ROTHERHITHE to DEPTFORD
Riverside route and the old riverside village
Buses along ROTHERHITHE STREET and SALTER ROAD
After THE BRUNEL MUSEUM: Along the Thames Riverside Path or the road
More info
Following the Thames Path
Rotherhithe St.
BRANDRAM’S WHARF
1870. Paint: vitriol, dry salt and colour chemicals
CHARLES HAY & CO
Barge building and repair works
“Sunbeam Weekly and the Pilgrim's Pocket” artwork by Peter McLean
a (ghost of a) pilgrim father, looking over the shoulder of a small Bermondsey boy from about the 1920s (the 100th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower), and a dog (a Staffordshire bull terrier), standing on its hind legs.
The comic the boy is reading (made possible at night by the light of the lamppost) is called 'Uncle Pete and Kevs Sunbeam Weekly (actually spelt as Weakly wihout a 'Y'). This makes us wonder why the plaque calls the statue 'Sunshine' weekly, and suspect that it is a mistake.
The comic (which we believe refers to an actual comic called just 'Sunbeam') shows scenes of how America had developed since 1620, and the pilgrim is looking at it in apparent horror.
CLARENCE PIER
1882. Coal unloading to gas works. As well, to OLD KENTROAD GAS WORKS, by canal
Site of KING’S MILLS
1554. Crown water mills for manufacture of gunpowder. Originally? belonging to BERMONDSEY ABBEY. In the 18th, converted into SHIPS BISCUITS factory.
Land used for the SURREY DOCKS ENTRANCE. Tunnel vent.
ROTHERHITHE (ROAD)TUNNEL
1908. Partly dug by GREATHEAD SHIELD (original shields over both entrances). Designed by engineer MAURICE FITZMAURICE
BASCULE BRIDGE
It replaced the original swing bridge.
THE SALT QUAY P.H.
Original entrance to the SURREY GRAND CANAL
SURREY BASIN, then DOCK, now WATER
Opened in 1860. Designed by engineer GEORGE PARKER BIDDER
SURREY BASIN: Possible diversion to STAVE HILL ECOLOGY PARK and RUSSIA DOCK WOODLAND and on to GREENLAND DOCK
SURREY BASIN: Possible diversion to CANADA WATER alongside the ALBION CHANNEL
YOUTH HOSTEL
THAMES RICE MILL
Originally the biggest (at 20 x13 bays) granary on the river. Now, apartments
KING AND QUEEN WHARF
Modern apartment block. The name, and that of the STAIRS, originated in an INN
Victorian former warehouse GLOBE WHARF
Thames Rice Mills. Built in 1883 as a grain warehouse. It is a six-storey block built by Albert and Percy Keen and was one of the largest warehouses along the river. In 1887 it could hold 60,000 quarters of corn. In 1924 Globe Wharf was converted for storing and milling rice by Thames Rice Milling. It was converted into flats in 1996 by PRP Architects and there is also a retail and leisure complex... This conversion includes internal courtyards where brickwork shows different stages of the building’s evolution. A rice chute is said to be preserved in one of these. On the Thames frontage there is a lattice jibbed red crane attached to the wall which was a 20th addition in the period of the Second World War. Originally, the name of an INN
SOCIAL HOUSING
Homes for Heroes. cottages on the inland side of the road were built here by the London County Council in 1920,
Beatson Walk: detour/diversion to RUSSIA DOCK WOODLAND and STAVE HILL
OLD FIRE STATION
1903. It used to served the “island”, an area of high risk timber wharfs
Nature Reserve: LAVENDER DOCK and ACORN TIMBER POND.
1815. Part of the SURREY COMMERCIAL DOCKS. Once connected to theTHAMES by a LOCK, used to store building timber originated in CANADA and SCANDINAVIA.
Former LAVENDER POND PUMPING STATION
1929. The pump topped the water levels in the S.C.D. Converted to educational functions.
CUCKOLD’S POINT
The name (CULCKHOLDS, CUCKNOKD’S) is associated with a post (which may have been a maypole) surmounted by a pair of horns that used to stand at the location, a symbol commemorating the starting point of the riotous Horn Fair, but which can also symbolise a cuckold.
The Horn Fair was a procession which led to Charlton.
It is said that King John, or another English monarch, gave the fair as a concession, along with all the land from the point to Charlton, to a miller whose wife he had seduced after a hunting trip, though. Or the concession to the miller was a piece of land, a stretch of the foreshore…?. Or was here the site, marked with cattle horns , of a DUCKING STOOL?. All these options are highly disputed, even pure legend!.
Cuckold's Haven appears on a 1588 government map of London's river defences at the time of the Spanish Armada; in the context, it is a shown as recognised landmark for mariners.
