CHAPTER XVIII.
ELTHAM, LEE, AND LEWISHAM.
"Stant ibi regifico constructa palatia luxu."—Ovid.
Situation and Derivation of the Name of Eltham—Descent of the Manor—The Palace—Henry III. keeps his Christmas here—Edward II. and
his Court—John, King of France—Richard II. and Anne of Bohemia—Froissart here presents the King with a Copy of his Works—Henry IV. and his Court—Royal Christmas Festivities—Eltham Palace abandoned by the Court—The Palace during the Civil Wars—Dismantling of the Parks—Description of the Palace—Sale of the Middle Park Stud of Racehorses—Eltham Church—Well Hall—Lee—Lewisham—Hither Green, Catford, and Ladywell—Loam Pit Hill—New Cross—Royal Naval Schools—Hatcham.
Eltham is situated on the high road leading from
London to the Crays, and thence to Maidstone,
at a distance of about two miles south-eastward
from Greenwich. The place was anciently called
Eald-ham (the old home or dwelling-place), and
was formerly a market town of considerable importance; the markets, however, were discontinued
temp. James I., shortly after the palace ceased to
be used as a royal residence. The manor, in
the time of Edward the Confessor, belonged to
the Crown, of whom it was held by one Alwold.
William the Conqueror granted it, together with
many other estates in the county of Kent, to his
half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, Earl of Kent;
and at the time of the Domesday survey it was
held of him by Hamo, Sheriff of Kent. On the
confiscation of Odo's estates, however, some four
years later, this manor reverted to the Crown, and,
becoming divided, one part of it was retained by
the sovereign, and the other part was given to
the family of De Mandeville, whence the place
obtained the name of Eltham Mandeville. The
part held by the Crown was afterwards granted by
Edward I. to John de Vesci, Lord of Eltham, who
subsequently obtained the whole by exchange with
Walter de Mandeville.
The manor was afterwards granted to Anthony
Bec, Bishop of Durham and Patriarch of Jerusalem,
to hold in trust for his natural son, who was called
William de Vesci, of Kildare. Through a betrayal
of the trust reposed in him, however, the bishop,
on the death of the last Lord de Vesci, appears
to have obtained possession of the estates, and
to have bestowed great cost on the buildings at
Eltham. He died here in the year 1311, having
bestowed the estate on Queen Eleanor, the consort
of Edward I. The manor was next granted to
Sir Gilbert de Aton, and afterwards to Geoffrey le
Scrope, to hold by the accustomed services. It
subsequently again reverted to the Crown, having,
it is said, been given to Queen Isabella, consort of
Edward II. It has remained in the possession of
the Crown since that period, having been occasionally granted for terms of years on lease to
various persons. It may be mentioned that the
title of Lord Eltham has been more than once
refused to individuals who were anxious to assume
it on being raised to the peerage, on the express
ground that the Barony of Eltham belongs to the
sovereign. The precise date of the erection of
a palace here is quite a matter of uncertainty;
the earliest mention of it by our old historians
as a royal residence is in the continuation of the
"Historia Major" of Matthew of Paris, ascribed
to William Rishanger, a monk of St. Albans, who
brought it from the year 1259 down to the close of
the reign of Henry III. Lambarde's allusion to
this work runs as follows:—"King Henrie the
Third (saith Mat. Parise), toward the latter ende of
his reigne (1270), kept a Royall Christmas (as the
manner then was) at Eltham, being accompanied
with his Queene and Nobilitie: and this (belike)
was the first warming of the house (as I may call
it) after that the Bishop had finished his worke.
For I doe not hereby gather that hitherto the king
had any propertie in it, for as much as the Princes
in those daies used commonly both to soiourne for
their pleasures, and to passe their set solemnities
also, in Abbaies and in Bishops' houses."
In 1315, the queen having taken up her residence at Eltham Palace, there gave birth to a son,
who was called, from the place of his nativity, John
of Eltham, and who was afterwards created Earl
of Cornwall. Edward II. frequently resided at
Eltham, and in 1329 and 1375 Edward III. held
his parliament here; and it was at the last-mentioned period that a petition was presented by the
Commons, requesting the king to make his grandson, Richard, Prince of Wales. In 1347 the Duke
of Clarence, the king's son, in the absence of his
father, kept a public Christmas here.
In 1364, John, King of France, Edward III.'s
prisoner by conquest, came as an unwilling guest
to England, and was entertained by the king and
queen at Eltham. Froissart mentions how that
on a Sunday afternoon King Edward and Queen
Philippa waited at the gates of the palace to receive
the fallen monarch, and how, "between that time
and supper, in his honour were many grand dances
and carols, at which the young Lord de Courcy
distinguished himself by singing and dancing."
This entertainment must have appeared strange
indeed to the feelings of the captive prince, who,
when asked to join in the conviviality, pathetically
replied, "How can I sing in a strange land?"
Captive as he was, he seems to have had but little
cause for regret on his own account, for, becoming
enamoured of the Princess Royal, he urged his
suit, and was fortunate enough to succeed in obtaining her as his bride.
