London and Greenwich Railway - Deptford

London to Greenwich Railway
The railway went south eastwards through this area
TQ 36628 77089

Busy inner city area which once had a lot of industry - Stones began here -  in between many rail lines, canals and the main road to Dover. Churches, youth clubs and everything else. It was heavily bombed.


Post to the north Thames Tributary Earl Sluice - Deptford
Post to the west Cold Blow
Post to the south New Cross
Post to the east Deptford Creek


Achilles Street
The Achilles Street Estate was built in the early 1950s on a site previous bombed and use for prefabs.
Austin House. Five storey block of flats from the early 1950s
Fenton House. Five storey block of flats from the early 1950s
Azalea House. Three storey block of flats from the early 1950s.

Adolphus Street
V2 rocket attack January 1945 in heavy snow fall and made worse by the remains of domestic fires which set more alight. Twenty people died and 47 seriously injured. In the street, a dazed man walked up and down with a dead infant in his arms, asking where he should place it.

Amersham Grove
Hall.  Plaque saying ‘Museum’. This was once a private museum of curios collected by a J.T.Taylor, a merchant navy captain, and opened in 1890
38 a red brick double fronted house, probably built in the 1865with big stone balls on the forecourt walls
Railway Mission. This dated from the 1890s and was behind the houses in the right angled bend of the road

Amersham Vale
Royal Naval Place Allotments
5 PDSA Petaid Hospital. The Philippa and George Adams Centre
15 Mulberry Centre. Centre for people with learning disabilities, and also provides Challenging Needs Service. The building has been remodelled by Mode 1 Architects.
Waldron Health Centre. Walk-in medical centre built for the Lewisham Primary Care Trust in 2006-2010. The Project Architect was Craig Linnell of Henley, Halebrown and Rorrison
Walpole Road Underpass to Fordham Park. This goes under the station and in 2010 was refurbished ad designed with overblown flower designs by artist Heather Burrell
48 Admiral Napier pub. This pub has been demolished
78 Hilary House. Municipal dispensary for the treatment of consumption opened in 1912
Old Police Station. Building of 1912 with bowed windows and wrought iron railings.  Now a museum and art gallery. This is a do-it-yourself art centre with 42 artists' studios, a gallery, independent project spaces, a radio station, band rehearsal space and pop-up cocktail bar. This was started by Anthony Gross in 2009 with the idea of an exhibition as a social centre.
114 Deptford Police Station.
New Cross Station. Opened in 1850 it lies between St.John’s and London Bridge stations on South East Trains and is the terminus of East London Railway from Surrey Quays. It opened as New Cross & Naval School Station on the North Kent Line in 1850, and was one of the original stations on the North Kent Line. It was renamed New Cross in 1854. By 1870 many lines passed through New Cross: the North Kent via Woolwich and Lewisham (opened 1849); the Dartford Loop via Sidcup (opened 1866); the Mid-Kent via Ladywell and Catford (opened 1857); and the Tonbridge Line via Orpington and Sevenoaks (opened 1868). The four tracks were served by six platform faces, arranged as two islands and two side platforms. The platform for the East London Railway to Wapping, on the eastern side of the station was opened 1884 and trains were run by the Metropolitan & District Railway from St.Mary’s to New Cross. Platforms were linked by an enclosed glazed footbridge, which led to a single-storey brick building. The works for the East London line involved a line to the east which meant demolition of seventeen houses. A turntable and loop were added along with a siding with a water tower and coal staith. New offices were also built. The East London line was electrified in 1913, which meant the turntable and loop were removed and the platform face was segregated from the rest with railings. An electric timetable began on the lines to Chislehurst and to Dartford in 1926. Since 1923, the station had been know as ‘’New Cross’’. In 1954 standard concrete bracket lampposts were erected on all platforms and in 1968, physical connections between British Rail and the East London Line were removed. Resignalling led to changes in platform layouts and a new island platform a wooden station was built adjacent to the East London Line. The station then had platforms designated by letters, rather than numbers. A temporary footbridge and a subway were built.  The old station building was demolished.  Piles of granite blocks over ordered in 1839 were still there in 1970. The down platform retains some ornate iron columns of the original station. More recent changes have taken place to allow extensions to the East London Line.
Signal Box. At first there was a cabin at the northern end of the up island platform.  When the East London Line was added in 1876, a larger SER-designed signal box was provided to the north of this on the side of the embankment. This was abolished following electrification