Cuckold's Point was also the location of a riverside gibbet, where the bodies of executed criminals (usually river pirates) were displayed as a deterrent to others, while it also gave its name to an adjacent shipyard
THE BLACKSMITH ARMS P.H
ACORN WALK
A 1930s recently restored housing estate, built by the L.C.C. to house dockers and their families, , with ART DECO exteriors. Now a mixture of rented and owner-occupied units. Red and yellow brick. Tiled roofs.
Remains of ROTHERHITHE SHIPYARD, now DOUBLE TREE by HILTON HOTEL
Dry dock
These are the only extant remains of Rotherhithe's shipbuilding. The name NELSON is noted in the 1820s but there was yard here in at least 1687. The dry dock may have been in use by 1707. The yard was later then used for ship repair by Mills and Knight which closed in 1968. The original Nelson Dock site is within the hotel complex.
Nelson Wake had the shipyard here in the 1820s
John Taylor had the shipyard here in 1690. This later became a series of companies involving Taylor along with Randall and Brent until 1814. Under Randall and Brent 52 warships and 46 East Indiamen were built here
Warships and clippers were built here along with many other ships until the dock closed in 1968.
The buildings you see today are the surviving sheds of Mill's and Knight ship repairers who were based at Nelson Dock from 1886 until the docks closed.
The ship 'La Dame de Serk' (a French 3 -masted barque, built in 1852] was moored in the dry dock, being one of its restaurants.
COLUMBIA WHARF
Columbia Wharf, was the first grain silo in a British port. Built in 1864, it was designed by architect and hymnwriter James Edmeston for G & I L Green's Patent Ventilating Grain Company. Canada Wharf was added to the complex in 1870–1. Used for storage of foodstuffs until 1976, the complex, including a former engine house and boiler to the south, was listed as a Grade II building in 1983, and is now used for accommodation.
NELSON HOUSE
A TRESURED SPOT!. This five-bay house is the ONLY surviving example of an 18th c. merchant ship owner’s style house. The separation of living and work8ng accommodation was yet to take place!. And in one of the few vestiges of a real dockyard, in a districts where once there were nothing else than dockyards!. Octogonal cupola, river look out. Wrought iron gate, flight of stone steps… quite an impressive entrance. Venetian window. Circular window within stone surrounds.This mansion (which own its name to shipyard owner NELSON WAKE) was built 1730-40 at a trine when John Randall was taking over the yard. Although it is not thought that this was the principle home of these prosperous shipbuilders it can be seen that from the rear the proprietor had direct access to the shipyard. There is a wrought-iron front gate. It was converted and used as a business centre by the hotel but is now said to be privately owned.
This site has been a shipbuilding and repairing yard since, at least, 1687 [first records). Understand several owners. It was the biggest and busiest in Rotherhithe. There were, since the 17th c., several SLIPWAYS and DRYDOCKS. Until the advent of steam and then screw-driven ships, in the late 19th c. It continued to be a repair dock until the 1960s, in the hands of MILLS & KNIGHT.
Ferry to CANARY WHARF PIER (THAMES CLIPPERS)
NELSON DOCK
Now a pond. Note the old ship plates which retain the head of dock on the road side.
DURAND’S WHARF
The finishing line for a rowing race between team of watermen from Gravesend in which Captain Durand played a leading role.
Mast and block makers. Then, a timber wharf, using BETHEL’s patent, that is using tar oil for preserving the timber.
The wharf closed in the 1970s and the site was cleared to become a small park. When Work began on the Jubilee Line extension in the early 1990s the park became a work station where excavated spoil was brought up to the surface and loaded into barges for disposal. During the work the discovery of creosote tanks led to remedial work. The area was reinstated as a park in 1998.
A ventilation and escape shaft to service the Jubilee Line Extension stands on the park
Cannon and anchor as decorative items
HOLY TRINITY CHURCH
The original church on the site was built between 1837 and 1838, as the expansion of the Surrey Commercial Docks drove a growth of population that exhausted the capacity of the original parish of St Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. The building was designed in a neo-Gothic style by Sampson Kempthorne,[1] better known as a designer of workhouses: The original 1837 building was destroyed in the first day of the BLITZ. Rebuilt 1960
MURAL by HANS FEIBUSH
SURREY DOCKS CITY FARM
The original CITY FARM was founded in 1975 at GREENLAND DOCK, moving here in 1986. Farm animals, blacksmith, orchard, bees, vegetables, stag beetle loggery and wild area.
This site has been used for more than 300 years, for 7 different uses: some structures remind us of them.
