Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Sayes Court. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Sayes Court. Sort by date Show all posts

Tuesday 29 December 2009

Map of Deptford Strond hand drawn by John Evelyn

 John Evelyn lived in Deptford at Sayes Court from 1652. Evelyn inherited the house when hemarried the daughter of Sir Richard Browne in 1652. On his return to England at the Restoration, Evelyn had laid out meticulously planned gardens in the French style of hedges and parterres. In its grounds was a cottage at one time rented by master wood carver Grinling Gibbons. After Evelyn had moved to Surrey in 1694, Russian Tsar Peter the Great studied shipbuilding for three months in 1698. He and some of his fellow Russians stayed at Sayes Court, the manor house of Deptford. Evelyn was angered at the antics of the Tsar, who got drunk with his friends and, using a wheelbarrow with Peter in it succeeded in ramming their way through a fine holly hedge. Sayes Court was demolished in 1728-9 and a workhouse built on its site. Part of the estates around Sayes Court were purchased in 1742 for the building of the Admiralty Victualling Yard, renamed in 1858 after a visit by Queen Victoria as the Royal Victoria Yard. This massive facility included warehouses, a bakery, a cattleyard/abattoir and sugar stores, and closed in 1960. All that remains is the name in a public park called Sayes Court Park, accessed from Sayes Court Street off Evelyn Street, not far from Deptford High Street. The building known as Sayes Court that was destroyed during the Second World War was not the old home of John Evelyn, but the St Nicholas's parish workhouse built on its site in the 1720s. After the New Poor Law made it redundant in the 1830s the building had various uses, including that of an almshouse for Evelyn family servants and estate workers.

Map of Deptford, with annotations on population growth by John Evelyn

Original Map layout of Sayes Court.


















When the black and white photograph above was taken from Czar Street c. 1910 it was set in an attractive park, but in the emergency of the First World War it was annexed by the army to enlarge its Supply Reserve Depot at the old cattle market. And in colour.....how it looks now........




Sunday 4 December 2016

Sayes Court


View of the John Evelyn's manor house at Sayes Court, based on a drawing by Evelyn himself. The diarist John Evelyn came into possession of the Elizabethan manor house and the estate at Sayes Court through marriage to the heiress Mary Browne in 1647. He took up residence at the house in 1652 and lived there until 1694 when he returned to his family estate at Wootton, Surrey, letting the property to rent paying tenants.




The house was pulled down in 1728 or 1729, and the workhouse built on its site 


Sayes Court was the ancient manor house of Deptford. There was a building on the site from the 12th century. However, the building shown here (originally the St Nicholas Workhouse) dates from 1729. It was demolished c.1930.

This picture depicts one of the old parish workhouses that served the local poor in south London. In 1777 the parish of St Nicholas was known to have 130 inmates. The Poor-law amendments in 1834 stated that "no able-bodied person was to receive money or other help from Poor Law Authorities except in a workhouse". Despite the workhouse being considered a harsh environment, one observer of Greenwich's poor was to note: "It is curious to notice the effect that the workhouse regime has in prolonging the lives of those who may have often survived hard buffetings in the world. Anxiety and care concerning the future are thrown off at the entrance to the house, and the inmates are henceforth placed under conditions more favourable to health and longevity than they have ever before experienced".

















Wednesday 31 January 2018

Interesting facts about Deptford from the book " Curiosities of Great Briton." By Thomas Dugdale, William Burnett

DEPTFORD was anciently denominated West Greenwich. From a small fishing village, it has risen to a large, flourishing, and populous town. The situation of this place, on the banks of the Ravensbourne, gave rise to its present name, originally spelr Depeford, from the deep ford, which has been superseded by a bridge over that river. It was also named Deptford Strond; an appellation afterwards solely appropriated to what is now called the lower town, included in the parish of Deptford St. Nicholas: the upper town is in that of Deptford St. Paul, which was constituted a distinct parish in 1730. A royal dock was established here, by Henry VIII., in the beginning of his reign. Since that period, the town has progressively increased; its population having augmented in the proportion of twenty to one, though it experienced a considerable check in 1665 and 1666, when nearly 900 persons died here of the plague. The manor was given by the Conqueror to Gilbert de Magnimot, who made it the head of his barony, and erected a castle here, every part of which has been long since buried in its own ruins. After passing through the hands of numerous possessors, the manor was resumed by the crown at the restoration. The manor-house, with its surrounding estate, which had obtained the name of Sayes Court, from its having been long held by the Says, became, in 1651, the residence of John Evelyn, Esq., the celebrated author of the Sylva; and to him, in 1663, Charles II. granted a new lease, at a reserved annual rent of 22s. 6d. This gentleman passed much of his time in retirement, " at this his favourite spot." His gardens are said to have been the wonder and admiration of the greatest men of his time: in the life of Lord Keeper Guidford, they are described as "most boscaresque; being, as it were, an examplar of his book of forest trees." The severe frost of the winter of the year 1682, did considerable damage here; but a more complete destruction was made by Peter the Great, to whom Mr. Evelyn lent bis house and grounds, whilst he was obtaining a knowledge of the science and practice of naval architecture in the adjoining dock-yard, in 1698. Mr. Evelyn died in 1706. The house and gardens were afterwards entirely neglected; and there is not now the least trace of either: the present workhouse was built on the site of the Charitable institutions.
Deptford, so named from a deep ford.
The manor of Sir John Evelyn, the author of Sylva.