Angus Street.
Moonshot Centre. This was constructed in 1981 in the wake of the New Cross fire and as a result local people lobbied for a building as a base for local the African and Caribbean communities. The building is owned by the local authority and was formerly known as the Pagnell Street Youth and Community Centre. This had begun as the Moonshot Club in St John's Hall, Lewisham in about 1971 founded by Sybil Phoenix. This building burnt down in the late 1970s and Pagnell Street Centre Charitable Trust leased a property on Fordham Park in 1979. The Inner London Education Authority), the Sports Council and the London Borough of Lewisham funded and were closely involved. The centre quickly became a focal point for the local black community. In 1981 and Sybil Phoenix helped organise the Black Peoples' Day of Action after the New Cross Fire. The club closed down in 1999 but was later re-opened as the Moonshot Club.  In 1999 a consortium oversaw the refurbishment of the building and a glass Atrium was added

Archer Square
Site of Archer Tower. This was a block in Sanford Street.

Arklowe Road
Stone’s Works. From 1881 to 1969 the industrial estate was Stone’s engineering works. J. Stone & Co had been founded by Josiah Stone in a workshop in Deptford in 1831, moving in 1842 to railway arches where he made hand pumps and manual fire engines. The firm moved to Arklow Road in 1881 to make propellers, watertight ships doors, steam pumps, electric lighting systems for railways axle-driven lighting system, and later air conditioning for trains and other engineering products. There was a Fastener Division, a Boiler Division, a Rail Division, and a Laundry Division. The propeller foundry moved to Charlton in 1916 where it remains. In 1950 the Deptford works made rail and road transport products, nails, rivets and washers. In 1959 the firm became Stone Platt Industries, and in 1963 Stone Manganese Marine. The Deptford factory closed in 1969.
Stone's Office block. A classical building of 1916, with an extra floor added in 1928
Olivet Deptford Baptist Church. A church built in 1980, with steeply sloping roof and elongated squared windows.  The church was founded in 1863 by the famous preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who saw the great need for young people to be taught at a Sunday School. He persuaded business men put sufficient money together for a church and Sunday school and made sure that the facilities for the Sunday school were built before the church itself.  The area around the church was bombed and later a Compulsory Purchase Order was put upon the church.  After much negotiation the present site was agreed upon and the new Olivet Deptford Baptist Church was built and opened in December 1980.         
28 SAFA House. The building has most recently been used as a Caribbean social centre and youth club. It was built as a coffee tavern and social centre and but it may have been the Welcome Institute which operated as an educational and sports centre and also as a canteen for Stones workers.

Auburn Close
Modern housing estate on old industrial land
Cormacks Nursery. The close is said to be the site of this nursery which stood alongside the Croydon Canal in the 1830s. It also appears to be on a railway site shown on 1890s maps as ‘New Cross Low Level’ on the east side of New Cross Gate Station.  This was the East London Railway’s first station at New Cross. This station closed in 1886, and District trains ran thereafter to the adjacent London Brighton and South Coast Railway which is now known as New Cross Gate.

Averton Street
Clyde Child Care Centre.  This is on the site of John Evelyn School which was built in the 1870's and opened in 1875. the original name of the school was Duke Street school – Duke Street ran parallel to Evelyn Street and later became Alverton Street and the school also changed its name also to Alverton Street School in 1919, and then to John Evelyn School in 1930.  Much of the area was bombed or later demolished for the Evelyn Estate. In 1972 an Infants School was built next to the School and was called John Evelyn Infants School. Later the Primary and Infants schools combined into one, and by 1979 some of the main school was allocated to South East London College. But the ground floor and playground were still used.  In 1980 the ground floor became the North Lewisham Secondary Schools Support Unit and the upper floors were while Ravensbourne Adult Education Institute. Infants building closed in 1986 and then became Clyde Street Day Care School for nursery age children. The main school was demolished in 1994.