1.The North Boundary wall is that of the SHIPYARDS (until 1820). War and merchant ships. Part of the DUKE OF BEDFORD’s REDRIFF ESTATE: launches, repairing dock, store (brick house, saw pit house).
STANTON & WELLS partnership. Large ships for the RN and the EIC
FRANCES BARNARDS took over when her husband died. Masts and spars were made then here.
The HMS CARCASS was converted to an Arctic exploration vessel, when a 14 years old H.NELSON was a midshipman. A painting of hom, confronting a polar bear…
E.I.C. EXETER built here.
2. TIMBER WHARF. Timber Imported, stored, treated and traded.
ISAAC SOLLY (involved as well in the LONDON DOCKS COMPANY, in railways, in insurance companies, in charities) supplies the government with ALTIC timber. His son HENRY, was a social reformer (workmen college, garden city, Unitarian minister, support for radical causes). Here, he made chemical experiments and came up with a new blue dye.
PETER ROLT. Later on he would take over a shipbuilding company in BLACKWALL that o would become THAMES IRONWORKS
The BLACK COLUMN is the remains of a hand operated crane. ANCHORS with a single fluke.
3.Site of SHIP’S QUARANTINE STATION, which ceased in the 1930s.
Odessa St.
ODESSA WHARF
Gulliver St.
Gulliver's Travels is a classic literary work that explore themes of adventure, the unknown, and the human condition. Just like MOBY DICK
THE SHIP & WHALE a SHEPHERD’S NEAME P.H.
Two hundred years ago, a nose peg was essential for a stroll through Rotherhithe. It might not have looked stylish but, with hundreds of pounds of rotting whale blubber filling the air with a putrid stench, it was certainly advisable
Nowadays, the peninsula smells just a little sweeter and the streets are thankfully clear of decomposing whale flesh. Rotherhithe?s whaling heritage, however, is still reflected in the names of streets (Finland Street and Norway Quay), water features (Greenland Dock) and – as ever in Southwark – pubs (The Ship and Whale and The Moby Dick).
Randall’s Rents
This is a passageway running down the side of the Ship and Whale. Houses here were built for workers at Randall and Brent’s shipyard. It is the only survivor of a network of passages in the area. It was originally called Wet Dock Lane and was laid out by John Wells in 1698. The name was changed to that of local shipyard owner, John Randall.
GREENLAND DOCK
Greenland Dock is the oldest of the riverside wet docks.
Originally laid out between 1695 and 1699 on land owned by the aristocratic Russell family of the 1st Duke of Bedford. The Russells had been given a portion of land in lower Rotherhithe by a wealthy Streatham landowner, John Howland, as part of a wedding dowry for his daughter Elizabeth, granddaughter of Sir Josiah Child – the dictatorial chairman of the East India Company, who married Wriothesley Russell, the Marquis of Tavistock. They immediately set about "improving" the rural property, obtaining parliamentary permission in 1695 to construct a rectangular dock with an area of about 10 acres (4.0 ha), capable of accommodating around 120 ships. It was named Howland Great Wet Dock in honour of John Howland. Designed by local shipwright, John Wells, the dock was intended to refit East India ships.
The dock was designed to protect the merchantmen from the vagaries of tidal water, ice, and storm. In conjunction with the RN, kitchens were build to prepare meals, preventing fires from burning the vessels. Docks and slipways were also constructed at the riverside for building, repairing and fitting out ships.
It became the principal base of whale ships, and in 1793, it was renamed GREENLAND DOCK. The oil extracted from sperm whales on the quayside was burnt in London street lights. With the decline, 1840s, of whale hunting, CANADIAN products took
In the 1930s, more than 2 million tones of food were landed here, every year. Bacon, cheese, butter, fruit, tinned food. Huge cold stores lined the quays. Those products were traded in TOOLEY ST.’s PROVISIONS MARKET.
The elegant CUNARD WHITE STAR LINE passenger ships to CANADA also ran from here. CUNARD ships brought in grain.
Alongside the GREENLAND DOCK: Possible diversion to SURREY QUAYS and CANADA WATER
Buses to/from CENTRAL LONDON and SE LONDON
NORWAY DOCK, now THE LAKES, residential
1813. One of the earliest docks, built with wooden walls. Dealing with Scandinavian timber, then HARLAND AND WOLF floating dry dock
Norway Swing footbridge
Lattice. This footbridge, with its granite paving, formerly stood across the entrance lock to South Dock and dates from about the time of its reconstruction by the Commercial Dock Co. in the 1850s. It was moved here in 1986.
The characters for this Portrait Bench chosen by your community celebrate Sustrans winning a nationwide vote in 2007 to create new walking and cycling routes across the UK, funded by the Big Lottery Fund.
