Thames Tributary Ravensbourne - Ladywell

TQ 370 349
Thames Tributary Ravensbourne
The Ravensbourne continues to flow north

Post to the north Lewisham
Post to the east Hither Green
Post to the south Catford
Post to the west Crofton Park

Albacore Crescent
Bridge over the river built in the 1960s.
Mile marker on the cycle route with mosaics


Bradgate Road
Source of spring which became a stream down to the High Street
Springfield – these roads built on the site of this villa

Dressington Avenue
Covers the area of what was the workhouse. Originally the area of Slagrave Farm.
Water tower. Built for the workhouse. Has a hefty base and chalet-like top with crested roof. Built 1900 to a design by Ernest Newman. It had a well 120 feet deep from which water was drawn to supply the laundry and local houses.
John Evelyn Education Centre. Abbey Manor Centre in the east part of the central admin block of Ladywell Lodge, largely the old dining hall.
Flats in the administration block and the superintendents house of Ladywell Lodge
Lewisham Lodge. Site of St.Olave's Union workhouse of 1898-1900 by Newman & Newman. The central administrative block remains. It was a workhouse for the aged and infirm poor by Bermondsey Union, covering a large site, now divided by a footpath. The entrance to the site was from the north at Malyons Terrace, now Dressington Avenue. There was a central administration block and dining hall with three double pavilion ward blocks at each side. Men were in the north and women in the south. In the First World War, it became Bermondsey Military Hospital
Old People's Home. Low brick 1960s by the G.L.C.
Housing by Lewisham Architect's Department, 1980, short terraces of pale brick.

Ewhurst Road.
1-12 bombed 23rd June 1944. Extensive damage in roads all around. V1.

Felday Road
Late Ruthin Road
Built on the site of the Priory, big house.

George Lane
2/6, c1815. Are a terrace of small cottages
8/10, c1815. Are a terrace of small cottages though modern shop front on 8

Gillian Street
Site of an old village which lay between this and Ladywell Road.
Shops built about 1810.
Houses with tiling inside the porches.
Collins Contractors
Alleyway alongside no.1. the end of which is a fence; beyond this is a curious stretch of wall with a red brick pillar containing a white stone property mark bearing the legend 'This wall is the property of W. Jerrard 1901'.

Gordonbrock Road
Gordonbrock Primary School. Gordonbrock Road School was. Used in the Second World War as an ARP Warden’s Post which Plus the Auxiliary Fire Service took up 12 classrooms? Garages there were used for storing furniture from bombed houses.

Hawstead Road
Sewer vent. Ham Baker makers.

Ladywell
Ladywell. Marked as “Well” on the Ordnance Survey map of 1816, but was known as “Ladywell” in the late 18th. It is said to refer to a holy spring dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, first noted in 1592.

Ladywell Fields and Recreation Ground.
The Ravensbourne was the boundary of the first Metropolitan Commission of Sewers in 1849. Ladywell Fields were bought by the London County Council from the manor in 1889, following a popular movement and Parliamentary powers. Lewisham bought half. 2 years later and because of flooding it was not good for building. Part was swapped with the Shortlands & Nunhead Railway Co. There are three fields lying between the two Catford stations and Ladywell. A footpath follows the course of the Ravensbourne, which keeps a natural appearance, but it was cleared and straightened in 1892 with Flood prevention work in the 1960s. There are Weirs & six wooden bridges. This is all that remains of 30 acres of meadowland at Domesday.  Paddling pool originally.
The first, southernmost, field is accessed at the end of Adenmore Road - This is the largest field and contains The Lewisham Dutch Elm Ulmus hollandica "Klemmer.” A large mature tree said to be the only known British specimen of this cultivar. Plaque on the railings.
Second field
Third field which reaches the Southern end of the churchyard of St Mary's
Toilets at the north end. 1892 provided by LCC whose monogram was on the front. Turret and chimneys,
Boundary marker for London County Council - a cast iron pillar. A series of these pillars follows the railway line through the fields and on the railway bridge
Bridge across the river on a path from the hospital 1998,
The Water main running between Oxleas Wood and Nunhead goes under the river at the Catford Loop railway bridge in the Fields. Laid 1893.  
Bridge for the Catford Loop Line.. Cast iron bridge of 1892 replaced 1965  
Catford Greyhound Stadium opened 1932. In 2003 it was closed by its operator Wembley. Demolished along with the scoreboard totalisator. In the 1960s, there were large crowds, and celebrities in 1934 speedway was held there.  
Memorial seat to John Runham
Nature reserve
playground
Ladywell Arena Atthletic Track 1997.fmally
Bowling Green

