Anerley is a district in the south east of London in the London Borough of Bromley. It is west of Bromley and it is 7 miles south south-east of Charing Cross. It's the former site of the Crystal Palace.
Anerley hasn't ever been its own independent entity, but always a general area. Before the closure and relocation of the Crystal Palace to Penge Place at the top of Sydenham Hill, Anerley was an empty part of Penge Common that didn't develop till the nineteenth century. In 1827, a Scottish silk manufacturer, William Sanderson, bought land on the former Penge Common, and built the first house in the area. He named it 'Anerly', which is a Scottish word for 'solitary' or 'only', and also the road then became referred to as Anerley Road and also the surrounding area.
There are plenty of transport links in Anerley, which includes 9 bus routes, two A roads, two rail stations and one London Overground station and aTram station at Birkbeck station. Transport for London had proposed the extension of Tramlink services from Harrington Road tram stop to the bus station on Crystal Palace Parade by means of Anerley Road, but Mayor Boris Johnson cancelled the £170m extension in November 2008.
Notable individuals that lived in Anerley consist of Thomas Crapper, who promoted the flush toilet, in his retirement; Walter de la Mare, popular poet and author of ghost stories; and James Leavey, award winning Punch magazine columnist.