Phyllis Pearsall MBE 1906 - 1996 In 1935 Phyllis drew the first A to Z street map of London. She surveyed 23,000 streets and walked over 3,000 miles.
Sir Michael Caine CBE A highly respected actor, renowned for his distinctive Cockney accent, appearing in over one hundred films.
Barry Mason 1950 - 2011 Tireless and dynamic cycling campaigner who loved city life, birds and bikes in equal measure. He leaves a legacy for London
Statue of JAMES WALKER, by MICHAEL RIZZELLO
The engineer of the GREENLAND DOCK
Bascule bridge
It replaced the original swing bridge over dock entrance
THE MOBBY DICK P.H.
Moby Dick is a whaling novel by Herman Melville, focusing on Captain Ahab's obsessive pursuit of the white whale.
Herman Melville, lived at 25 Wimpole Street in London for two months in 1849. This address is commemorated by an English Heritage Blue Plaque. The house is also known for being a source of inspiration for Melville's writing, including his exposure to J.M.W. Turner's whaling pictures.
London, for many years, was overlooked when it came to whaling, with more coastal areas like East Yorkshire and East Anglia dominating the trade. Slowly but surely, however, Rotherhithe began to make a name for itself as a hub for the lucrative industry.
Between 1725 and 1732, an average of two whaling operations set sail from Howland Dock for the Arctic every month, with the port soon becoming so synonymous with forays north that it was eventually re-named Greenland Dock, after the destination of choice for Rotherhithe whale hunters.
More about whaling fleets
Shops
Diversion to RUSSIA DOCK WOODLAND
BRIDGE
Replica of DOCKERS SHELTER. MURAL by BERMONDSEY ARTISTS’ GROUP
Dockers were casual workers, with no permanent employers. they never knew on any day if there would be work and wages for them. Each morning came to the original shelter here, very early, for the CALL ON. FOREMEN working for the contractors chose the men needed, depending on how many sheep’s there were to be unloaded. If you were not picked you would not work.
The SURREY COMMERCIAL DOCK COMPANY looked after the dockers better than most. For instance, they were the first to stop the contractors paying the men in local public houses (owned by them) where, under duress, the dockers drank their wares, to the contractors profit
SURREY QUAYS SHOPPING MALL
Corner Corner
Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue
Canada Water LU and LO Stations and Bus station
Back to the THAMES PATH
Greenland Pier: Thames Clippers
LOCK
The sluice gate inside this pit was raised and lowered using high pressure water. Raising the sluice allowed water to flow in or out of the lock to balance the levels on both sides of the gates.
Hydraulic Lock Gate Engine
This machinery was installed in 1902, at the time the Greenland Lock was enlarged, to open and shut one of the lock gates by high pressure water power. It was heated by gas in winter to stop the water freezing.
LOCK KEEPER’S OFFICE
The crews of men who worked ships in and out of Greenland Lock were based here. They provided a service in three shifts around the clock to suit the tides, under the command of the Lock Keeper.
Like all the equipment around the dock, this footbridge was opened and closed by high pressure water acting through pistons in the cylinders you can see in the pits. The water came from a pump house nearby.
SOUTH DOCK, now a marina
Begun in 1807 by the EAST COUNTRY DOCK COMPANY, which nearly went bankrupt, and it was not completed after some years. It became, in the 1820s, a base for WHALING SHIPS, belonging to JOHN LYDEKKER, the famous merchant (sperm whales, SOUTH SEAS).
Bought in the 1850s by the COMMERCIAL DOCK COMPANY, who improved it and linked it to the GREENLAND.
In 1936, warehouses were built to store wine in bond (no customs duty paid until the cargo was sold and removed).
BALTIC QUAY BUILDING
1990. Arched roof tower plus 4 more arches, looking like upturned ships. The top appears to be be surrounded by scaffolding, but it turns out to be support for balconies.
In preparation the D DAY LANDINGS in 1944, two pre-fabricated concrete FLOATING HARBOURS , code-named MULBERRY, and 8 of the FLOATING BREAKKWATER (code-named PHOENIX, each 62 metres long, weighing 3.275 tons) were constructed here.
The British harbour at ARROMANCHES was more than 2 miles long, enclosing an area 70 times bigger than the GREENLAND DOCK.
YARD OFFICE?
This little building is one of the few which survive from the days of the Surrey Commercial Dock Co. It was erected in 1902 when the Greenland Dock was doubled in length. Nobody is sure what it was used for.
Parish Boundary Stone
This stone marks the boundary between St Mary's parish, Rotherhithe and St Paul's parish, Deptford. Until 1899 this was also the Kent-Surrey boundary. This stone was on a bridge over the Earl Creek nearby, but was relocated here in 1988.