Ladywell Road
It was once called “Brockley Lane.” From Chudleigh Road the area was owned by Bridge House Estates since 1280 and was the land of Bridge House Farm. Some Houses built by Harvey 1857. The streets nearer the cemetery were laid out in the early 20th on this land with streets named for members of the builder’s family.
The Holy Well, or “Well of Our Lady”, was near where Ladywell Bridge crosses the railway. It was there in 1472, but may have been much earlier. The well failed after a sewer was built in 1855.
Ladywell Bridge. There was a foot bridge over the Ravensbourne with a ford. The first road bridge was built in 1830; and extended to cover the railway in 1857. The present bridge was built in 1938. A well is believed to lie under the last support of the bridge.
135 House 1880s, Bridge House Estate property mark.
148 house c 1900 has a Lewisham Council plaque: 'Site of the Ladywell Mineral Spring used, for medicinal purposes until the mid 19th century'. Spring recorded in 1472. Visited by pilgrims going to Canterbury. Ladywell Spa was there by 1790, but ran dry after the construction of a sewer in 1855.
Ladyewell mill or Shemannesmill or Brigesmill belonged to Bridge House
38 Masons Bar, previously the Freemasons Arms. Railway Hotel a pub of c1866. It forms part of a group built in the mid 1860s. Now flats.
The Lady Well may have been in this area.
38-52 group of from mid 1860s
48 J. Stone inspection cover in the pavement.
74/76 the oldest cottages in the aera. There is an Ancient Lights sign.
78, 1830s.
80 Ladywell Tavern basically a building c 1846, but altered c1895.
Coroners Court. A red brick building of 1894 with a grand entrance in Tudor style by J. Carline, Surveyor. It was built on part of the grounds of Lewisham House.
Ladywell baths. 1884 by Wieson, Son & Aldwinkle, in deep red brick, notable for its Gothic arches and the circular tower, which has lost its cap. It was built on the Glebe. Grooves in the doorway were formed from Children’s three pennies. The foundation stone was laid by Lewisham's first mayor. It was bombed 1940, and there was a George Medal for the rescuer. High on the wall is a Metropolitan Police property mark.
Gardens. Set in a circle as a feature, are some curved white stones which were discovered and removed when the road over the railway was built, and are thought to have been the coping stones of 'Lady Well'.
Ladywell House was St.Mary's Vicarage, built 1692. Since 1981 it is has been used as offices. It was built 1693 for Dean George Stanhope, and with two storeys it is a rural, rather than an urban building. In the Garden is a masonry arch take from the old church tower in 1907. Inside is an original staircase. It was extended Edwin Nash in 1881, and 1895 using old bricks from demolished Lewisham House.
Ladywell Nature Reserve. On the south of the station building on the down side
Lewisham Fire station. Built by the London County Council but since used by London Borough of Lewisham. Built in 1899 on the site of Lewisham House in light red brick. The practice tower, tall and circular with a cone on top, is a local landmark, converted to housing purposes in 1968.
Lewisham House. This stood on the corner of Ladywell Road and Lewisham High Street opposite the Vicarage. It was built in 1680 by Sir John Lethuillier. It was the home of the Parker family from t the early 19th. It was demolished in 1894, and the fire station, police station and Coroner's Court were built on the site. The base of the 19th boundary wall was exposed in 1980, during pipe-laying operations.
Tikitape House. Built as Neuk Laundry then Adhesive Specialities... Art deco building. Demolished.
Police station. Built on the site of Lewisham House in 1899 and Refurbished in 1984. There are property marks high on the wall and by the door is a stone for 1899. It is Queen Anne style in red brick with a bowed section, and a battlemented entrance porch. On the roof are a siren and a blue lamp still in place. Now offices.
Stone doorway. At the end of Ladywell Road, side is an old stone doorway. Is this a remnant of Lewisham House?
Terraces of 1857
The Organ Centre, Drapers advert and 'Bolton's Corner'
Wall letterbox. By the entrance to the station. Victorian
World War II sign 'Shelter for 700'