Lamentable fire in 1652,
Great im provent for maritime purposes.
Dsptford. I former, in the year 1729. The estate, however, which includes the site « the present victualling-house, and of a large dock-yard, is still vested in the Evelyns. A lamentable fire happened at Deptford, in 1652; any nineteen years afterwards the lower town was inundated by a great flooi which rose to the height of ten feet in the streets near the river, so tha: the inhabitants were obliged to retire to the upper town in boats. The adjoining marshes were also overflowed, and about 700 sheep, with a great number of oxen, cows, &c. were destroyed. Sir Thomas Wyat lay = night and a day at Deptford, with his army, in the year 1553. The Royaidock, or King's-yard, has been greatly enlarged and improved since iti original establishment. It is managed under the immediate inspection of the navy board: the resident officers are a clerk of the cheque, a storekeeper, a master shipwright, and his assistants, a clerk of the survey, a master attendant, a surgeon, and various inferior officers. The number of artificers and labourers employed here is about 1,500: even in times of peace, the general number is upwards of 1,000. The whole extent of the yard includes about thirty-one acres, which are occupied by various buildings; two wet docks, a double and a single one; three slips for men of war; a basin, two mast ponds; a model-loft; mast-houses; a large smith's shop, with about twenty forges lor anchors; sheds for timber, &c The old store-house is a quadrangular pile, and appears to have consisted originally only of the range on the north side; where, on what was formerly the front of the building, is the date 1513, together with the initials H.R. in a cypher, and the letters A.X. for Anno Christi. The buildings on the east, west, and south sides of the quadrangle, have been erected at different times; and a double front, towards the north, was added in 1721. Another store-house, parallel to the above, and of the same length, having sail and rigging lofts, was completed a few years ago: and there is also a long range of smaller store-houses, that was built under the direction of Sir Charles Middleton, afterwards Lord Barham, about the year 1780. The other buildings consist of various workshops and houses for the officers, where some of the largest ships in the navy have been built. On the north of the King's-yard stands the victualling-office, sometimes called the Red-house, from its occupying the site of a large range of store-houses, constructed with red bricks, which was burnt down in July, 1639, together with all its stores. Being rebuilt, it was included in the grant of Sayes court to Sir John Evelyn, in 1726; and was then described as 870 feet in length, 35 feet wide, and containing 100 warehouses. These premises were for some time rented by the East India company; but being re-purchased of the Evelyns by the crown, a new victualling-house was built on the spot in 1745, to replace the old victualling-office on Tower-hill. This new building was also accidentally burnt in 1749, with great quantities of stores and provisions. The immense pile which now forms the victualling office, has been erected at I different times since that period; and consists of many ranges of building, I appropriated to the various establishments necessary in the important concern of victualling the navy. In addition to the Royal-dock, here are two large private yards for ship building, belonging to Messrs. Barnards and Roberts, where men of war, of seventy-four guns, are sometimes built. Here is also a large and commodious commercial dock, which was opened on the 30th of June, 1809. Itwas intended principally for the receptionof foreign merchantmen engaged in the Baltic trade. It was formerly known by the name of the Greenland dock; in which several alterations and improvements were made, and an entirely new range of store houses was erected. The Lord Mayor's barge, handsomely decorated, was the first to enter; the whole ceremony was conducted with much pomp and splendour: and, as a close of the proceedings, a party of about 150 persons partook of an elegant dinner in one of the store-houses. 'The town of Deptford contains two churches; the oldest is dedicated to St. Nicholas, from time immemorial,
I Commercial dock.trie patron of sea-faring men; and the other to St. Paul. St. Nicholas
church consists of a nave, chancel, and aisles, with an embattled tower of