Eltham Palace was one of the favourite residences of Richard II. and Anne of Bohemia. In
Holinshed's "Chronicles," under date of 1386, it
is recorded that "King Richard II. holding his
Christmasse at Eltham, thither came to him Leo,
King of Armenia, whose countrie and realme being
in danger to be conquered of the Turks, he was
come into these west parts of Christendome for aid
and succour at the hands of the Christian princes
here. The king honourablie received him, and
after he had taken counsell touching his request,
he gave him great summes of money and other rich
gifts, with a stipend, as some write, of a thousand
pounds yearly, to be paid to him during his life."
Froissart, the famous poet and historian, in his
"Chronicles," makes several allusions to the royal
palace of Eltham; in 1395 he came to England
for the purpose of presenting to Richard II. a
volume of his writings. The details of this visit
are thus given by Froissart himself:—"The king
arrived at Eltham on a Tuesday; on the Wednesday the lords came from all parts. There were the
Duke of Gloucester, the Earls of Derby, Arundel,
Northumberland, Kent, Rutland, the Earl Marshal,
the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the
Bishops of London and Winchester, in short, all
who had been summoned arrived at Eltham on the
Thursday by eight o'clock in the morning.
"The Parliament was holden in the king's apartment, in the presence of the king, his uncles, and
the council. The matter in deliberation was the
solicitation of the chieftains in Aquitaine that they
might remain attached to the crown of England.
Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, the
king's brother, opposed their petition, with a view
to keep his brother, the Duke of Lancaster, abroad;
and to show that he was the man who governed
the king, and was the greatest in the council, as
soon as he had delivered his opinion, and saw that
many were murmuring at it, and that the prelates
and lords were discussing it in small parties, he
quitted the king's chamber, followed by the Earl of
Derby, and entered the Hall at Eltham, where he
ordered a table to be spread, and they both sat
down to dinner, while others were debating the
business.
"On the Sunday the whole council were gone to
London, excepting the king and Sir Richard Sturry;
these two, in conjunction with Sir Thomas Percy,
mentioned me [Froissart] again to the king, who
desired to see the book I had brought for him. I
presented it to him in his chamber, for I had it
with me, and laid it on his bed. He opened it
and looked into it with much pleasure. He ought
to have been pleased, for it was handsomely written
and illuminated, and bound in crimson velvet, with
ten silver-gilt studs, and roses of the same in the
middle, with two large clasps of silver-gilt, richly
worked with roses in the centre. The king asked
me what the book treated of; I replied, 'Of
Love!' He was pleased with the answer, and
dipped into several places, reading aloud, for he
read and spoke French perfectly well, and then
gave it to one of his knights, Sir Richard Credon,
to carry it to his oratory, and made me acknowledgments for it."
Parliament met here to arrange King Richard's
second marriage with Isabella of Valois; she was
brought hither after her bridal, and from the gates
of Eltham Palace she departed in state to her
coronation. Henry IV. was frequently at Eltham
with his Court. Here he was espoused to Joan of
Navarre, in the presence of the primate and the
chief officers of state, Antonio Riezi acting as the
lady's proxy, and actually having the ring placed
upon his finger. In 1409, according to Stow,
Henry kept his Christmas here with his queen, and
Lambarde tells us that in 1412 he kept his last
Christmas at Eltham. His son and successor,
Henry V., also resided here, and in 1414, "the
king keeping his Christmasse at the manor of
Eltham, was advertised that Sir Roger Acton, a
man of great wit and possessions, John Browne,
Esquire, John Beverlie, priest, and a great number
of others, were assembled in armour against the
king." This report, it seems, had some effect on
the king, for, as Lambarde states, "he was faine
to depart suddenly, for feare of some that had
conspired to murder him." The meeting, which
took place in St. Giles's Fields, under the instigation of Sir John Oldcastle, notwithstanding the
treasonable character that was given it by most
writers of the period, appears to have been nothing
more than a convention of the inoffensive people
styled Lollards, to hear the preaching of one of
their pastors.
Henry VI. once kept his Christmas festivities
at Eltham; and here, unconscious of his critical
position, this unhappy prince forsook his studies
to hunt and join in the sports of the field under
the watchful eye of his keeper, the Earl of March,
while his wife and son, for whom he had restored
the palace, were sheltering in Harlech Castle.
Edward IV. resided much at Eltham Palace, and
on the 9th of November, 1480, his third daughter,
Bridget, was born here. She was christened in the
chapel in the palace, by the Bishop of Chichester,
and subsequently assumed the garb of a nun at
Dartford. Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Edward IV. kept his Christmas here in
great state in the year 1482–3, on which occasion,
it is stated, more than two thousand persons were
there daily entertained. This king is recorded to
have laid out large sums on the buildings here, and,
as will be presently shown, is supposed to have
entirely rebuilt the great hall as it now stands.
Lambarde, in his "Perambulation of Kent,"
published in 1576, states that "it is not yet fully
out of memorie that King Henry VII. set up the
faire front over the mote there; since whose
reigne, this house, by reason of the neerenesse to
Greenewiche (which also was much amended by
him, and is, through the benefite of the river, a
seate of more commoditie), hath not beene so
greatly esteemed: the rather also that for the
pleasures of the emparked groundes here, may be
in manner as well enjoyed, the Court lying at
Greenwiche, as if it were at this house it selfe."