Batavia Road
This was originally the eastern part of Five Bells Lane.  Developments at the station, possibly those at the time of the mid 1840s atmospheric era, saw the end of the lane as a through route.  It continues to the west as Hatcham Park Road.
Croydon Canal. A humped bridge crossed the canal on the line of the lane.
Railway. The railway removed the hump bridge and replaced it with a tunnel under the line. With a width of 6' and height of 7’

Berwick Street
Site of Berwick Tower which was based in Sanford Street

Blackhorse Road
The road – named for a local pub – ran alongside the Surrey Canal and was home to a variety of canal side industries and as such appears in lists of London wharves alongside large Thameside sites.
Trading Estate. Modern units with offices and light industry at the south western end of the road, historically a tar works site. Units are also housed in railway arches,
Wellington Oil Wharves. This was at the far western end of the road on the site which is now the trading estate. Latterly this was the Anglo-Pennsylvanian Oil Co, dealers in fats and greases which they recycled and had a refinery in Uddingston Lanarkshire.

Childeric Road
Childeric Primary School. This was a London County Council school dating from before 1900 and used as a ‘Demonstration school” by Goldsmiths College and the University of London Day Training College. The smaller building by the entrance was of 1892; the other towered over the area and dated from 1899.  New school buildings were erected in 2008.

Childers Street
This was previously called James Street,
Stone’s Engineering Works. Range of workshops from, 1903-07. Light machine shop built 1907. Metallurgical laboratory 1913. Storeys were added to make the building higher in 1925 because of increased demand for railway lighting systems. They also made cars here. This is now artists’ studios.
SR Communications. This was a printing firm which once occupied part of the old Stone's Works. Now gone. Building converted to flats.
81 Lord Palmerston.  The pub probably dates from the 1880s
73-79 British Legion Building. Pride of Deptford. This dated from the late 1970s and is now demolished and the site is now flats.

Chipley Street
Druid Tower was a 23 storey block Constructed in the early 1970s, it contained 92 flats. Demolished in estate reordering after 1995.

Clifton Rise
Tollgate – the junction is the site of the tollgate on New Cross Road – and so the road was once called Turnpike Hill. The southern end of the road now runs inside Fordham Park.
72 Dew Drop Inn. This pub dates from the 1860s.  This pub is now flats
10a BWA Muslim Centre this is a mosque and a Bangaladeshi Welfare Centre.
Public conveniences. These stood at the junction with New Cross Road and were an example of 19th ornamentation with a lot of ironwork. The lamp post and ventilation pipe to the toilets remains as a street feature designed by Alexander 'Greek' Thomson from Walter Macfarlane & Co's Saracen Foundry in Glasgow. It dates from 1897.

Clyde Street
33 Lewisham Indo Chinese Community Centre. The school began after many Indo Chinese refugees came to the area in the late 1970s. A new school building was achieved in 1988 and pupils undertake 5 hours of classes every week. The school includes the Little Rainbows Day Nursery.
Clyde Street Nursery School. A tree now grows on the site of this demolished school.
Clyde Street School.  This London School Board School dated from pre-1907. At the start of the Second World War children from the school were evacuated to the country and it became an ARP post with a gas decontamination centre on the first floor.  In 1940 it was bombed and six wardens killed. The school was destroyed and the remains used for storage. 
Grinling Gibbons Infants School. The school was built in   1951 on the site f the bombed Clyde Street School. It is currently in a federation with Lucas Vale School.
Alfred Morris Day Centre. This site is now flats
Old Town Library, This opened in 1931. It later became the Old Town Community, Arts & Youth Centre. It was built and partly serviced by Greenwich Borough Council. It was closed and scheduled for disposal in the 1990s. This is no longer there.
Baths. Designed by Kenneth Cross and his father, Alfred, who were known for designing municipal baths. They opened in 1928, and contained slipper baths, vapour bath, foam bath and public laundry. They were used until 1988 and then closed. The building is no longer there
Park

Cottesbrook Street
Living Flames Baptist Church

Croydon Canal
The line of the Croydon Canal would have been approximately along the down line platform of New Cross Gate Station.

Desmond Street 
St. Michael’s Church of England and United Reform Community Centre. This was set up in  1972 and aims are to provide affordable quality childcare and to support the welfare, social and economic needs of children and families.  The church replaced one bombed out in 1941 in Knoyle Street.
Orpheus Tower was a 14 storey block Constructed in the early 1970s with 56 flats.  It was demolished in estate reordering in 1995.