flint and stone, of a date long prior to the body of the fabric, which was
rebuilt in 1697, on account of the great increase of inhabitants. In
the chancel, against the north wall, within the recess for the altar, is the
monument of Captain Edward Fenton, who accompanied Sir Martin
Frobisher in his second and third voyages, and had himself the command
of an expedition for the discovery of a north-west passage. Near this is
a tablet inscribed to Henry Roger Boyle, eldest son to Richard, Earl of |
Corke, who died at a school in Deptford, in 1615; and a neat mural
monument to the memory of George Shelvock, Esq., secretary of the
general post-office, and F.R.S., who, at a very early period of life, attended
his father in a voyage round the world. The tomb of Captain George
Shelvocke is near the east end of the chancel, on the outside; he was
descended of an ancient Shropshire family, and bred to the sea service under
Admiral Benbow. Against the east wall, to the north of the altar recess, is
the monument of Peter Pett, Esq., a master shipwright in the King's-yard,
whose family were long distinguished for their superior talents in ship-
I building; and who was himself the first inventor of that useful ship of war,
I a frigate: he died in 1652. On the opposite wall is a mural monument, with a
long inscription, in memory of Sir Richard Browne, Knt., of Sayes court,
who was " Governor of the United Netherlands, and was afterwards, by Queen
Elizabeth, made Clerk of the Green Cloth, in which honourable office he
continued under King James, till the time of his death, in May, 1604, aged
sixty-five years;" of Christopher Browne, Esq., his son, who died in
March, 1645, at the age of seventy; of Sir Richard Browne, knight and
baronet, only son of Christopher; and of their respective wives. Many
other monuments and inscriptions are in this church: among them a slab
in the pavement of the north aisle marks the burial-place of Mr. John
Benbow, eldest son of the gallant Admiral Benbow, who died at the age of
twenty-seven, November, 1708. The register of this parish records the
following instances of longevity: Maudlin Augur, buried in December,
1672, aged 106; Catherine Perry, buried in December, 1676, by her
own report, 110 years old; Sarah Mayo, buried in August, 1705, aged
102; and Elizabeth Wiborn, buried in December, 1714, in her 101st
year. The church of St. Paul is a handsome stone fabric, erected under
the provisions of certain acts passed in the ninth and tenth years of Queen
Anne, for the building of fifty new churches in and near London. It has
a well-proportioned spire at the west end : the roof is sustained by columns
of the Corinthian order; the pews are of Dutch oak, and the whole inte-
rior is neatly fitted up. On the north side of the altar, against the east
wall, is an elegant mural monument, by Nollekins, in memory of James
Sayer, Esq., Vice-Admiral of the White, son of John Sayer, and Catherine,
his wife, one of the daughters and co-heirs of Rear-Admiral Robert
Hughes, and Lydia, his wife, who all lie buried in the old church of this
town, with many of their issue. On the south side of the chancel is a
sumptuous monument, displaying a sarcophagus, surmounted by a large
urn of statuary marble, partly covered with a mantle, in memory of
Matthew Finch, gentleman, who died in 1745; and on the nprth side is
another splendid monument, in commemoration of Mary Finch, daughter
of the above, and wife to Richard Hanwell, of Oxford, gentleman, who
died in 1754. Among the tombs in the church-yard, is one in memory
of Margaret Hawtree, a famous midwife, who died in 1734, inscribed as
follows:

She was an indulgent mother, and the best of wives:

She brought into this world more than three thousand Uvea!
Mrs. Hawtree gave a silver basin, for christenings, to this parish, and

another to that of St. Nicholas. Mr. Isaac Blight, ship-breaker, of Green-
land-dock, who was killed by a pistol-shot, as he was sleeping in his
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chair in his back parlour, was also buried in this church-yard. A. man of

the name of Richard Patch, who had been taken into the employment of ,
the deceased, out of motives of charity, about three years before, and was
his confidential servant, was tried on suspicion of the murder, convicted
upon a chain of the most satisfactory evidence, and executed on the 8th
of April, 1806. For a long time great interest was excited by the
trial and execution of this man. The register records the burial of
Margaret Haley, who died in March, 1739-40, aged 100, and upwards.
The rectory-house is a handsome edifice. This parish contains about
1DO0 acres of lands; of which from 900 to 1100 are marsh and
pasture; about 550 arable; ani 250 occupied by market gardeners,
who are famed for the growth of asparagus and onions. Here are
several meeting-houses for Methodists, Independents, Quakers, Ana-,
baptists, and other sects. In this parish stands one of the telegraphs I
which communicate with the admiralty and Dover. The Surrey and'
Croydon canals also pass through and communicate with each other
in this parish. The corporation or society of the Trinity-house, the
meetings of which are now held in a handsome building on Tower-hill,
was originally established at Deptford, in the reign of Henry VIII., and
incorporated by the name of " The Master, Warden, and Assistants, of the
Guild or Fraternity of the most glorious and undivided Trinity, and of St.
Clement, in the parish of Deptford Strond." The ancient hall, in which
the members continued to assemble at this place, was pulled down about
the year 1787, on the erection of the Trinity-house in London; but here
are still two hospitals belonging to the corporation. The old hospital,
which adjoins to St. Nicholas church-yard, was founded in the time of
Henry VIII., and originally contained twenty-one apartments; bat on its
being pulled down and rebuilt in 1788, the number was increased to
twenty-five. That called Trinity-hospital, which stands in Church-street,
was erected towards the end of the 17th century, on a piece of ground
given for the purpose, in 1672, by Sir Richard Brown, the younger,
baronet, of Sayes court, who was an elder brother and master of the
Trinity-house. It consists of fifty-six apartments, forming a spacious
quadrangle, in the centre of which is placed a statue of Captain
Richard Maples, who, in 1680, bequeathed £1,300 towards the building.
The pensioners in both hospitals consist of decayed pilots, and masters of
ships, or their widows: the annual allowance to the widows and single
men is about £18; the married men receive about £28 yearly. Here are
numerous charitable establishments. In those founded previously to the
year 1730, both parishes have a joint interest. In Butt-lane is a charitv-
school, under the direction of twelve trustees, endowed for the education
and clothing of 100 boys and girls, who are apprenticed out. The school
house was erected about the year 1722, on a piece of ground given for the
purpose, by Mr. Robert Gransden; whose daughter, Mrs. Mary Gransden,
in 1719, bequeathed £80 towards the building; and also gave a farm in
Essex, and the ground rents of two tenements in St. Bartholomew's-lane,
London (since sold to the Directors of the Bank for £1,300), towards the
endowment of the school: the whole expense of the building amounted to
about £740. Besides the children educated in this school, between twenty
and thirty others are taught elsewhere, with the produce of different bene-
factions. A bequest of £200 was made by Mr. John Addey, a master
builder in the King's-yard, in the year 1606, for the purchase of land.
With this sum the Gravelpit-field, Deptford, was bought, the annual
rents of which now amount to more than £280. The Gun-tavern in this
town is said to have been the residence of the Earl of Nottingham, Lord
Admiral to Queen Elizabeth, whose arms, encircled by the garter, are
carved in wood over the chimney-piece of a large dining-room. Sir Thomas
Smith, who was sent ambassador to the court of Russia by James I., had
a magnificent house at Deptford, which was burnt down on the 20th of

