger, as they’ve formally been removed from Historic England’s list.

They’re still Grade I listed, and there are still 30 of them, including the Dicynodon, the Mosasaurus, and the Teleosaurus. Yep, no T-Rex in sight.

And thanks to the upgrade, visitors will get to see the dinosaurs as the Victorians did when they landed in the suburb in the 1850s.

This isn’t the only change you’ll notice, either.

It’s all part of a wider project to regenerate the entirety of Crystal Palace Park, which includes restoring the Italian terraces, adding a new dinosaur-themed playground, a new visitor centre, and improved lighting, all of which have also been funded by the money from Bromley Council.

Why were dinosaurs such a big deal for the Victorians?

The dinos were designed for the Great Exhibition in the 1850s, when it took place inside the Crystal Palace, then housed in Hyde Park.

The building later moved down to South London, so the vision was that the models would accompany this impressive structure’s new home.

After two years of extensive work, they were unveiled in 1854, making them the world’s first-ever dinosaur sculptures.

At the time, this was considered fairly awe-inspiring, as the Victorians were absolutely enthralled with these prehistoric reptiles.

And, while the Crystal Palace burned down in 1936 (to this day, there’s a black hole where it once stood), the dinosaurs remain.

Though dinosaurs were technically discovered in the 1600s (these bones had been misinterpreted as being human), the word ‘dinosauria’ wasn’t invented until 1842, when Victorian palaeontologist Richard Owen finally gave them a name.

In fact, he was so enthused by them that in 1853, he hosted an opulent dinner inside a model of an Iguanodon, also inside the Crystal Palace.

They were even referenced by Charles Dickens, as they appeared in the opening chapter of Bleak House, which referenced one of them.

He wrote: ‘It would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.’

Naturally, these days, what the Victorians thought they knew about dinosaurs is considered to be fairly historically inaccurate.

As the Natural History Museum notes, while these popular sculptures housed deep inside a fairly unassuming park look ‘comically incorrect,’ they do at least tell us a fair amount about the history of palaeontology.

When they were built, they were accurate to the findings that were available, but these days, scientists agree that the Victorians (Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, to be specific) based these sculptures on things like monitor lizards and crocodiles, which were then ‘blown up’ in size.

So, it’s fair to say they look nothing like the predators that roamed the earth before humans even existed. They’re at least fun to look at, though.

More things to do in Crystal Palace

These prehistoric beasts aren’t the only fun you’ll find in SE19.

The Crystal Palace Triangle is home to plenty of independent shops. Domali is a relaxed all-day café; the Sparrowhawk is a recently renovated pub with a gutsy, European-influenced menu; Mediterranea is a welcoming Sardinian restaurant; and Edo does great sushi.

Shops include vintage furniture emporia and much-loved bookshop The Bookseller Crow. For edible treats, there’s a Saturday food market, and deli Good Taste specialises in cheese and charcuterie. The neighbourhood even has its own festival, which runs every June.

There’s also Penge, which is home to coffee shops like Brown & Green Life and Carnival Coffee Roasters. After all, it’s technically iced latte weather.

Thirsty for a pint? Grab yourself a tipple at local watering holes, The Alexandra, Southey Brewing, and the Goldsmiths Arms. First round’s on us.

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