Henry VII., like his predecessors, generally resided here, and was wont to dine every day in the
hall surrounded by his barons. The "faire front,"
alluded to by Lambarde, was, no doubt, the north
face of the moated square, approached by the
Gothic bridge of three arches.
Although Henry VIII. preferred the palace at
Greenwich, he appears sometimes to have resided
at Eltham, and in 1515 he kept his Christmas here.
Holinshed thus records the entertainment on this
occasion:—"In the year 1515 the king kept a
solemn Christmas at his manor of Eltham, and on
the Twelfe Night, in the hall, was made a goodlie
castle, wonderouslie set out, and in it certaine
ladies and knights, and when the kinge and queene
were set, in came other knights, and assailed the
castle, where many a good stripe was given, and
at last the assailants were beaten away, and then
issued knights and ladies out of the castle, which
ladies were strangelie disguised, for all their apparel was in braids of gold, fret with moving
spangles of silver-gilt set on crimson satin, loose
and not fastened; the men's apparell of the same
suite made like julis [sic] of Hungary, and the
ladies' heads and bodies were after the fashion of
Amsterdam; and when the dancing was done the
banket [banquet] was served in of two hundred
dishes."
Towards the close of the year 1526 the plague
raged so fiercely in London that the king and his
Court removed to Eltham. Henry VIII. again
kept his Christmas here in that year, and in 1556
Queen Mary paid a visit to the palace, attended
by Cardinal Pole and the Lord Montagu. In the
first year of Queen Elizabeth's reign Eltham Palace
was for a few days the royal abode; but an idea
having arisen that the stagnant waters of the moat
rendered the palace unhealthy, it was thenceforth
but little frequented by royalty. Sir Christopher
Hatton was keeper of Eltham Palace in the reign
of Queen Elizabeth. In 1606 James I. was visited
at Greenwich by his brother-in-law, the King of
Denmark, and the two kings went together to
Eltham, where they hunted with "greate pleasure,
and killed three buckes on horsebacke."
During the Civil Wars, Eltham Palace was occupied by the Parliamentary General, Robert, Earl of
Essex, who died there in September, 1646.
After the death of Charles I. the royal residence
was seized by the Parliament, and in a survey
made by the commissioners in the above year it is
stated that the palace was built of brick, wood,
stone, and timber, and consisted of one fair chapel,
one great hall, thirty-six rooms and offices below
stairs, two large cellars, seventeen lodging-rooms
on the king's side, twelve on the queen's, nine
on the princes', seventy-eight rooms in the offices
round the court-yard, which contained one acre of
ground.
There were three parks attached to this mansion,
covering a very extensive tract of ground. The
Great Park contained 596 acres; the Little, or
Middle Park, 333 acres; and Home, or Lee Park,
336 acres; the whole of which were well stocked
with deer. The deer, as may easily be imagined,
were well hunted and destroyed by the soldiery
and others during the time of the Commonwealth;
besides which most of the trees were cut down.
In 1648, the parks having already been partly
broken up and the deer destroyed, Nathaniel Rich
purchased the house and a great part of the lands
attached to it. Evelyn describes its condition a
few years later; under date of April 22, 1656, he
writes in his "Diary," "Went to see his Majesty's
house at Eltham; both the palace and chapel in
miserable ruins, the noble wood and park destroyed
by Rich the rebel."
After the Restoration, the manor of Eltham was
bestowed by Charles II. on Sir John Shaw, in recognition of his friendship to him when in exile at
Brussels and Antwerp; and, with the exception of
certain portions of land originally in the royal park
which are still vested in the Crown, it continues in
the possession of his descendants.
Like most of the moated manor-houses of the
Middle Ages, the palace of Eltham was nearly
square in plan, and embraced four courts or quadrangles enclosed by a high wall. The moat which
surrounded it was of great width; the principal
entry was over a stone bridge and through a gateway in the north wall. There was also another
gateway and bridge on the opposite side of the
enclosure. The most important part of the buildings consisted of a high range which crossed the
court from east to west, and included the hall, the
chapel, and the state apartments. The principal
courts were spacious and befitting the abode of
royalty, and lodging-rooms and offices, as notified
in the above survey, were very numerous; of these,
however, not a vestige now remains, save the foundations, some of which are traceable round the
sides of the area enclosed by the moat. Of the
chapel, not even the site can now be ascertained.
In fact, the only parts now remaining are the
banqueting-hall; an ivy-covered bridge of three
ribbed arches which spans the moat on the north
side, and still forms the entrance to the building;
part of the embattled wall, flanked with loopholed
turrets; some curious drains, supposed formerly
to have been used as sallyports on occasions of
emergency; and a building at the east end of the
hall, with fine corbelled attics and ancient gables,
formerly the buttery, but now a private residence,
called the Court House. This latter building was
thoroughly restored, and a new wing added to it
in 1859, at which time the great hall, which had
been for many years used as a barn, was cleared
out, and the eastern end of it considerably altered,
being made to serve as the entrance to the house.
