Deptford's Architecture
Deptford has been a settlement since at least the Roman occupation of Britain. Its great expansion took place with the establishment of the Royal Naval Dockyard. The town grew to house between 10-12,000 people by the time of Peter the Great's visit in 1698: thus it was one of the largest provincial towns in England. Housing was built for the shipbuilding population who were largely skilled and literate workers.
When shipbuilding ceased the dockyard continued as the Royal Navy's victualling depot and new industries developed and, in their turn, waned. Development has taken place and Second World War bombing caused damage here as elsewhere in south east London. However, much remains in the High Street and nearby to provide an unique architectural history of 250 years of house building. These houses were built for artisans, skilled workers but far from bourgeois. Smaller houses like these existed throughout England but in most places have disappeared in later development.
Deptford's High Street 'collection' includes:
32 - 34
62 - 66
150
203 and 205
227
Built in 1790-91 by John Ashford, carpenter and undertaker.
Built about 1680.
Built 1775-76 and 1774-75. The first a small house, the second a shop and larger house.
Built 1791-92 for Thomas Palmer, a baker.
Other significant local sites include many early buildings on Deptford Broadway (A2), the fine collection of Georgian houses in Albury Street that were built from 1705 on by Thomas Lucas, a local bricklayer. Nearby at the site of the former Dockyard by the River Thames is the Master Shipwright's Apartment, built for Joseph Allin in 1708, and the dockyard offices, built around 1710.
Tanners Hill, opposite the southern end of the High Street and leading from Deptford Broadway, includes a row of small timber houses that probably originated in the 17th-century.
Clearly visible from the churchyard is the great viaduct of the former London to Dover Railway, a railway that terminated in Greenwich for some years because it was not permitted to cross Greenwich park, a Royal Park favoured by Henry VIII. Eventually the line tunneled under the Park and Dover was eventually reached. The viaduct crosses the low lying, level area between London Bridge and Greenwich and is the longest brick structure in the world. Although it has seen far better days it is a remarkable tribute to early railway engineering. Deptford Station remains on the site it was firts built, unlike London Bridge which has moved. Thus it is one of the earliest surviving railway stations in the world. Little attention has been paid to its historic and architectural significance but the remains of the old carriage ramp which led to the platforms from the High Street below can still be seen.