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January, 1613. Cowley, the poet, was also a resident here for a considerable period. In the year 1753, an act was passed for paving and cleaning the streets, and for the better relief and employment of the poor. The bridge over the Ravensbourne, which was formerly of wood, but rebuilt of stone at the sole cost of Charles I., in 1C28, has been rendered more commodious of late years, at the expense of the parishioners. Here, previously to the battle of Blackheath, in the reign of Henry VII., was a skirmish between Lord Dawbeney's troops and "certayne archers of the rebelles; whose arrowes, as is reported, were in length a full yerde." The population of this town are chiefly employed in the dock-yards, or engaged in maritime pursuits. An extensive manufacture of earthenware, called Deptford ware, is successfully caried on here.

Saturday 23 January 2010

Signed Indenture by William John Evelyn






Whilst researching Deptford I purchased an old indeture relating to the lease of numbers 26 & 27 Edwards Street, Deptford. It was only on closer examination that the owner of the properties was none other than William John Evelyn of Wotton, Surrey, a direct decendant of the famous diarist John Evelyn! The Lessee was Henry Wilson, Publican of the Prince of Wales Public House, 31 Blackfriars Road, Southwark. The lease was set to run for a term of 80 years from the 9th July 1864. Wonderful.

William John Evelyn


William John Evelyn from a portrait by Havell (1884)



William John Evelyn (27 July 1822 - 1908), a descendant of the diarist John Evelyn eldest son of George Evelyn and Mary Jane Massy Dawson. He had inherited the large Wotton estate in Surrey, and was often referred to locally as "the Squire" Went to Cheam School from 1835 until 1837 when he went to Rugby, and from there to Balliol College, Oxford where he obtained his Masters degree in 1844. He was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Western Surrey at a by-election in 1849, and re-elected in 1852. He stood down at the next (1857) general election. He later returned to the House of Commons as Member for Deptford in 1885, resigning in 1888 by becoming Steward of the Manor of Northstead after falling out with his party as a result of events in Mitchelstown, Ireland where police shot on protestors and killed three people. Subsequently Lord Salisbury's government accepted the police version of events and refused to condemn their actions; Evelyn was horrified by this and resigned from parliament.[1] The by-election which followed would be contested by his good friend Wilfred Scawen Blunt from an Irish prison. Evelyn thoroughly disapproved of the Boer War, he considered it had been made in the interest of capitalists and that it was unjust and cruel. At the time this could have been thought unpatriotic of him. In 1869, on the closing of the Deptford Dockyard, he purchased back from the Government as much of the site of Sayes Court as was available and by 1876 was turning some of this into a recreation ground for his Deptford tenants In 1886 he dedicated an acre and a half of the Sayes Court recreation ground that he had created, in perpetuity to the public and a permanent provision was made for the Evelyn estate to cover the expense of maintenance and caretaking. In 1884 he sold land then being used as market gardens in Deptford, to the London County Council for less than it's market value, as well as paying £2000 towards the cost of its purchase. This was officially opened to the public as Deptford Park on 7th June 1897.

John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, gardener and diarist. Evelyn's diaries or memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time (he witnessed the deaths of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell, the last Great Plague of London, and the Great Fire of London in 1666). Over the years, Evelyn’s Diary has been over-shadowed by Pepys's chronicles of 17th-century life.Evelyn and Pepys corresponded frequently and much of this correspondence has been preserved.

Details from Wikipedia

Friday 21 October 2011

The Druid.

 
THE LAST LAUNCH AT DEPTFORD.

Loyally and Lovingly Dedicated by Mil. Punch to  
H.RH. Princess Louise.