By far the most interesting of these remains is
the magnificent banqueting-hall, with its beautiful
high-pitched roof, entirely constructed of oak, in
tolerable preservation, with hammer-beams, carved
pendants, and braces supported on corbels of hewn
stone. Its dimensions are 100 feet in length, 55 in
height, and 36 in breadth.
"The hall," writes Mr. Buckler, in his "Historical and Descriptive Account of the Royal
Palace at Eltham "(1828), "was the master feature
of the palace. With a suite of rooms at either
extremity, it rose in the centre of the surrounding
buildings, as superior in the grandeur of its architecture, as in the magnificence of its proportions
and the amplitude of its dimensions. This fair
edifice has survived the shocks which, at different
periods, laid the palace low. Desolation has
reached its very walls, and the hand of wanton
mischief has dared to injure where it could not
destroy; but still the hall of Eltham Palace has
not, with the exception of the louvre, been entirely
deprived of its smallest constituent feature.
ELTHAM PALACE IN 1790.
"Its north and south sides were both open to
quadrangles. Their architecture corresponded precisely, excepting that the south parapet was plain,
while that on the other side, facing the principal
gate of entrance, was embattled, and the cornice
enriched with sculptured corbels.
"In this majestic structure the architect scrupulously avoided the frequent use of carvings, which,
it is evident, would have destroyed the elegant
simplicity of his design; and, besides its intrinsic
excellence, this specimen of the palace will abundantly prove how well the ancients could apply the
style to domestic purposes, how far removed from
gloom were their habitations where defensive precautions could be dispensed with, and how skilfully
they prosecuted whatever they undertook in architecture.
"The proportions of Eltham Hall, and the harmony of its design, attest the care and skill which
were exerted in its production. Other halls may
surpass it in extent, but this is perfect in every
useful and elegant feature belonging to a banqueting-room. It was splendidly lighted, and perhaps
required painted glass to subdue the glare admitted
by two-and-twenty windows. There are no windows
over the high pace or the screen, and there were
none in the majority of examples, though, from
unavoidable circumstances, Westminster and Guildhall receive their light in these directions."
HALL OF ELTHAM PALACE IN 1835.
The windows of the hall are ranged in couples,
in five spaces on both sides, occupying the length
of the building, from the east wall to the angle of
the bays; every window is cinquefoil-headed and
divided by a mullion without a transom, around
which in some instances the thick trails of ivy impart a highly picturesque effect, which is heightened
by the broad streams of cheerful sunlight that fall
through the empty panels; and every space is
divided by a buttress, which terminates below the
cornice, and at the foot of the windows has twice
the projection of the upper half. Altogether, however, these supports are slender, and partake of
the same light and elegant proportions which
characterise the whole building. The walls alone
are adequate to the weight which presses on them,
but their strength is increased by the buttresses—features which are almost inseparable from the
ancient style of architecture, and were frequently
used for ornament even when their strength was
superfluous. The buttresses at Eltham are, however, both useful and ornamental; and, as if to
determine for which purpose they were most required, several of those facing the south are mangled
or destroyed.
At the eastern end of the hall were three doorways communicating with the buttery above mentioned, and also other arched doorways leading
into the court-yards. These entrances were concealed by a wooden screen ornamented with
carved work, over which was the minstrels' gallery,
the framework of which remains to this day. At
the western or upper end, where the daïs was
placed, is on either side a bay, or recess, the ceilings
of which are composed of very elegant groining
and minute tracery, and which were illuminated
by two windows of the lightest order of Gothic.
In these recesses it was customary, on state occasions, to display the rich and costly vessels then in
use. The recesses are now in a sadly mutilated
condition, but the main body of the hall was
rescued from speedy decay by order of Government in 1828, when £700 were expended on it.
When it was first used as a barn, now more than a
century ago, most of the windows were bricked up,
and three pairs on the north side remain in that
condition at the present time. The holes for the
timber supports of the elevated platform, or daïs,
are still visible in the western wall; and above
the same spot, at a considerable elevation, was a
window whence the king might look from his own
private apartments on the revellers in the hall, an
arrangement commonly in use in old houses of this
description.
The date of the erection of the banqueting-hall
unquestionably corresponds with the time of King
Edward IV. Not only is this opinion borne out
by the depressed Gothic arch of the roof and the
double ranges of windows, which much resemble
those in the hall at Crosby Place, Bishopsgate,
and in a building at Nettlested, now used as a
malt-house, both known to have been erected
temp. Edward IV., but there is also in the northeast doorway the device or badge of Edward IV.,
in very good preservation, namely, the rose en soleil,
or blazing sun in conjunction with the rose. This
doorway, headed by a label moulding (characteristic of the architecture of the latter end of the
fifteenth century), was formerly for many years protected from the weather by a shed, to which is to be
attributed its excellent preservation. The badge
appears on one of the spandrils, between the label
and the arch. Besides this, the falcon and fetterlock, another device of Edward IV., may be observed among the carvings of the oriel windows.
The great hall has for ages gone by the name of
"King John's Barn," probably from some confusion
between King John and a son of Edward II., who
was born here, and who, as already stated, was
called "John of Eltham."