Douglas Way
Part of this wholly pedestrianised road is a pathway in the Margaret Macmillan Park

Edward Street,
This was once called Loving Edward Lane
Deptford Green School. The new school won an award as the best educational building in the UK in 2013.  It was originally built as the Clifton Hill School in 1873, the school was renamed Clifton Rise School in 1937, and Christopher Marlowe School in 1951. The Upper School in Amersham Vale was built in the 1970s and then the original school was renamed the Deptford Green School Annexe, and was later referred to as the “Lower School”.
Edward Street School.  The school dated from 1889 and was what we today would describe as special needs
Celestial Church of Christ. This was St. Mark’s Anglican Church built in 1883 by A H Newman. It was originally a chapel of ease to St Paul's. It closed in 1955, and was leased to Stones as a warehouse 1955-1969 and later used as a youth and community centre 1971-1987. It was formally declared redundant 1998 and sold to the Celestial Church of Christ.
63 West Kent Yeoman Pub. Demolished
Boulevard. When the London and Greenwich Railway was first built a walkway known as the boulevard ran the length of the line. Some of this remains here along the south side of the line with rounded coping stones on the wall
St. Paul's Schools. These stood east of the London and Greenwich rail bridge in the 1860s.

Evelyn Street
Evelyn Street, was also known as Deptford Road or Lower Road, and was laid out as a turnpike road by the New Cross Turnpike Trust in 1718.
Tollhouse for the turnpike was built at the junction with Prince Street. This was built in the early 18th and demolished in 1865. It was known as the Gibraltar toll house.
Evelyn Street Estate. This was built in the late 1950s on a bombed housing site replaced by prefabs. There are seven blocks of flats and some shops. The six storey blocks are Mulberry House, Laurel House, Ashford House, Wardalls House and Magnolia House. A five storey block is Linden House.
Howard House is a 6 storey slab block built in the mid 1960s on the site of a bombed factory with 42 deck-access flats
299 John Evelyn Pub. This is now a bookies
309 Gibraltar Pub. This pub has now been demolished
321 Globe. This was present by 1840 and had closed in 1998.  It is now a bookies. It is possible that this pub is that referred to by Samuel Pepys in the 17th to but this may be to a different pub. A pub called the Globe was on this site by 1735. This was demolished in 1840 for road improvements and replaced by the current building.
393 Telegraph Pub. This has now been demolished.

Exeter Way
Pagnall Street Night Shelter. This is run by St. Mungos.
Folkestone Gardens
An open space laid out after the war on the site of bombed flats. The site is landscaped and has walkways, woodland areas and a large pond on the north-western side with an island and a large willow. Some of the pond plants were taken surplus from the restoration of the pond at the Hare and Billet on Blackheath. Other trees include Lombardy poplars.  The northern part of the park was originally Blackhorse Pond which had been used in the construction of the Surrey Canal and which had been drained by the railway.
Seven housing blocks built by the South Eastern Railway were previously here. They were flats built to rehouse people whose homes were demolished when London Bridge Station was extended in 1901. The flats had three floors with a drying ground on roof and a   wide asphalted yard between the blocks
The site suffered South East London's second worst bombing raid in 1945. The rocket fell between two blocks of flats destroying both blocks, together with houses in Trundleys Road. Residents died in their beds in more than twenty different flats and altogether, 52 people were killed, 64 seriously injured and 70 treated for lesser injuries. Most of the casualties were Southern Railway employees or their dependents. The scene attracted a stream of VIPs.

Fordham Park
Fordham Park. A large area cleared in the 1970s. The area was developed with terraced housing from the 1850s on what had previously been farmland. This housing was demolished in the early 1970s, and the Park - named after the last Mayor of Deptford -was opened in 1975. It was redesigned in 2010

Goodwood Road
This is an extension of what was North Road running northwards into land otherwise used for railway sidings. North Road also led to the first New Cross station of the East London Line, which now appears to be covered by Auburn Close.
Bond House. ASC studios. Warehouse built in the 1960s now used by arts organizations
40 New Cross Health Centre. New Cross Gate dialysis unit. This is on the site of Blundell House.
Letts Son & Co. Printing works. John Letts, a bookbinder and printer based in the City of London published ‘Letts's diary or bills owed book and almanack’ which were developed by his son Thomas. His factories at North Road printed interest tables, specialist clerical and medical diaries, calendars, parliamentary registers, ledgers, and logbooks.
Aspinall’s Enamels and Paints Factory. This factory appears to have started manufacturing “Enamels, Blacks and Stains” in 1885. The factory was rebuilt after a fire in the 1890s and became Halstead’s Distemper Works. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1934
W.A.Halstead’s distember works remained on the site until at least the late 1950s
Metropolitan Coal Cooperative Association. There were extensive coal yards connected to the East London Railway the east of what is now Goodwood Road
Rapesco House. Rapesco, now based near Sevenoaks, make office fastening products. They opened in 1957 and for a while this block was known as The Stapling Centre.  It is now occupied by a number of business units,
Vent pipe
23 M. Holleran Engineering Co. no longer there and site is derelict