Just south of this point is a road running east-west, Plough Lane. Follow it to the Thames and there, on the foreshore, you can see the culverted outlet of Earl's Creek, named after Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (1100 – 1147).
In memory of DAVID O’HARA
This plaque has been dedicated by the Pepys community in memory of David Ivan O'Hara, 1931 - 1992, who, in his last years dedicated himself to the projects of the community of the Pepys Estate.
Welcome to Deptford and to the London Borough of Lewisham!
Deptford Strand
More info
Site of the KING’S YARD
An information board “Docklands Heritage – Deptford River Walk” cited by LONDON REMEMBERS, gives a good introduction to the area so we have transcribed it.
“For at least five centuries Deptford’s history was bound up with the Royal Navy. Deptford and Deptford people had a key role in building and repairing Navy ships and providing food and supplies for the men who sailed them.
Royal ships were being repaired at Deptford as early as 1420, but the town’s importance was secured in 1513 when Henry VIII established a ‘Great Storehouse’ for the Navy here. From this grew the Royal Naval Dockyard, or ‘King’s Yard’ where, between 1545 and 1869 some 350 Navy vessels were built, including HMS Neptune, Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, and many more were repaired. Over the years the Dockyard also saw many famous visitors, including Queen Elizabeth I, Samuel Pepys, and Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, who spent three months learning English shipbuilding techniques here in 1698. After the Dockyard closed in 1869 the site became a Foreign Cattle Market for a time. It is now in commercial use and there is no public access."
Site of the Royal Victoria Yard
"Alongside the Dockyard a Navy victualling and supply centre grew up on what is now the Pepys Estate. Navy victualling contractors used the site, known then as the ‘Red House’ {part of John Evelyn's estate}, in the 17th century, and in 1742 the Navy Victualling Office moved here permanently from Tower Hill. Over the next century the Deptford Victualling Yard grew into the largest Home Victualling Establishment. Ship’s biscuit, mustard, pepper and chocolate were all manufactured on site; in fact ‘Red House Biscuit’ became a common Naval term. There was a large slaughterhouse and meat-salting complex, together with a cooperage where barrels were made, and vast quantities of clothing, food, medical supplies and rum were stored. One of the rum vaults alone held 32,000 gallons! The Yard was renamed the Royal Victoria Yard after a visit by Queen Victoria in 1858, and two years later it grew to its largest extent – 35 acres. Although the Dockyard closed in 1869 the Royal Victoria Yard survived for nearly 100 years, finally closing in 1961.
A number of attractive Victualling Yard buildings, dating from the late 18th century, were retained when the site was redeveloped in the 1970s. They include the Gates and Porter’s Lodge, the Officers’ Houses and the Storehouse for rum, clothes and other supplies. Their presence maintains a visible link with Deptford’s Naval past.”
OFFICERS RESIDENCES
This colonnaded range of buildings was constructed as quarters for naval officers based at the Royal Victoria Victualling Yard. The Yard provisioned the Royal Navy for more than two centuries from 1742.
WAR MEMORIAL
Royal Victoria Yard Deptford - Roll of Honour
To the memory of our colleagues who died through enemy action in the World War 1939 - 1945.
{List of 20 names - see Subjects commemorated}
At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.
On 19 March 1941 the Yard was hit by many bombs and incendiary devices leading to a hugely damaging fire. 7 of those named here died as a result. Just a few months later, 16 August, a V1 flying bomb landed here, killing another 7. We are grateful to Lewisham War Memorials who have provided this information and have more details on all the individuals named.
The block was erected in 1964 as social housing. The Wall of the Ancestors was added in 1997. In 2002-6 the Tower was renovated, reclad, extended upwards and sold as private flats.
As part of this work the heads were reconfigured and new plaques provided. We've also read that the heads were recast at this time. . The heads are made of cream cast stone and each is about a metre high.
Sir FRANCES DRAKE, Knighted
Sir Francis Drake
In 1581 Queen Elizabeth I commanded that Francis Drake's ship the Golden Hind be drawn into a creek near here at Deptford as a perpetual memorial for having 'circuited round about the whole earth'. On 4th April 1581 she banqueted on board the Golden Hind and 'consecrated it with great ceremonie, pompe and magnificence eternally to be remembered' and forthwith knighted Drake on his ship in recognition of the honour that he had brought to England by his discoveries and circumnavigation in the years 1577-1580. His achievements included discovery of open sea from Atlantic to Pacific below South America, opening of English trade in the far east and claim to the western region of North America for England naming it Nova Albion (New England) and thereby linking it with claims to the east coast and encouraging subsequent colonization of the eastern seaboard. Drake's voyage fostered the principle expressed by the queen 'that the vse of the sea as of the ayre is common to all, and that the publique necessitie permits not it should be possessed'.