Subterranean passages have been traced for some
distance in a south-easterly direction, but these are
now converted into drains. It appears to have
been about the year 1836 that the discovery of
these passages was made; and from a pamphlet
published a few years ago we learn that a trap-door
under the ground-floor of one of the apartments
led into a room below, ten feet by five in dimensions, from which a narrow passage about ten feet
in length led to a series of passages, with decoys,
stairs, and shafts, some of which were vertical and
others on an inclined plane: these were once used
for admitting air, and for hurling down missiles and
pitch-balls upon the heads of those below. These
passages were explored to a distance of nearly 500
feet, 200 of which lay under the moat. In a
field between Eltham and Mottingham the arch had
been broken into, but still the passage could be
traced further, proceeding in the same direction.
In that part immediately under the moat two iron
gates were found, completely carbonised, whilst
large stalactites, formed of super-carbonate of lime,
which hung down from the roof of the arch, sufficiently indicated the lapse of time since these
passages had been previously entered. The passages now serve as drains in connection with the
dwelling-house which now stands upon the site of
the ancient buttery at the eastern end of the great
hall.
The moat, which still surrounds the entire building, has been partially drained and turfed, and that
part lying on the north side, which is spanned
by the ancient bridge, is exceedingly picturesque,
the effect being heightened by the herons and
other species of water-fowl that adorn its banks.
The old tilt-yard or tilting-court in the palace
"pleasaunce" was for many years converted—alas!
for this prosaic age—into a market garden; its
high wall and archway of ruddy brick, which alone
remain to mark its site, are well worthy of notice.
We have already spoken of the three parks which
formerly belonged to Eltham Palace, and of the
havoc made in them by the Parliament during the
Civil Wars. The Middle Park, however, has remained to this day, and has gained some notoriety—at least, in the racing world—as the home of the
famous stud of racehorses belonging to the late Mr.
William Blenkiron. After the death of this gentleman, the "stud," which included the celebrated
horses Gladiateur and Blair Athol, was sold by
auction in 1872, realising a sum of £107,100.
The Middle Park establishment is kept in remembrance by the "Middle Park Plate," founded
in 1866, and which is one of the chief races at
the Newmarket Second October Meeting. The
memory of the Horn Park is still preserved in
Horn Park Farm, at some little distance to the
west of the palace.
On the east side of Eltham Palace a broad
thoroughfare, called the Court Road, in which are
numerous neat-built villas, leads to the Eltham
Station of the South-Eastern Railway (North Kent
line), which is situated at Mottingham, about a
mile from the village. The latter lies at a short
distance northward of the palace, and has a quiet,
old-fashioned air. The church, dedicated to St.
John the Baptist, is a large Gothic edifice of stone,
comprising nave, aisles, transepts, and chancel.
It was erected in 1876–7, to supersede an old
parish church which stood on the same spot. The
latter building was a singular brick-built structure,
which had been patched up at different times and
in so many ways that in the end it had a somewhat
unsightly appearance. On a tablet over the doorway on the north side was the date 1667. The
wooden tower and shingle spire of the old church
have been left standing at the south-west corner of
the new church. In the churchyard is the monument, surmounted by an urn, of George Horne,
Bishop of Norwich, author of the "Commentary
on the Book of Psalms." He was a native of Kent,
and died in 1792. He was buried in the vault of
the Burtons, into whose family he had married.
Thomas Dogget, the comedian, and founder of
the "coat and silver badge" which bears his name,
and which is rowed for on the Thames by London
watermen's apprentices annually on the 1st of
August, was buried here September 25th, 1721.
We have already in a previous volume (fn. 1) spoken at
some length of Tom Dogget as an actor, and also
of the aquatic contest which he instituted. We
may add here that the only portrait of him that is
known to exist is a small print representing him in
the act of dancing "The Cheshire Round," with
the motto "Ne sutor ultra crepidam." Here, likewise, lies buried, among many others, Sir William
James, the captor of Severndroog, on the coast of
Malabar, in 1755, of whom we have spoken in the
preceding chapter. (fn. 2)
In the hollow, on the north side of the church,
by the side of the road leading to Woolwich, and
near the footpath across the fields of Kidbrook,
stands a long red-brick farmhouse, of Elizabethan
architecture; it is known as Well Hall, and is
said at one time to have been the residence of
Sir Thomas More's favourite daughter, Margaret
Roper. "Among other notables who have dwelt
in Eltham," writes Mr. James Thorne, in his
"Environs of London," "was Vandyck, the
painter, who lived here in the summer, tempted,
it may be, by the residence in the Park Lodge
of his friend, Sir Theodore de Mayerne, the king's
physician, who was chief ranger of the park before
it was seized by the Parliament." According to
a statement of Walpole, in his "Anecdotes of
Painting in England," "in an old house at Eltham,
said to have been Vandyck's, Vertue saw several
sketches of stories from Ovid in two colours,
ascribed to that great painter; but if they were
his, all trace of them has long been lost, and of
the house also. The quarrelsome Commonwealth
major, John Lilburne—'Freeborn John,' as he
was styled—Cromwell's opponent in the army and
in the House of Commons, here spent his last
years 'in perfect tranquillity.' Having joined the
Quakers, 'he preached among that sect in and
about Eltham till his death' there, August 29th,
1657." Here Dr. James Sherard formed his famous
botanic gardens, of which he published an account
under the title of "Hortus Elthamensis." In the
preparation of this work he was assisted by Dillenius, who came to England in 1721 specially to
superintend Dr. Sherard's garden, an event which,
Dr. Lindley says, "forms an important point in the
history of botany in this country." Lysons speaks
of Dr. James Sherard as the founder of the botanical
professorship at Oxford; and in this he is followed
by most subsequent writers on Eltham. "The
founder of the professorship," writes Mr. Thorne,
"was William Sherard, the Oriental traveller, the
brother of James, who, however, was a zealous promoter of the science and patron of botanists."