Gosterwood Street 
111 Gosterwood Tavern. This pub is now flats.
Etta Community Hall. This is occupied by Lewisham Somali Community Organisation

Grand Surrey Canal
A short section of the canal is on this square at its junction with Trundleys Road and the London and Greenwich Railway Line.
Kingfisher Square
This place does not seem to be shown on street atlases and it appears to relate to a large green open space between Clyde, Staunton and Abinger Street which appears to be otherwise nameless.
Evelyn Community Centre
Bunnyhop Day Nursery
8 RCCG Overcomers Assembly

Knoyle Street
Knoyle Street once stretched westwards through the tunnel under the railway as the road now known as the eastern section of Cold Blow Lane.
St Michaels Mission Church. The church was on the corner with Sandford Street.  It was a chapel of ease to St. James's, Hatcham, and was a small brick building. It was destroyed by bombing in 1941 and rebuilt in 1957. It was then demolished to make way f or a large estate and rebuilt in Desmond Street. A memorial to the dead of the Great War was in the original but its whereabouts are no longer know
Bomb factory for Stones in Second World War
St Michael’s House. This was on the corner of Woodpecker Road.  A war memorial tablet was placed on the wall by the Mazawattee Tea Company in memory of the men of the district who fell in the Great War.

Liardet Grove
Houses in the original road were demolished and the site is now part of the Woodpecker Estate. Booth said that the original houses belonged to the Railway Company and were occupied by their workers. 

Ludwick Mews
New Testament Church of God. This was built in 1894 as a Sunday School and Mission.  It has recently been extended and now includes a school. It was once called New Cross Congregational Church. The congregational church was listed as being in Ludwick Road (now Mews) but the current building is on the junction with that and Bawtree Road and the New Testament gives the address as Bawtree.


Margaret Macmillan Park
Margaret McMillan Park.  Linear Park stretching westwards, all around. In the park is Bridge and Banks, a landscape sculpture with a stone bridge, by John Maine 1991.  It is named for the Deptford based pioneer of nursery education

Milton Court Road
Milton Court Estate. A local authority estate of the late 1960s
1-24 9 storey block built in the mid-1960s with 24 flats
25-56 9 storey block built in the mid-1960s with 32 flats