If there’s a spirit of the tree, as fair Greek fable tells.
And the green blood of the Dryad is the sap of acorn-bells,
Not death, but higher life, befalls the Nymphs of the oak-trees
That are squared and shaped, and set to frame the .ships that rule the
seas.
And they were not doleful Dryads, but exulting ones that spread
Their unseen wings for shelter of Louise's gracious head,
As she faced the nipping March wind, like a daughter of the sea,
To christen the last war-ship that from Deptford launched will be.
Lift high the wine, sweet Princess, and with blood-red baptism crown,
The bows, slow creeping streamwards, as the dog-shores are struckdown:
And, fit name for last heart of oak that from Deptford-slips shall glide, Bid " God speed" to The Druid, as she curt'sies to the tide.
"tis the last launch from Deptford: the old yard has had its day;
Times change and war-ships with them: oak yields to iron's sway:
There are wider slips and statelier sheds, and broader quays elsewhere,
And Wisdom says "concentrate," and Thrift says "save and spare."
Deptford is now a frowsy place, ill-smelling, dank and low,
Where muddy banks are eat away by a foul stream's festering flow:
Where low Vice haunts and flaunts, and flares, fed full on sailors' gains,
And threatening them with surer wreck than all lee-shores or mains.
But the Deptford that we look on, to whose yard we bid good bye,
Was once the Deptford, where, in pride. The Great Harry wont to lie;
Whore, lusty King to lordly ship, from his Greenwich palace near,
Bluff King Hal among his shipwrights showed broad breast and face
of cheer.
With delicate Anne Boleyn upon his brawny arm—
Lamb and Lion,—monarch's majesty, enhancing woman's charm—
To mark, well-pleased, how in his yard the work sped swift along,
From fair keel to tall top-side of swift pink and carrack strong.
And rapid ran the Ravensbourne, a cleanly country stream,
Glassing in its bright bosom, brave attire, and banners' gleam,
When, fene'd in tower of jewelled ruff and tun of pearled robe,
Came good Queen Bess to welcome Captain Drake from round the
globe!

'Twas in this very Deptford creek was drawn The Golden Hind,
Fragrant with spices of New Spain, rich with heap'd spoils of Ind,
As to bold Queen bold Buccaneer knelt on his own deck-board
Plain Captain Drake, and rose again Sir Francis from her sword.
'Twas in Deptford yard, from reign to reign, the Petts * their credit
won, Handing their craft of ship-builder from famous sire to son; To Deptford smug Sam Pepys took boat, in Charles's thriftless day, To note "how still our debts do grow, and our fleet do decay."
And hither, from the fair-trimmed yews and hollies of Sayes Court,
Came a burly, bull-necked Muscovite, for labour and disport;
Sturdy swinker, lusty drinker; king with king, and tar with tar,
The Northern Demiurgus, Russ Prometheus, Peter Tzar.
Richer in slips and stores and sheds, there be other yards, I trow,
But none more rich in memories. Old Deptford yard, than thou.
It was well done and worthily of a Princess fair and sweet,
To christen the last war-babe, born of thee into our fleet.
And may The Druid ne'er disgrace the parentage she'owns,
Or mar the glorious memories that spring from Deptford stones:
May she bear her worthy England, and the white hand that but now
Has dashed the wine of baptism upon her shapely bow!

• The Petts wore the hereditary ship-builders of the English navy from the days of James The FiRst to those of James The Second.

Tuesday 23 November 2010

History of Albury Street. Part 1

Albury Street was laid out and developed between 1705 and 1717 or soon after, by a local bricklayer, Thomas Lucas. The method of development which he employed and the two homogeneous rows of terrace-houses which were built each side of the street are typical of speculative building as it developed in London after the Great Fire. It is of unusual interest that a local craftsman should build in a manner typical of the Metropolis in an outlying village, as early as this, and that so much still survives. In the middle ages, Deptford was one of several riverside villages lying below the City of London on the south bank of the Thames. Originally known as West Greenwich, its present name derives from the crossing by a deep ford of the river Ravensbourne nearly a mile from its outlet into the Thames. The village called Deepforde Straund or Deptford Strand grew up along side the Thames rather than by the Ravensbourne. 
The settlement by the ford and then the bridge which led to Greenwich, which was later called the Upper Town, was much smaller than that by the Thames until the nineteenth century when it expanded to become the centre of the suburb.
Looking towards Deptford Strand 1620 to 1630

Royal Dockyard 1513
In the reign of Henry VIII, a royal shipyard was founded at Deptford to provide for the developing navy, and for over three hundred years it brought growth and prosperity to the “Navy Building Town”. A map of the village in 1923 shows the docks and the Kings Shipyard and another belonging to the East India Company with a mass of houses close to the river surrounded by fields.



Christopher Marlowe
Here, Christopher Marlowe was killed in a fight at a tavern and here that Gindling Gibbons was discovered. During the seventeenth century John Evelyn, the diarist took a lease of Sayes Court, the manor house of West Greenwich alias Deptford Strand. His diaries recount much of Deptford life and the sojourn there of its most illustrious visitor, Peter the Great of Russia, in his own house. Evelyn records that at the end of the century “by increase of Building may be seene that the Towne is in eighty years become neere as big as Bristoll”. The most notable buildings to be erected there in these eighty years, Trinity Almshouses, were built in 1664-5 in Church Street, considerably away from the Thames.



Grindling Gibbons
John Evelyn















Throughout the eighteenth century, starting with Albury Street, or rather Union Street as it was formerly called, this increase of building continued as houses were built farther and farther south away from the river. As a result Deptford became eligible for one of the fifty new churches planned by the Act of Parliament of 1711, St Paul’s, built to the design of Thomas Archer between 1713 and about 1724. It was Thomas Lucas who obtained the contract as a bricklayer for the church and as such was responsible for building the core of the building before it was faced in stone.