Passing on our way along the high road towards
London, a short walk brings us to the rapidlyincreasing village of Lee, the principal part of
which is built on the rising ground sloping up
towards Blackheath. Since the formation of the
branch line of the North Kent Railway through
the parish, a considerable increase has been made
in the number of dwellings, which are now springing up in every direction, in consequence of the
easy facility of reaching town afforded by the
railway. A small rivulet takes its rise in this
parish, and, after watering the village, flows into
the river Ravensbourne, in the adjoining parish of
Lewisham. The church, dedicated to St. Margaret,
dates its erection from the year 1841, and stands
on an eminence near Blackheath, on the opposite
side of the road to the old church, which has been
demolished, with the exception of a small portion
of the tower. The new church is a florid Gothic
structure, consisting of nave, chancel, side aisles,
with tower and spire; it is built of brick, and
cemented, and ornamented with stone facings.
The graveyard is crowded with monuments and
tombs, among which is a plain tomb for Dr. Halley,
the celebrated astronomer, who lies buried under it.
Nathaniel Bliss, who succeeded Dr. Bradley in the
post of Astronomer-Royal, also lies buried here.
At Lee lived Mr. Bohun (or Boone), the friend
of John Evelyn and tutor to his sons; and here he
was often visited by the genial old gossip. His
house was a cabinet of curiosities, mostly Indian,
Japanese, and Chinese, and adorned with carving
by Grinling Gibbons. Mr. Bohun must have been
more fortunate than most tutors, if he was able,
as recorded by Evelyn, to build here and endow
a hospital for eight poor persons, with a chapel
attached. The almshouses, which are situated at
the west end of the village, by the side of the
high road, were rebuilt in 1874. At the back of
these are thirty comfortable-looking houses, erected
by the Merchant Taylors' Company, in which a
number of widows of freemen belonging to that
company are supported. At the south end of the
parish, down to a comparatively recent date, were
the remains of an ancient moated mansion, said
to have been contemporary with the palace at
Eltham; a fine avenue of lime-trees, some of which
still remain, formed the approach to the entrance,
and over the moat a strong brick arch is thrown.
Dacre House is described in Hasted's "Kent" as
"an elegant modern-built seat, late belonging to
Sir Thomas Fludyer;" it was long the seat of the
Dacre family, whose name is perpetuated by one
of the streets in the village being named after
them. John Timbs, in his "Autobiography," in
describing a visit he once paid in his younger days
to the then rural village of Lee, says:—"Here I
often saw the devout Lady Dacre crossing Lee
Green in her daily pilgrimage to her dear lord's
tomb in Lee churchyard. She usually rode there
from Lee Place on a favourite pony, and wore a
large drab beaver hat, and a woollen habit nearly
trailing on the ground. At the foot of her lord's
grave she was accustomed to kneel and pour forth
a fervent prayer, beseeching the Creator again to
join her in blissful union with her beloved husband
in the realms above. At home she cherished her
affection by placing his chair at the dinner-table as
during his lifetime. After fourteen years' widowhood, Lady Dacre died, in 1808, and was buried
with her husband."
"During our stay at Lee," adds Mr. Timbs,
"the Green was my favourite resort: here the
village stocks excited my curiosity, and I soon
understood the wooden machine to be used for the
punishment of disorderly persons by securing their
legs." Mr. Timbs tells how that he remembered
the stocks in many an English village, and also
in many parts of London, that in Duke Street,
Lincoln's Inn, being the last to disappear. He
then reminds us how that "the rustic beauty of
Lee has been sacrificed to the railway, and its rural
sounds and songs to the noisy steam-horse; though
the village possesses attractions for riper years, in
its beautiful pointed church, rebuilt upon much
older foundations; it is famed, too, for its brasses,
and tombs of marble and alabaster; and for the
resting-place of Halley, the Astronomer-Royal, who
wrote a treatise on comets when he was nineteen
years old."
From its proximity to Blackheath, and its easy
distance from London, Lee has of late years
become a favourite place of residence for City
merchants and men of business, and every available plot of ground has been covered with terraces
of detached and semi-detached villas and genteel
cottages for their accommodation; and such names
as Belmont Park, Manor Park, Dacre Park, Grove
Park, &c., in which the more respectable class of
houses are built, imparts a somewhat pretentious
air to the locality. New churches, too, have also
sprung up, consequent upon the increased growth
of the place. One of these is Christ Church, in
Lee Park, a building in the Early English style of
architecture, erected in 1855; another, and still
more handsome edifice of similar architecture, is
the Church of the Holy Trinity; this was built in
1864.