New Cross Road
277 - 281 three plaques to the V2 attack of 1944.  One says ‘In memory of the 168 people who died and those injured in the V2 rocket attack that landed here 25th November 1944. London Borough of Lewisham’.  In all 168 people were killed and 121 were seriously injured here.  Some bodies were never found – including those of babies. It was the 251st Rocket to be successfully launched and one of the worst civilian disasters of the Second World War. The Co-Op Store next door also collapsed, an army lorry was overturned and destroyed, and a double decker bus was spun round, there were people in the bus queue, people in other vehicles.  It was lunch time; people were in the canteen and in the cafe. The debris stretched from the Town Hall to New Cross Gate station and it took 3 days to retrieve all the bodies. There was only one survivor.  There is another plaque put up by the Deptford History Group. ‘Remembering Woolworths, 168 people killer in Britain's worst V2 attack, 25th November 1944. Deptford History Group 1994’. The other plaque is painted over - Beneath an illustration of a magpie it says ‘In memory of the 168 people who lost their lives here during WW2 on the 25th of November 1944. One for sorrow’.
288 Hope Cottage, a brick building of 1842, with a porch supported by solid pillars. It is in use by Goldsmiths College.
Deptford Town Hall. This is now part of Goldsmith’s College. It was built in 1903-7 to a competition winning design of H. V Lanchester, J.A Stewart & E. A. Rickards. The stone front has four statues of naval heroes and a sculpture of a naval battle. There is a clock turret with a spire surmounted by a ship weathervane. Inside it is logical and straightforward with a staircase serving the ground floor offices and the first floor council chamber and committee rooms. The marble stairway has a wrought iron balustrade with crossed anchors, tridents and chains.  There is a stone facade two figures of dolphin-tailed Tritons decorated with a ship's prow and other marine carvings.
316 New Cross House. This used to be the, Goldsmiths Tavern and before that the Golden Cross. Claims to be hundreds of years old and there are references from the 1820s but this building is 1895.. Art Deco lettering at the top of the corner gable.  This is on the old Kent/Surrey boundary. 
323 New Cross Inn. Pub built around 1890 with a line of golden winged caryatids along both sides. It is on the site of an 18th pub and a pub with this name has been on the site since 1700.
322 Marquis of Granby. The road junction takes its name from this pub - the Marquis was Seven Years War hero.. There has been a pub here since c1760, but  rebuilt 1868.  Around this area was the original village centre of New Cross.
Property mark, the Arms of the Corporation of the City of London.
New Cross Turnpike, administered by the New Cross Turnpike Trust with the gate at the top of Clifton Rise. outside the Goldsmiths Tavern.  moved to Queens Road junction 1895 
325 Venue Night Club.   This opened in 1925 as the New Cross Super Cinema. It was designed for pictures and variety, with a stage and three dressing rooms. There was also a Palais de Danse and a cafe. It was renamed the New Cross Kinema in 1927 and taken over by Denman/Gaumont in 1928 with a rising Wurlitzer organ installed the following year. It was re-named the Kinema in 1948 and in 1950 it was re-named Gaumont. It was closed by the Rank Organisation in 1960. The auditorium was demolished and an office block replaced it. The facade and front section were used by International Stores and then a furniture shop with the Venue above. Now the Venue use the whole building.
337 Midland Bank. Built in 1905, with four columns between classical entrances.
338/350 Harvey Terrace, built in 1851. The date of 1834 shown is incorrect.
339/345 this terrace is built 1827.
Rail bridge was rebuilt in the early 1970s following realignment of New Cross station following resignalling at London Bridge
388 Amersham Arms pub. References to it from the 1850s. Painted on the outside was an advert for lunches at 1/- and music room called ‘The Gig’. This is a big music and cabaret venue and many many famous names have started here.
455 in the middle of a terrace of shops the entrance of Bunnet & Co. Ltd., roller blind manufacturers. Their extensive engineering works were behind in Glenville Grove, making steam engines, roller shutters and cranes between 1820 and1914... They were set up by Joseph Bunnett in 1836
Fragment of an old iron gas lamp stands on the pavement. 
405 The shop displayed a tobacco roll over the door. Thus was probably from the 1870s. Demolished
407 The Walpole. Pub with 19th wall tiles and gas lamps. It dates from around 1855. Demolished
411 Amersham Hall. This hall became the Conservative Club Hall until 1888. Demolished
460 Royal Albert Pub. This has also been called the Paradise Bar. It dates from about 1850. It has a’ Tudor’ granite pilasters, and curved bow windows to the front and the side. There is a stage inside.
466-468, Zion Baptist Chapel. This is a classical brick building from 1876. It is in a railed off courtyard with lamp-holder. A chapel was originally opened here site in 1846 and a new chapel was added in front in 1857, the original chapel became the Sunday school and is now the church hall. Inside the chapel is a gallery all round fronted with carved decorative iron railings.
470 Iyengar Yoga Institute. This was the New Cross Building Society. The inscription 'established 1866' refers to the Building Society which was founded here in a previous building in 1866 but moved away in 1975. It was used by Millwall Football Club from 1980, by the Seventh Adventist Mission from 1986, and the yoga institute from 1994.
480 Crown Cinema. This was a shop conversion which opened in 1910 with seats on long wooden benches. It was closed when its licence expired in 1914. It became a shop again, then a post office. It is now demolished with an extension to Addy and Stanhope School on the site.
439 In 1980 this was the site of an unexplained fire which killed many young people at a party

Pagnall Street
V2 attack 1944. The warhead exploded between houses in Pagnell Street, Railway Grove, and Angus Street, killing eight and injured 57.  Forty houses were ruined. When darkness fell, volunteers manned a mobile floodlight presented to Deptford by the U.S.Navy.