St Paul's Church, Deptford
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, Deptford, New Cross, Lewisham, and Greenwich had become one continuous built up area, but although the riverside had an unbroken series of docks, wharves and houses right to London, there were still open fields stretching to the west as far as Bermondsey. It was across these fields that London’s first railway was built between Spa Road and Deptford in 1836, ultimately to connect Greenwich with London Bridge. With the closure of the Royal Dockyard on the 30th March 1869, and its reuse as the Metropolitan Foreign Cattle Market, Deptford’s former individuality and prosperity were doomed. Enveloped at last by the expanding metropolis, it became the poor industrialised suburb which it has remained ever since.  

Foreign Cattle Market, Deptford

Part 1 extract from A Quiney's paper on Albury Street 1979. 

Friday 8 January 2010

35 Albury Street the premises of The Irish National League & Club 1911.





The Irish National League was established by Charles Stewart Parnell (pictured) in 1882 and became a major movement for Irish home rule, with branches not only across Ireland but in England - including in South London. In Deptford, support for Irish Home Rule pre-dated the formation of the League. On 2 October 1876 a public meeting in Deptford was attached by anti-Home Rulers, recalled in the T.D. Sullivan : 'They invaded a hall where a Home Rule meeting was being-held; they "stormed" the platform, and made a determined endeavour to capture the Home Rule banner which was there displayed. But the flag was bravely defended, and after some fierce fighting, the attacking party were ejected from the building'. In the 1880s, the Irish National League rallied at Sayes Court in Deptford and the Post Office Directory lists a United Irish National League and Club at 35 Albury Street, Deptford in 1911. The Irish National League (INL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded in October 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell as the successor to the Irish National Land League after this was suppressed. Whereas the Land League had agitated for land reform, the National League also campaigned for self-government or Irish Home Rule, further enfranchisement and economic reforms. The League was the main base of support for the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), and under Parnell's leadership, it grew quickly to over 1,000 branches throughout the island. In 1884, the League secured the support of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. Its secretary was Timothy Harrington who organised the Plan of Campaign in 1886. In December 1890 both the INL and the IPP split on the issues of Parnell's long standing family relationship with Katharine O'Shea , the earlier separated wife of a fellow MP, Capt. O'Shea, and their subsequent divorce proceedings. The majority of the League, which opposed Parnell, broke away to form the "Anti-Parnellite" Irish National Federation (INF) under John Dillon. John Redmond assumed the leadership of the minority "Parnellite" group who remained faithful to Parnell. Despite the split, in the 1892 general election the combined factions still retained the Irish nationalist vote and their 81 seats. Early in 1900 the Irish National League (INL) finally merged with the United Irish League and the National Federation (INF) to form a reunited Irish Parliamentary Party under Redmond's leadership returning 77 seats in the September 1900 general election, together with 5 Independent Nationalists, or Healyites.
Information from Wikipeadia.com.

Monday 2 January 2012

History of Albury Street. Final Part.

History of Albury Street. Part 8

No. 37.
Old buildings in the neighbourhood with a romantic past such as Deptford’s are invariably associated with well known historical figures. It is reputed that Admiral Benbow lived at No. 20 Union Street, north side (Now number 37) and that Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton spent some time at No. 19 (now number 34) the house built by Reyalls and Pearce.







No. 34.

It is unlikely that Admiral John Benbow who died in 1702 ever lived in Union Street. He leased Sayes Court in 1696 for 3 years from John Evelyn, but does not appear to have been there much. His son, John Benbow the Traveller, who died in Deptford in 1708 and in great poverty, might possibly have lived in Union Street. No evidence has been seen to prove or disprove that Lord Nelson stayed there. It is of greater significance that from the first, Union Street was inhabited by men connected with the Royal Navel Dockyard. Lucas’s will mentions houses occupied or in the possession of five sea captains and three shipwrights. Union Street must have been with these people, the most affluent in the parish, in mind. As the mortgage made with John Loving, the block maker, suggests, it was these people who provided some of the capital needed by Lucas. The rate books which go back to 1730 on the south side, and to 1750 on the north side of the street, show that this link with the dockyard was maintained until it closed in 1869. By the middle of the nineteenth century, there are signs that the occupants of some of the houses were of a lower social order. For instances No. 24 Union Street on the north side in 1851, was in multiple occupation, the heads of the three families being a labourer and two sawyers. But even then fourteen occupiers of thirty-two houses were craftsmen employed in the Royal Naval Dock Yard or were master mariners. Perhaps the most striking thing at that time was the number of private schools or academies flourishing in the street, which seem to have occupied no less than four houses.


Albury St, North side still mostly intact.
The last vacant site in Union Street was filled in 1838 when No.7 on the north side was built. Already, No. 21 on the same side had been pulled down and replaced by a pair of houses first rated in 1829, but by-and-large, Union Street remained intact until the end of the nineteenth century. In the last quarter of the century Lucas’s own house on the south east corner and No.2 on the south side were demolished and replaced by a single building facing the High Street, and the public house (King of Prussia) was rebuilt. In 1882, Union Street was renamed as a part of Creek Road and in 1898, became Albury Street loosing its anomalous numbering. The final re-naming of the street was necessitated by the re-aligning of Creek Road to join, at its west end, Evelyn Street, thereby at last obscuring the field pattern shown in the map of 1623, cutting off the north east corner of James Browne’s land. But even up the time of the Great War, Albury Street remained very much as Lucas left it. But by 1921, the south side had been broken and two large gaps appeared in the terrace in the middle and at the west end.

