Greenwich, with its spectacular riverfront location and grand buildings, is associated with England’s glory days as a maritime nation. But its neighbour Deptford is steeped in just as much history of the sea. It was where ships docked and unloaded their cargos, where foreigners came to learn the art of shipbuilding, where sailors waved farewell to England as they headed out across the empire.
This walk paints a picture of life in Deptford over a hundred years ago, when it was a working neighbourhood of busy docks and wharves, busy streets and overcrowded houses, poverty and deprivation alongside affluence and comfort. It uses observations recorded by the social reformer, Charles Booth, who did a survey of poverty in London. There are also insights from other writers – diarists, novelists and historians – who describe the Deptford of the Victorian era.
Fast forward one hundred years and find out how some things have changed in Deptford and other things have stayed the same, ranging from the condition of the streets and housing to industry and employment.
Walk Info
- Distance:
-
2 ½ miles
- Level:
-
A flat route mostly on urban streets - Suitable for:
-
A completely step-free route
- Region:
- Greater London
- Setting:
- Towns & Cities
- Landscape:
- Historic landscapes People in the landscape Working landscapes
- Start:
- Big anchor, Deptford High Street
- Finish:
- St Paul’s churchyard
- Getting there:
-
Nearest station Deptford Bridge (DLR)Nearest stations Deptford and New CrossServed by various bus routesOn National Cycle Route 4
Part of Charles Booth’s poverty map of Deptford (1902)
© Charles Booth Online Archive, LSE
Contemporary street map of Deptford
© Charles Booth Online Archive, LSE
.jpg "London Deptford")