Railway Lines
London and Greenwich Railway. The London and Greenwich Railway dates from 1836 and is the earliest railway in London. It is carried on a viaduct through this area.
London and Greenwich Railway Viaduct. When the London and Greenwich Railway was being built, in 1835, two demonstration houses were opened in railway arches west of Deptford Station to show how they arches could be used.  They appeared to be small but comfortable, like caves. They had plastered fronts facing out onto to the south boulevard. They were lit by gas and had gas stoves and cooker - but the roofs leaked
North East Kent Junction. In 1849 the South Eastern Maine Line was extended, via here to a junction with the London and Greenwich Railway and from then on could access London Bridge Station. The Southern Eastern Line had to climb to join the London and Greenwich Viaduct... There are arches, with quality brickwork, under both lines. A number of roads pass under the viaduct – Gosterwood Street’s tunnel entrance to Fordham Park passes closest under the junction.
South Eastern Main Line. The main line of the South Eastern Railway dates from 1836, and reached
Ashford in 1842. Their original locomotive works was at New Cross moving to Ashford in 1845. In the 1869s they built a line to Sevenoaks and Tunbridge. Trains go through New Cross Station on diverge further down the line to a number of destinations, including the North Kent Line, the Mid Kent line and the Dartford Loop.
East London Line. This line which has crossed the River at Rotherhithe accesses both New Cross and New Cross Gate Stations. The basic line was built in 1869 by the East London Railway Company, which reused Marc Brunel’s Thames Tunnel to run train services between north London, principally Liverpool Street, to south London destinations. The line became part of the London Transport Underground service in 1933 as part of the Metropolitan Line. In 1966 the connection to Liverpool Street was cut and trains ran mainly from Whitechapel. . In 2007 it closed for redevelopment and reopened as part of the Overground in 2010 and in 2012 linked to other lines to create an orbital railway around London.
East London Line – in 1869 the line opened between New Cross Gate and Wapping as part of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway
East London Line. In 1880 A spur was opened to New Cross South Eastern Railway station
New Cross East London Line Depot this stood south of New Cross station and served the East London Line up until its closure by London Underground, It was replaced with a modern depot for the London Overground at New Cross Gate.
London to Croydon Railway. This opened in 1839 and in 1846 became part of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway.  This part of the line was built on the bed of the Croydon Canal southwards from New Cross. Northwards it was to join the London and Greenwich Railway at Corbetts Lane.  This was built in 1836.  Much of the canal’s route needed to be straightened and the levels around New Cross were also difficult, and a 1 in 80 gradient was selected but was eased when it became a trunk route.  In due course this became the Kline known as the Brighton Main Line which goes through New Cross Gate Station.
Atmospheric Railway. The London and Croydon Railway began its line in 1835. Congestion 9of the 1 in 100 ascent from New Cross became a problem. it was proposed to lay a third track on the east side of the existing double track main line, and all the local trains in both directions would use it and it would use atmospheric power.
Engine shed for the London and Croydon railway at New Cross
New Cross Gate Station. The station buildings on New Cross Road are on the adjacent square to the south.  Two lines run into the station – The East London Line from Surrey Quays Station, and several lines from London Bridge Station.
Croydon Canal at New Cross Gate Station – the line of the Croydon Canal would have been approximately along the down line platform.
New Cross Gate. Signal Box associated with the Low Level station lay to the east of what is now Auburn Close. It controlled the East London Junction [GE] to East London Junction [LBSCR  An Odeon style signal box with a Westinghouse Brake & Signal Co. Ltd. Style 'L' Power Lever Frame was commissioned in 1950. It continued in use for 25 years until taken over by the London Bridge signaling centre NX Panel in 1975.

Rolt Street
This was once called Coney Hall Lane. Rolt was a Deptford shipbuilder. The twists and turns in the road result from diversions when the canal was built

Sanford Street
Sanford Street runs parallel to the East London Railway Line, appearing on maps only in the 20th.  From Knoyle Street southwards it runs on land once in use as railway sidings connected to New Cross Gate Station on the eastern part of the complex used by the East London Railway.  The road in its present form dates from the redevelopment of the area into the Woodpecker Estate in the 1960s
Archer Tower. This was a 14 storey block built in the early 1970s. It was the northernmost tower on the estate and had 56 flats.