Continuing our course westward along the main
road, we soon arrive at Lewisham, a parish and
pleasant village situated on the Ravensbourne, a
stream which, as we have already seen, flows
through Deptford into the Thames. With regard
to this stream, the "Kentish Traveller's Companion" (1789) says: "The river Ravensbourne
directs its course through this parish; at the hamlet
of Southend it moves the engine by which the late
Mr. How made those knife-blades now so famous
throughout England." The name of this place is
supposed to be derived from the Saxon leswe,
a meadow, and ham, a dwelling. In the village
and its vicinity are many handsome houses and
detached villas, inhabited by opulent merchants
and retired citizens, attracted hither by the salubrity
of the air and the beauties of the surrounding
country.
Lying along the valley of the Ravensbourne,
with the land rising gently on either side, Lewisham,
down to a very recent date, was a pleasant rural
district; but, like all the other outlying districts of
London, the green fields which hemmed it in are
fast giving place to bricks and mortar. Granville
Park occupies the sloping ground on the north,
between Lewisham and Blackheath.
The old parish church, dedicated to St. Mary,
was taken down in 1774, when the present edifice
was erected on its site. The church is a plain
oblong structure of stone, with a shallow, semicircular recess instead of a chancel at the east end,
a square tower at the west end (the lower part
of which is ancient), and a portico on the south
side supported by four Corinthian columns. This
church, which was heated by means of a large
stove and flues, having been opened for divine
service on Christmas Day, 1830, it is supposed
that the flues becoming overheated, set fire to
some portion of the woodwork of the interior, as
at a very early hour on the following morning the
building was discovered to be in flames, and notwithstanding every exertion, the conflagration continued till the interior of the church was almost
entirely destroyed, leaving only the walls and roof
standing. The inhabitants of the parish shortly
after raised a handsome subscription to repair the
injury thus occasioned. The church contains a few
interesting monuments, particularly one by Banks
and another by Flaxman; the former, which has
a poetical epitaph by Hayley, is in memory of
a daughter of Mr. William Lushington; it represents an angel directing the mourning mother to
the text inscribed above the tablet, "Blessed are
they that mourn," &c. In the churchyard is a
monument, inscribed with some verses from his own
"Fate of Genius," to the unfortunate young poet,
Thomas Dermody, who was buried in 1802, at
the age of twenty-eight. Dermody, whose early
death reminds us, in a certain sense, of the fate
of Chatterton and Keats, was a native of Ennis,
in Ireland, and was born in 1775. He displayed
poetical powers at an early age. In 1792 he published a volume of poems written in his thirteenth
year. In the following year appeared "The Rights
of Justice," a political pamphlet. In 1801 and
1802 he published "Peace," "The Battle of the
Bards," and other poems. Soon afterwards he
became a soldier, but disgraced himself by intemperance, and died in poverty in the adjoining
parish of Sydenham. In 1806 Mr. G. Raymond
published his life, &c., in two volumes, and subsequently his poetical works, under the title of
"The Harp of Erin."
The parish of Lewisham contains several other
churches, but only two of these come under our
notice here, namely, St. Stephen's and St. Mark's.
The former was built and endowed in 1865 by
the Rev. S. Russell Davis; it was erected from the
designs of Sir Gilbert Scott, and is in the Early
English style of architecture. The church of St.
Mark the Evangelist, in College Park, a rapidly
rising district on the east side of the Bromley Road,
is a handsome Decorated edifice, built in 1870,
from the designs of Mr. W. C. Banks.
Down to a very recent date Lewisham consisted
chiefly of one principal street, and the road for the
most part was bordered with lofty elms, many of
which still remain in all their freshness. The
salubrity of the air made the locality, at one time,
a favourite place of abode for London merchants
and wealthy families, and it still retains a few good
old houses. We learn from Hasted and other
historians that the manor of Lewisham, with its
appendages of Greenwich and Coombe, was given
by Elthruda, King Alfred's niece, to the Abbey
of St. Peter, at Ghent, to which Lewisham then
became a cell, or "alien" priory; this grant is said
to have been confirmed by King Edgar, and by
Edward the Confessor. Kilburne tells us that
Lewisham Priory was founded during the reign of
Henry III., by Sir John Merbury; but it is more
probable that he added to its endowments, and thus
became its second founder. Priory Farm, at the
south end of Rushey Green, on the Bromley Road—now, in effect, a southern extension of Lewisham
village—marks the site of the Benedictine priory.
On the suppression of alien priories by Henry V.,
this priory was transferred, together with the manor
of Lewisham, to the monastery of Sheen, or Richmond. In 1538 it reverted to the Crown, with the
other conventual property throughout the country;
and ten years later it was granted for life to Thomas,
Lord Seymour. John, Earl of Warwick, eldest son
of the Duke of Northumberland, next possessed
the manor, but on his attainder, in the year 1553,
it again reverted to the Crown. Queen Elizabeth,
however, re-granted it to the earl's brother, Sir
Ambrose Dudley, who had been restored in blood,
and created Baron L'Isle and Earl of Warwick.