Presented by The Drake Navigators Guild, California Quadricentenniel, 4th April 1981.
What about JOHN HAWKINS?
WAREHOUSES
PEPYS ESTATE
DEADMAN’S DOCK (WHARF)
The owner of the most westerly part of the private dockyards was, in the 18th., JOHN DUDMAN. Hence the name, a morbid one!.But, as well, more corpses were recorded as being found because the rate of payment made to the MUDLARKS (STRAND-LOPERS) was higher than in ROTHERHITHE.
The expansion of the dockyards (Napol.Wars)resulted a high concentration of shipwrights here. In order to protect the interests of the trade they formed one of the earliest trade societies … a UNION!. The leader, JOHN GAST claimed that the majority of the men were members of the ST.HELENA SOCIETY.
With the end of the wars a big drop (from 50 a year to 1]in demand followed. The EIC and the RN began buying cheaper teck, Indian made ships, and Deptford faced ruin.
The economy was recovering 10 years later and GAST led the formation of the THAMES SHIPWRIGHTS’ PROVIDENT UNION, which spread rapidly and attained the 1.400. A GENERAL STRIKE was called in 1825 among the private yards (it lasted enough for the grass being able to grow in building slips). The Union was defeated as the Government opened new dockyards . GAST continued to fight for a general Union and suffrage reform.
CAPTAIN COOK
1768. Here, he took charge of the ENDEAVOUR. In preparation for the voyage to the Pacific, he arranged large quantities of of lines to be included with biscuits, rum and other provisions… Without understanding that SCURVY was due to la k of VC, but he had discovered how to beat the dreaded sailors disease!.
GEORGE VANCOUVER
From here: On board of the DISCOVERY, he accompanied J COOK, in his last journey (on RESOLUTION). In 1789 he supervised the fitting out of a new DISCOVERY, with a crew of 100.
In 1824 that DISCOVERY was moored here as a notorious CONVICT hulk, beforec being broken up in 1833 (House of Lords enquiry: nobody could be on board without contamination…?)
PEPYS PARK
Unsurprisingly, Pepys' diaries document his frequent visits to Rotherhithe and Deptford. As in other parts of London his outings aimed mainly to indulge his sexual dalliances, which included an innovative deal struck with a dockyard carpenter to further the man’s career in return for after-hours access to his wife. Today, his name lives on in the sprawling Pepys housing estate built on the site of the old shipyards and victualling warehouses, as well as Lower Pepys Park, today used for dogging activities in memory of the lower Pepys.
SAMUEL PEPYS!
Samuel Pepys's primary contribution was as a diarist, documenting Restoration England through his extensive journal.His diary, written from 1660 to 1669, offers invaluable insights into daily life, major events like the Great Plague and Fire of London, and his career as a naval administrator. Beyond his literary contribution, Pepys also made significant contributions to the Royal Navy, serving as a key administrator and implementing reforms.
Pepys played a crucial role in the early professionalization of the Royal Navy, helping to transform it from a corrupt and inefficient service into a powerful fighting force
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/pepys_samuel.shtml#:~:text=Fear%20of%20losing%20his%20eyesight,London%20on%2026%20May%201703.
From here, back to Bermondsey through PEPYS PARK, DEPTFORD PARK, passing THE DEN (MILWALL F.C.)
THE VICTORIA P.H.
Course of the GRAND SURREY CANAL
The Grand Surrey Canal was a canal constructed in south London, England during the early 19th century. It opened to the Old Kent Road in 1807, to Camberwell in 1810, and to Peckham in 1826. Its main purpose was to transport cargo, primarily timber (or 'deal') from the Surrey Commercial Docks.
The Grand Surrey Canal closed progressively from the 1940s, with all but the Greenland Dock closing in the 1970s. Much of the route is traceable, as it has been turned into roadways and linear parks.
DEPTFORD PARK
Deptford Park was originally a market garden belonging to the estate of the Evelyn family. Located near the River Thames, it was renowned for its onions, celery and asparagus.[1] In 1884, London County Council bought the land for the creation of a public park. It was designed by the chief parks officer Lt Col JJ Sexby and opened to the public in 1897. The park covers an area of 7.07 hectares (17 acres) and is accessed from Evelyn Street, with the entrance retaining traditional iron gates and railings and a small avenue of London planes. The original structure of the park is largely intact, with a perimeter pathway lined with further mature London planes
In 2005 steel sculpture, Blue Iridescence, by the artist Heather Burrell, was installed in the park.