Lewisham High Street
The old centre was at the south end at the junction with Ladywell Road near the church and with the open space by the river. From the Hospital southwards there are grass strips between the buildings and the main road marking the course of a stream which until 1855 ran the length of the High Street to join the Ravensbourne near Lewisham Bridge. Trees were planted along it in 1855.
323 Coach and Horses. Old coaching inn with stained glass and wood.
347 Colfe and Hatcliffe Glebe, red brick building of 1952, opposite the site of the original Colfe’s Almshouses. It is the successor to both Colfe’s and Hatcliffe's Almshouses. Colfe was Vicar of Lewisham 1610 -1657 and left a number of charitable institutions. The Leathersellers Company built Colfe’s Almshouses with a bequest from Colfe; but they were bombed in1944 and demolished the 1950s. . The Registrar's Office is now on the site. William Hatcliffe 1620; left land for Almshouses which were built in Catford Road 1857, moved to Bromley Road in 1925 and amalgamated with Colfe’s c1952.
354 Hogshead Ale House was Jolly Farmers.
359-361 houses built c1835, but altered, site of Mount Pleasant House, demolished. It was the Southwark St.George's Parish boys' home
380-386 1871, medical business had been called Jasmine's. Site of the Carriage entrance to the hospital and Old reading school. It is Also the site of old row of houses called Exchequer Place on the site of the office of the Relieving Officer in 1910. Transferred to London County Council from Board of Guardians
418 entrance hall to old Gothic House
426 f. 1859 S.Carney
Car Park on the site of Sion House, demolished in 1972. It was next but one to the pub and was weather boarded early 18th building.
Church House once a quaint old wooden structure. It was next to the church and used as a meeting place
Churchyard. Split into two sections by a footpath and surrounded by a mainly 18th wall. The churchyard passage was railed at the end of the 19 following building on the glebe. Tomb of Ephraim How, cutler from Southend Mill. Tomb of Thomas Dermody, died in poverty at Perry Vale in 1802 aged 28
Doctors Quarters 1895 used as a paediatric unit and offices; red brick with a cupola.
E Block of the Hospital from the original Infirmary of 1894. Stock brick with red brick dressings, and water tower. The stores building which incorporated a chapel behind the old entrance is 1885.
Fire hydrant octagonal pillar by Lewisham Park junction,
Fire hydrant octagonal pillar south of the Hogshead pub
Flats - three 18 -storey tower blocks early 1960s by Lewisham Architect's Department.
Lewisham Hospital. Renamed University Hospital Lewisham. It began as the Lewisham Workhouse, in 1817 in there Waterloo Block. The original 1817 keystone is on the back of an archway in a corridor marked ‘Central Entrance'. The entrance porch had a pediment inscribed 'Lewisham Union', 1887.
Lewisham Library built 1901 and closed 1994 and had since becae the Hospital Education Centre. Red brick building, with a big entrance archway, above, and lots of terracotta decoration. On the site of Cliffe Villa another 18th building.
Lewisham workhouse dated from 1745. It was transferred to this site in 1817, and taken over by Lewisham Union in 1836. In the 1880s the workhouse was extended and Lewisham Infirmary was built in 1894. A high wall separated the workhouse and the infirmary. In 1915 it became Lewisham Military Hospital and in 1918 the wall was demolished, and the whole complex became Lewisham Hospital, though workhouse use continued until 1929. Numerous additions and there was a large-scale development programme. Amongst later buildings are the mental health unit, previously the nurses’ home 1927; the women’s & children’s wing 1996; the boiler house 1986; and the mortuary 1993. In Accident & Emergency, 1958, is a stained glass window by Faye Carey 1990 and a wooden sculpture Serendipity by Brian Willsher 1992.
Medical Centre Clubroom, opposite the ambulance entrance to Accident & Emergency, built for mentally ill patients in 1896.
Registrar's Office, on the site of Colfe’s Almshouses, which were demolished in 1958
The Ladywell unit, providing mental health at the hospital site, is officially opened by Frank Dobson 2001.
Riverside wing opened by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The new building has photovoltaic panels on the roof to contribute towards the energy needed to run it. 2002
Schools, 1966, Stanhope endowment
St Mary the Virgin Parish Church. A Georgian ragstone church of 1777 by George Gibson, with the late 15th tower of the previous church. Victorian chancel by Sir Arthur Blomfield 1881. On this site was the original parish church of Lewisham, Probably Saxon, but here since at least 1100. The previous church was 15th; its floor on the level of the present crypt, and this lower part is the oldest structure in Lewisham. In 1777 Gibson rebuilt the church, and added an upper stage to then tower. Above a window, is a tablet to Abraham Colfe 1657? Stonework around the west tower was replaced in 1907, and the doorway re-erected in the garden of Ladywell House font 1881. Stained glass early 1950s, by A. L. Wilkinson. The galleries are accessed via the original Georgian staircase. Monuments: tablet to Margaret Colfe 1643;Mary Lushington 1797 by Flaxman; Dean George Stanhope 1728; George Hatcliffe brass 1514; Thomas Wilkinson 1786; , Anne Petrie 1787 by Van Pook of Brussels; Margaret Petrie 1791, by Thomas Banks; monument to John Thackeray 1851 by E. H. Baily. 1498 and 1512, 1774.
St.Mary's Centre, 1891. Modern extension to the right, of 1988. Built on that part of the glebe known as Churchfield. Foundation stone