James I. granted the manor to John Ramsay, Earl
of Holderness. In 1664 it was sold to Reginald
Grahame, who in turn conveyed it to Admiral
George Legge, who was shortly afterwards created
Lord Dartmouth. His son William was, in 1711,
created Viscount Lewisham and Earl of Dartmouth,
and with his descendants the property has since
continued. Lord Dartmouth resided at his seat on
Blackheath, in this parish, for which place, as we
have already seen, (fn. 3) he procured the grant of a
market,
Two charity-schools in Lewisham, one of which
is a free grammar-school, were founded by the Rev.
Abraham Colfe, vicar of this parish, in the latter
part of the seventeenth century, and are under the
patronage of the Leathersellers' Company. The
intentions of the founder were extended by a
scheme settled by the Court of Chancery in 1857.
There are also almshouses for six poor women
that owe their foundation to the same benevolent
individual. Other almshouses have lately been
erected in the village, under the will of Mr. John
Thackeray, for six poor females.
LEE CHURCH IN 1795.
Half a mile to the south-east of the village is
Hither Green, which, together with Catford and
Catford Bridge, on the Ravensbourne, and also
Rushey Green (mentioned above), are hamlets belonging to Lewisham.
A narrow lane turning out of the main road by
the side of the parish church, leads our steps to
Ladywell, a spot doubtless so called from a well
or spring whose waters were at one time held in
veneration by the "faithful." Here there is a station
on the Mid-Kent Railway. Close by is Brockley
Hill, across which are pleasant walks to Dulwich,
Peckham, and other outlying places which we
shall presently visit. Between Ladywell Station
and Brockley Lane is the cemetery belonging to
the parishes of Deptford and Lewisham; it covers
a large space of ground, and is tastefully laid out.
Retracing our steps through the village, and
leaving on our right the station on the North
Kent Railway, we make our way up Loam Pit
Hill, passing the church of St. John's, lately built,
and soon find ourselves at New Cross, an outlying
district belonging to the parish of Deptford. This
noted locality, which takes its name from the old
coaching-house and hostelry bearing the sign of
the "Golden Cross," has been famous for at least a
couple of centuries; for John Evelyn tells us in his
"Diary," under date of 10th November, 1675, how
he went to "New Crosse" from Saye's Court, in his
coach, to accompany his friend, Lord Berkeley, as
far as Dover, on his way to Paris as ambassador.
It may amuse the reader to learn that his lordship's retinue consisted of three coaches (exclusive
of Evelyn's), as many wagons, and "about forty
horses." Our diplomatists move about now-a-days
with less state and less incumbrance.
On Counter Hill, Upper Lewisham Road, the
rising ground in the rear of the tavern, stands
the Royal Naval School, a good substantial-looking
brick building, with white stone dressings, the
"first stone" of which was laid by Prince Albert,
in 1843, on the "Glorious First of June," the
anniversary of Lord Howe's victory. To the
traveller who steps from the New Cross station
to the main road, it presents an imposing appearance, with its long line of red-brick frontage, its
numerous windows, its sweep of green turf before
the house, its iron outer gates, and its great gates
of oak, which, when open, disclose the quadrangle
and the arcades under which the boys wander after
school-hours when not disposed for play in the
spacious grounds beyond. The school, which was
founded and provisionally opened at Camberwell in
1833, has an average of 200 pupils, mostly the sons
of naval and military officers in necessitous circumstances; and the object of the school is to qualify
them, at the least possible expense, for any pursuit,
giving a preference to the orphans of those who
may have fallen in their country's service. Since the
opening of the school, in 1833, upwards of 2,500
boys have partaken of its advantages, many of
whom had distinguished themselves, and several
had lost their lives in the service of their country.
During the twenty years previous to 1877 more
than 300 pupils had become naval officers, many
of them distinguished men. During the same
period eighty pupils had entered as officers in the
Royal Marines, one-third of that number having
gained the Artillery, and eleven having passed
first in their entrance examinations. Captain Sir
George Nares, who lately commanded the Arctic
Expedition, won his way into the Royal Navy by
gaining in this school the Admiralty Prize Naval
Cadetship in 1845. Colonel Sir F. W. Festing,
who so gallantly distinguished himself in the
Ashantee campaign, also passed direct from this
school into the Royal Marine Artillery. These
are but two out of the many pupils who have
distinguished themselves in the service of their
country.
THE ROYAL NAVAL SCHOOL, NEW CROSS.
At New Cross are important stations and works
on the South-Eastern, and also on the London,
Brighton, and South-coast Railways.
The manor of Hatcham, in the immediate neighbourhood of the above-mentioned station, was
at one time part and parcel of the parish of St.
Paul, Deptford; but, pursuant to an Act of Parliament, it has been created a distinct parish, called
Hatcham New Town. The church, dedicated to
St. James, is a large and lofty Gothic edifice; it
was consecrated in 1850, but was only recently
completed. In 1877 this church acquired considerable notoriety from the ritualistic practices of its
incumbent, who was suspended on that account
from his spiritual functions by order of the Arches
Court of Canterbury, under Lord Penzance.