Sayes Court Street.
The road leads to Sayes Court Gardens, a nice open space with gardens in the square to the north. Sayes Court, of course, having been John Evelyn’s home here in the 17th

Southerngate Way
On the site of rail sidings

Stanley Street
Haberdashers Aske. Hatcham College. Mornington Site. This is what was Stanley Street School which appears to date from at least the late 1870s and built by the School Board for London

Staunton Street
Kingfisher Medical Centre

Trundley’s Road
This follows the line of what was Trundleys Lane which covered the northern, and main, part of a route from New Cross to Rotherhithe.
Necker Bridge. Built around 1806 this took what was  then Trundleys Lane over the Surrey Canal. This was a road bridge dating from the construction of the canal.
The London and Greenwich Railway. The Railway bridge here crosses Trundleys Road (in the square to the north) and also bridges the canal built here in 1835. It was the first bridge on the line to be completed and the arches stand at 43o41' skew. The two wider arches took the railway over the canal and have now been filled to ground level, and are used for industrial purposes. The bridge was widened by wrought iron girder spans alongside the old arches in 1901. A parapet has also been taken off the top of the bridge. At the base of the bridge can be seen the remains of what were huge semi circular abutments – and which can clearly be seen on contemporary prints of the bridge over the working canal.
The South Eastern line to Lewisham diverges from the Greenwich line. The North Kent East Signal Box was on the line 1929-1979 just south of the Surrey Canal.
Engineering works. This stood on the west side in the 1960s on a site now occupied by a trading estate

Woodpecker Road
Pedestrianised, follows the route of an old lane as it cir through the estate.
Spanish Steps pub. The pub was also called the Phoenix and is now closed.
The Woodpecker Estate this is a 1960s housing estate on a site which was previously terraces but which was completely cleared during the 1960s. It has more recently been completely rebuilt.
Naseby Tower. This was a 23 storey block built in the early 1970s, with 82 flats. Now demolished
Hawke Tower. This is a 23 storey block built in the early 1970s, now it is as the only tower block on the estate and a local landmark. It has 92 flats
Pegasus Tower. This was a 14 storey block built in the early 1970s, it was the southernmost block of the estate had 56 flats
Hercules Tower. This was a 14 storey block built in the early 1970s with 56 flats.
Berwick Tower. This was a 14 storey block built in the early 1970s with 56 flats

Wootton Road
9 Lord Clyde Pub. Home to Maloney's Fight Factory, boxing club. Closed but putting up a fight to reopen


Sources
Bennett. London’s First Railway
Booth. The Streets of London
BrockleySE4. Web site
Bygone Kent
Caroline’s Miscellany. Web site
Cinema Treasures, Night Club
Closed Pubs. Web site
Clunn. The Face of London
Deptford Dame. Web site
East London Line. Clive’s Underground Lines.
East London Line. Wikipedia Web site
Field.  Place names of London
Forbidden Fruits. Web site
GLIAS Newsletter 
GLIAS- walk
John Evelyn School. Dedication site. Web site
Kent Rail. Web site
Lewisham Indo Chinese Community Centre. Web site
Lewisham Local History Society. Newsletter
Lewisham Local History Society. Transactions,
Lewisham Local History Society. Byway leaflets
London Borough of Lewisham. Web site
London and Croydon Railway. Wikipedia Web site
New Cross Station. Wikipedia Web site
New Cross Gate Station. Wikipedia Web site
Pevsner and Cherry. South London
Port of London Magazine
Pub History. Web site.
Remnants of the Croydon Canal. Web site.
Retracing Canals to Croydon and Camberwell.
South Eastern Railway. Wikipedia Web site
Spurgeon. Deptford and Lewisham,
Steele. Turning the Tide
Thames Basin Archaeology of Industry Group. Report
Thomas Letts. Wikipedia Web site
Thomas. London’s First Railway, the London and Greenwich
Transpontine. Web site
UK Housing Wiki. Web site
Up the Creek
Waldron Health Centre. Web site
Woolworths Museum. Lest We Forget New Cross. Web site

Comments

Des de Moor said…
Very useful, interesting and comprehensive post as always. But I think Rolt Street was diverted to its current meandering course by the construction of the London and Greenwich Railway, not the canal. Trundleys Road, or Trundleys Lane as it was, once continued in more of a straight line south to become Woodpecker Road (now the track through the Milton Court Estate), and Rolt Street formed a T-junction with it.

Incidentally, the line of Trundleys Road and Woodpecker Road once formed the county boundary between Kent to the east and Sussex to the west. Locally, the Milton Court Estate is known as the Woodpecker Estate.

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