Manwood Road
Crofton Leisure Centre. Health Club GLC 196
Prendergast Ladywell Fields School. Leathersellers. This was Crofton School 1971 an ILEA GLC Comprehensive. It had a MACE classroom block with overhanging upper floors. The main Crofton School, a large modernist building of 1964

Mount Pleasant Road
Laid out in the early 1870s.
1-3 Italianate.

Railway Terrace
Ladywell Station, 1857. Between Catford Bridge and Lewisham on South East Trains. Built in 1866 in yellow brick with side platforms. The original entrance is, preserved the rest is 1890s. The South Eastern Railway opened it in 1857, when the Mid Kent Line went from Lewisham to Beckenham. The iron bridge linking the platforms was added later in the 19th.
5 site of surgical dressing factory run by John Milne. It may have been Eagle House, where he worked with Sir Joseph Lister who discovered antiseptic methods in surgical operations. Who in the 1870's is supposed to have been in Lewisham
Bombed 23.12.40 bombed, fire, 15 people killed.

Rushey Green
1 The George. At the front the L-shaped building, although completely rebuilt after the Second World War, preserves the appearance of the pub as it was c1800. The porch and the rear extension are post-war additions. Derelict and closed.
Horse trough outside the George on the forecourt which had a flat top. Removed 1983
Grammar School for Girls once stood on the Hawstead road corner 1910 in the grounds of what had been Springfield. Colfe Estates money built it and now owned by London County Council 1907.
20 a mid 19th extension of 22
22 Springfield basically a late 18th house
19 Job Centre on the site of the Methodist church
17 Wesleyan Church, the frontage of ‘Rosenthal," home of Alexander Rowland, of Macassar Oil fame. Closed 1967
68 The Plough & Harrow, originally an old cottage, which became a pub in the 1850s. The original upper floor of the cottage survives, the ground floor was rebuilt later.
Thackeray's Almshouses. A with gabled ends and a central Romanesque archway. The inscription reads: 'Built and endowed 1840 for 6 aged females by John Thackeray of The Priory Lewisham who died 1851'. His monument is in St Mary's Church
The Priory was a large house just north of the almshouses, finally demolished in 1932.
47 Capital House

Slagrove Place
This is an ancient name: ‘Slagrove's Mill’ is found in the manor rolls of the early 14th and ‘Slagrove Wood’ is mentioned in 1530. ‘Slagrove Farm’ was sold in 1897 to the Guardians of the Poor of the Parish of Bermondsey to build a workhouse for their poor – and became Ladywell Lodge
Gateway to Ladywell Lodge original with four red brick pillars
Porter’s lodge, to Ladywell Lodge 1900
Stream from Brockley Green flowed under the road to meet the Ravensbourne. There was at one time a footbridge and a ford here.
Drainage ditch, said once to have carried waste from mills at Catford
Slagrove Place Estate. 1995, facing a large green, and on the site of the old nursery block of Ladywell Lodge.

St Mary’s Path
Bridge over the Ravensbourne 1960s.

Comments

Unknown said…
Wrong. The holes in the soft beicks of Ladywell baths tower were made with old pennies, not threepenny bits. Check the diameter.

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