Since the Second World War these gaps have been made wider and recently they coalesced leaving just four houses of the original twenty-three. The north side has been luckier. A few houses at each end of the terrace on this side have be altered or rebuilt and since demolished, but a sizable number of the houses remain These houses are among the few survivors in the whole of London from the first two decades of the eighteenth century and although the gaps in their ranks are to be regretted, the four houses on the south side of the street and the longer series on the north must be seen as one of the most important treasures architecturally and historically among domestic buildings in London.

My thanks A Quiney for allowing me to reproduce his thesis on Union/Albury Street.

Thursday 24 May 2012

THE LOST VILLAGE CENTER OF DEPTFORD

THE LOST VILLAGE CENTER OF DEPTFORD

Historical Deptford was divided into Upper Deptford (based around Deptford Broadway) and Lower Deptford based around St Nicholas' Church, Deptford Green (formerly Common land?) and Deptford Strand as seen on the 1623 map. Deptford was primarily a fishing village before King Henry VIII founded the Dockyard in 1513.

Church Street acted as a buffer between Lower Deptford and Upper Deptford, and was lined fairly well with properties when Butt Lane (later the High Street) was all but a bare trackway. The Green/Depford Green/Common (not to be confused with the area around St Johns also referred to as Deptford Common) had several alleys leading eastwards to Barnard's Dockyard (later used by the General Steam Navigation Company for ship repair).

Butcher Row (now Borthwick Street) led to Lower Watergate, Middle Watergate (known as Great Thames Street), and Upper Watergate. Straddling Lower and Middle Watergate was Little Thames Street AKA Lower Road. The circulation of these four streets appear to have formed the village nucleus. Unfortunately, just prior to the survey of the 1844 tithe map, most of these streets and buildings were suddenly swept away before they even had a chance to be recorded photographically. What happened was: in 1836 the Deptford Pier and Improvement Company proposed to have a railway connection from the nearly completed line to Greenwich as well as a scheme to develop the river front for passenger and commercial purposes. In the following year the Pier company had already begun purchasing premises in Thames Street, Deptford Green and Butcher Row. By 1841 they seemed to own all the area between Butcher Row and the Thames. In 1843, a legal case was lodged against the company, and the Deptford Pier junction was abandoned. The pier company were replaced by Timothy Tyrrell as owner of the Pier land, occupying a wharf and warehouse, and leasing out many other properties. Unless there's a mistake on the Tithe map it would seem almost all buildings north of Butcher Row were demolished in 1843/44. Certainly they were gone by the 1860s.

Coming from the direction of the Deptford manor house known as Sayes Court (formerly a castle?), Dog Street (known later as New Row then Dock Street/Prince Street) and the top end of Watergate Street (formerly known as Old King Street) also had properties. At the junction between them stood a gateway in Watergate Street, hence the name, which was captioned on the 1833 Cruchley map. The gate can be glimpsed to the extreme right in a photograph taken of the street.

In-between Watergate Street and Deptford Green was an empty field except for maybe the church burial ground until several north-south streets--laid sometime between the late 17th and early 18th centuries--filled the gap. The burial ground, if it even existed before, was maintained as a strip of land parallel to the new streets; from west to east they were named Rope Walk, New Street (extended before 1755), Frenches Field leading to Rumbolols Rope Walk (known as Black Field near the burial ground), and Hughes Field.


 To give you an idea of the many buildings lost in the former center of Lower Deptford during the early part of the Victorian era, here is a directory of trades and industries (not including the many wharves) taken from the 1834 Pigot directory unless otherwise stated; I think its safe to say that the taverns and public houses, here in the heart of historical Deptford closest to the Thames, would have been frequented more by the many sailors, mariners and seamen than in any other part of the village:

Deptford Green

The George (before 1804)
Earl of Romney (John Dickenson 1839)
White Hart (John Hawkins 1839)
Plume of Feathers (Jo Topliffe Knnipple 1839)
Lion & Lamb (John Grix)
School/Academy (Adams, John Williams)
Baker (Lancaster, Joseph)
Engineer (Gordons and Co. and shipsmiths & ironfounders)
Marine Stores-Dealer (Johnson, John)
Plumbers/Painter/Glazier (Harrison and Son)
Shipbuilder (Barnard, Francis and Son)
Lower Watergate
Sir John Falstaff Public House (John Beswell)
Coal Merchant (Wells, Hesketh Davis)
Junk Merchant (Wells, Hesketh Davis)
Timber Merchant (W H Davis)