Folkestone Gardens
A high-density housing estate (where railwaymen and their families lived, and called FOLKESTONE) built in 1890, stood here. On 7 March 1945, the area was badly damaged by a V-2 rocket, resulting in the loss of 53 lives. In the late 1960s and early '70s, the area was cleared and the park was subsequently laid out over part of Folkestone Gardens and also Oareboro Road, an L-shaped street of terraced houses
Sylva restaurant
Again, along of the old course of the SURREY CANAL
THE DEN (MILLWALL F.C.)
Redevelopment of the area
The industrial area around Millwall's home ground will change beyond recognition. South Bermondsey is set for a once-in-a-generation regeneration that will bring 3,500 homes to the area, a new London Overground station, and pave the way for Millwall FC's stadium to expand to 34,000 seats.
South Bermondsey Railway station
Alongside the cycle lane: Stubbs, Rossetti, Stevenson, Abercorn, Oxley, Chaucer
Site of BRICKLAYERS ARMS train station
Linton, Willow, Webb, Rothsay, Meakin Estate, Decima, Bermondsey St.
The THAMES PATH continues “inland” along GROVE ROAD towards DEPTFORD TOWN CENTRE
CONVOYS WHARF
A former commercial wharf currently awaiting redevelopment, inclyding the site of Deptford Dockyard (King Henry VIII). Convoys Wharf also covers most of the site of Sayes Court manor house and gardens, one-time home of the diarist John Evelyn.
The current name of the site dates from 1984, when the Ministry of Defence sold the wharf and adjoining land to Convoys Ltd (newsprint importers). Convoys Wharf was subsequently taken over by News International, which used it to import newsprint and other paper products from Finland until early 2000. Having been sold by News International in 2008, it is now owned by Hutchison Whampoa Limited and is subject to a planning application to convert it into residential u although a large part of the site has safeguarded wharf status.
SAYES COURT PARK
The memorial to Tsar Peter the Great’s visit to London in 1698 with his entourage, included four chamberlains, three interpreters, two clocksmiths, a cook, a priest, six trumpeters, seventy soldiers all as tall as their monarch (6’ 8” / 203 cm), four dwarves, and a monkey.
The site of the famous diarist John Evelyn’s house, where Peter the Great stayed on his visit.
PETER THE GREAT & JOHN EVELYN
During a reconnaissance mission across Europe in 1698, he rented a fine Deptford manor owned by John Evelyn, a contemporary diarist colleague of Pepys, with the goal of learning the trade of shipbuilding in the nearby yards. In the space of just three months, his penchant for holding wild parties with his Russian friends succeeded in wrecking the house and much of the garden, Evelyn’s pride and joy.
Dacca St.
Prince St.
THE KING’S YARD
HUGUESFIELD ESTATE
THE DOG & BELL P.H.
Watergate St.
King Street now Watergate Street was an ancient Deptford thoroughfare giving main access to the river. In the 17th and 18th centuries many of those inhabitants connected with its maritime industries, lived here in good houses such as this one No.17.(watercolour illustration by J.R. Llwyd Roberts.) It is similar to the surviving houses built in Albury Street by Thomas Lucas who also carried out building works in the adjacent Royal Dockyard from 1707. It was originally a part of a nearly continuous terrace of dwelling houses from the High Street (Deptford High St) to the Thames. In the mid 1920's the street had become a slum, and many of the houses had decaded and been demolished. Regeneration and new housing have now replaced those of the old street.
THE MASTER SHIPWRIGHT’S PALACE
House, built 1708 as the residence of the Master Shipwright to the Royal Naval Dockyard, Deptford, on the site of an earlier building. Probably designed by Joseph Allin, appointed Master Shipwright in 1705. Single-storey range added to the NE in 1710. House and NE range remodelled c1805-9. Two-storey extension added to end of NE range in 1809. Refurbished late C20 and early C21.
After rebuilding the old RECEIVING HOUSE ALLIN got some unpleasant questions put to him in Parliament: if the old house had been enough to accommodate QE and KChII, or W .RALEIGH, why was it not good enough for an upstart like him ?
UPPER WATERGATE STAIRS
The remaining portion of one of the original river approaches ton Deptford (lower, middle,upper watergates).
The wooden posts are all that remains of the causeway of the DEPTFORD FERRY to the ISLE OF DOGS.
TWINKLE PARK
Award-winning.
Borthwick St.
Deptford Green
ST.NICHOLAS Church
As well as being the patron saint of sailors, St Nicholas was the patron saint of pawnbrokers - as well as being the St Nicholas we know as Santa Claus. St Nicholas was a 4th Century Bishop living Asia Minor. The three balls of the pawnbrokers are supposed to derive from the fact that late one night he threw three bags of gold into a house in order to save save the three girls within from a career in prostitution, a destiny ensured by the extreme poverty that prevented them acquiring husbands through lack of dowry.
Since Saxon times this site has been occupied by DEPTFORD parish churches. Of the “last” rebuilding happened in 1697 ( CHARLES STANTON) only the walls survived the WW2 bombings damage… GRINLING GIBBON’s CARVINGS had been removed to the crypt!. Reopened in 1958, the post war restoration heavily altered the interior(THOMAS FORD).
The oldest part remaining is the base of the tower, well below ground which dates from c.1500. (Or is it early 14th?) The top (from the louvredbelfry opening) was remodelled early 20th c., due to the damage suffered following a violent storm
GG’ REREDOS: wig swags of leaves, flowers and fruits. PEAPOT. CYPHERS and COAT OF ARMS of W&M.
The “VALLEY OF DRY BONES” (EZEKIEL’S “VISION OF ~ )is a weird relief, that used to be above the door of the CHARNEL.
JACOBEAN PULPIT, supported on a cherub believed to have been a ship’s FIGUREHEAD.
The CHARNEL or mortuary dates from c.1701
On the gate-POSTS, the laurel wreathed SKULLS (the message is: death is not final, as it can lead to an everlasting life…), were originally dominated by crossbones. And, as so many privateer sailed from these shores, it is claimed that the carvings inspired he tradition SKULL & CROSSBONES flag.
More honourably the church is so stepped in naval history, that it has the privilege of flying the white ensign.
MEMORIALS to the EVELYN family of SAYES COURT, to the DEPT. shipbuilders PETT and SHISH, to ADDEY, aster shipwright and local benefactor (ADDEY SCHOOL, which became amalgamated with STANHOPE, now in NEW CROSS ROAD), KID MARLOW…
In a site not far from here…
In a tavern (?) CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE, thedramatist and poet, contemporary of WSHK was stabbed in the middle of a brawl
RACHEL McMILLAN NURSERY SCHOOL
RACHEL and MARGARET McM were both born in NY. They went back to INVERNESS, where their grandparents were from originally. MARG. took posts as a governess and teacher , and became involved in SOCIALIST activities. Then, she moved to BRADFORD in 1893, and be ame a founding member of the INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY.She joined RACHEL in London in 1902.
They became pioneers of medical inspections of schoolchildren, and campaigner school meals. They set up a CHILDREN’S CLINIC in DEPT. in 1910. In 1914 they founded the first of their world famous OPEN AIR nursery schools.
In 1930 MARG. opened the training college for nursery school,teachers, which she named after her sister, who had died in 1917. MARG. died in 1930, and both are buried in BROCKLEY.
MEMORIAL in the garden: a stone column, decorated, in his base by a ring of children, with linked hands, and animals and plants in bas relief. Attributed to ERIC GILL, it is certainly in his style.
Sign depicting both of them
Herb garden tended by the children
DEPTFORD
A riverside village, occupied in fishing and building small boats. In TUDOR times it became a place of outstanding importance in British naval history. An important town!.
From 1513, HENRY VIII would create here the the KING’S YARD, the ROYAL DOCKYARDS where the Royal Navy ships that would defeat the INVINCIBLE ARMADA (1588). And TRINITY HOUSE was founded (1514) and based here, adjoining the DOCKYARD (HOLY TRINITY AND ST.CLEMENT Ch.)
In DEPTFORD CREEK ELIZ.I boarded in 1581 the GOLDEN HIND, after she, captained by SIR FRANCIS DRAKE (who would be knighted) had circumnavigated the globe.
The Russian Prince, future CZAR PETER THE GREAT, would come here to learn the art of shipbuilding.
After centuries of separation from Greenwich, in 1815 the CREEK BRIDGE was built, and Deptford became entangled in the growth of London.
DEPTFORD had been FORDED (site of DEPTFORD BRIDGE) and the Romans had laid out a paved WATLING ST. A CELTIC trackway was already laid out. Roman finds have been excavated around BROADWAY and a SAXON cemetery was excavated in 1992 on the site of the DOVER CASTLE PH.
A wooden bridge gave way to a stone one. Market garden were around a potteries became established.
In 1497 took place here the BATTLE OF DEPTFORD BRIDGE. Rebels from CORNWALL, led by MICHAEL AN GOF marched on London protesting against punitive taxes.
Church Street became a shopping in the 18th c. , but in the 19th c. it was superseded by the HIGH ST. Both roads link the riverside village with newer area
Next chapter: the newest part of the former village
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The Surrey Docks Farm
Sustrans