Butcher Row

Gun Tavern (possibly Henry Mears 1804)
Blue Bell (William Collier 1834, Christopher William Collier 1839)
Ship Chester (James West)
Three Tuns (William Shirley 1834, Elizabeth Shirley 1839)
Carpenter (Deane, Anthony F)
Marine Stores-Dealer (Townsend, John)
Shopkeeper/Groceries and Sundries Dealer (Fowles, John)
Thames Street (Little and Great?)
Earl of Romney (John Dickenson 1834)
Marquis of Granby (Ann H, J Bear 1834 Rate)
Royal Ann (no occupier 1834)
Star & Garter (William Francis 1834, William Francis 1839)
Chemist Manufacturing (Leesom, Henry Beaumont)
Coal Merchant (Mussett, Robert and Co.)
Junk Merchant (Mussett, James & Robert)
Marine Stores-Dealer (Godwin, John)
Marine Stores-Dealer (Morris, William)
Steam Miller (Powell, Francis)
Shopkeeper/Groceries and Sundries Dealer (Beiderbeck, Betsey)
Shopkeeper/Groceries and Sundries Dealer (Doyle, Peter)
Smith (Hughesdon, William)
Ship Chandler (Thomas G)

King Street (Upper Watergate?)

Fox (Thomas Hunt 1834, Joseph Hunt 1839)
Brazier/Tin-Plate Worker (Seager, Thomas)
Bricklayer (Smith, James)
Grocers/Tea Dealer (Bensted, Elizabeth)
Snack? Proprieter (M., John)

Old King Street

Red Lion Inn (Samuel Edwards 1834, Samuel Edwards 1839)
Bull and Butcher (William ? 1834, William Williams 1839)
Fishing Smack (Jason Moreland 1834, Tim Riordan 1839)
Freemasons' Arms (James William ? 1834, William Batch 1839)
Red Cow (John Fester 1834, Kenneth Philpott 1839)
Rose & Crown (Samuel M)
School/Academy (Kemp, William)
Baker (Bradbrook, Harriet)
Brazier/Tin-Plate Worker (Matthews, Richard)
Butcher (Scott, William)
Butcher (S*lmes, Jeremiah)
Cooper (Jacob Powling)
Furniture Broker (Scruton, John)
Grocers/Tea Dealer (Prudence, Thomas)
Hat Manufacturer/Hatter (Hyman, William)
Lighterman (Riddall, William)
Plumbers/Painter/Glazier (Berry, Arthur)
Mathmematics Teacher (Stoole, Jason)
Shopkeeper/Groceries and Sundries Dealer (Anderson, William)
Shopkeeper/Groceries and Sundries Dealer (Slone, Thomas David)
Shopkeeper/Groceries and Sundries Dealer (Waikman, Mary)
Slopseller (Barnard, Esther)
Slopseller (Chapman, Edmund)
Slopseller (Gibeon, Robert)
Timber Dealer (Poole, James)
Tobacco Pipe Maker (Gosling, William)

________________________________________________


SOURCES

1623 Deptford map
18th Century Deptford Strand map "Controller Bridge House Plan 57A"
1745 Rocque map
1755 Milne map
1833 Cruchley map
1834 Pigot directory
1839 Pigot directory
1844 Tithe map
1868 Os map
White, Ken (1997). The Deptford Pier and Riverside.

Other rate books (at Lewisham Local Studies) and directories may shed further light on the above:

1784 Bailey
1793-1798 Universal British Directory
1799 Holden
1801 Holden (supplement to 1799 or 1800 reprint)
1802 Holden
1803 Finch (Kent; main towns only)
1803 Holden
1804 Holden (supplement to 1803)
1805 Holden
1805 Holden (supplement to previous edition)
1808 Finch (Kent; main towns only)
1808 Holden
1809 Holden
1810 Holden
1811 Holden
1812 Holden
1813 Holden
1814-1815 Holden
1816 Underhill / Holden (London and 480 towns) at Guildhall Library
1817 Underhill / Holden
1822 Pigot London and Provincial
1822 Underhill / Holden
1823 Pigot London and Provincial (revised in 1824 and then in 1825)
1826 Pigot London and Provincial (re-printed in 1827 and then in 1828)
1827 Pigot Metropolitan (re-printed in 1828)
1830 Clayton
1832 Pigot London and Provincial (revised twice in 1833 for 1834)
1836 Pigot London Alphabetical… (revised with a supplement in 1837 and 1838)
1838 Robson Home Counties (19th edition in strong room at Guildhall Library)
1839/1840 Pigot
1845 Post Office Home Counties (Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex)
1846 Kelly (Kent) at Bexley Library
184 Post Office London and Nine Counties at British Library
1847 Bagshaw
1847 Post Office Hampshire with Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex
1850 Williams (Kent and Surrey; main towns only)
1851 Mason (Greenwich and Blackheath)
1851 Post Office Home Counties (Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex)
1852 Archdeacon (Greenwich, Woolwich incl. Deptford, Blackheath, Lewisham…)
1852 Bass (Deptford incl. Blackheath, Lee, Lewisham and Sydenham)
1855 Post Office Home Counties (Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex)
1857/1858 Meville (Kent)
1859 Post Office (Kent)
1859 Post Office Home Counties (Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex)
1860 Post Office London Suburban
1862 Post Office Home Counties (Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex)
1863 Post Office London Suburban


A great piece of research by Giles Gaffney. Hopefully more to come
Thanks

Andy