Railway from London Bridge to Gravesend. Plumstead

Railway from London Bridge to Gravesend
The railway continued eastwards

Post to the west Plumstead
Post to the east Co-op Estate

Amar Court
This close off Benares Road provides accommodation for Asian elder. The Plumstead Tithe Barn seems likely to have been situation at the eastern end of the area.
Plumstead Tithe Barn. This was part of Plumstead Manor Farm. It was very large, thatched, and latterly use by a building contractor. It was demolished in 1908.

Bannockburn Road.
1-11 Quantum Theatre. Old Button Factory. Quantum Theatre for Science was founded in 1988 to meet the need for educational drama available to schools about numeracy and science
1 Button Factory. This was a factory for William C.Seamons, button, buckles, etc. Since moved to Eltham,
63-67 Shree Radar Krishan Dham. Greenwich Hindu Temple (Mandir). This was founded in 1978 and initially, members met at each other’s homes. St. Nicholas Mission Hall was purchased in 1984 and was converted into a Temple. Marble Murtis were donated from India. In 1993, the Temple was refurbished and the Singhasan was constructed.
Scout Hall - St.Nicholas Mission Hall was latterly used by the Scouts

Bargate Close
Houses climbing up a hillside on what appears to be the boundary between what was Weymouth House, at the top of the site until the 1960s, and other properties. It appears historically to have been an orchard but the site is very steep and embanked

Bebbington Road
Built in the late 1890s through the fields of Butcher’s Farm

Brewery Road
North Kent Brewery. The wall remains of the Beasley brewery. This was founded in 1845 as the Park Brewery run by L.Davos.  In 1878 it changed its name to the North Kent Brewery run by Mitchell and Beasley. It was rebuilt in 1889 by Inskip and Mackenzie featuring a central tower with an illuminated clock. They also used the Invicta.  It was taken over by Charles Beasley Ltd in 1943 and brewed Pale Ale, Bitter, Brown Ale and Stout. Courage bought Beasley’s in 1963 and seemed ran it as a bottled beer brewery producing Courage Light Ale, Brown Ale, IPA and 3 Star. The brewery closed in 1965.


Chestnut Rise
This was originally Chesnut Road
Woolwich Borough Yard. This had been the Plumstead Parish Yard but following amalgamation with Woolwich was the depot covering East Plumstead. It had an iron shed and a stink pipe to relieve the sewer below.  The site is now housing.

Galossan Road
Built in the late 1890s through the fields of Butcher’s Farm
Conway School. Built by the London School Board in 1897

Grosmount Road
Great Bartlets. The road, built in the early 20th, runs across the area of hillside and woodland once known as Great Bartlets. This is now the name of the belt of woodland between the road and Wickham Lane.
Cold Blow – this is the name for the isolated group of houses at the top of the road, beyond the blocked section.
Tower Blocks. A London County Council estate built 1962-4. These are eleven-storey point blocks, sited on a slope.

Hector Road
The road is built round two sides of the Invicta Athletic Grounds.
Invicta Athletic Grounds. This appears to have been an orchard but in 1890, the Royal Arsenal Football club moved here to play their games. It had a stand, terracing and changing rooms. They stayed three years and changed their name to Woolwich Arsenal Football Club and became professional. When they left an amateur football team called Royal Ordnance Factories played here but a year later the ground was developed with housing. It is said that some of the stadium terraces where people watching the games stood, survives in the back gardens.
St.Patrick's Church.  This was originally St Paul's Church (Church of England) built in 1909 by William Basset Smith in red brick. In since 1969 it became St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church having been sold to the Catholics in 1968. This was a legal first and needed an Act of Parliament

Hull Place
Casual Ward. Site of the Woolwich Board of Guardians Casual Ward for vagrants.

Lakedale Road
The road was originally called Cage Lane because the Parish Lock up stood somewhere near the junction with the High Street.
46 Church of Christ the King. This evangelical church is in what was Cage Lane Mission. This was opened on the site of what had been the Clifton Castle Tavern which had been taken over by Kate Russell in 1875. She came to Plumstead to undertake mission work and rebuilt the church in 1879.
40 Brewery Tap. For the adjacent Beasley’s Brewery.
18-30 Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society Department Store. This dated from 1896 and sold groceries and provisions, men's tailoring, chemist, hairdressers and butchers. It had a prominent clock tower.  There was a hall above the menswear department used for many different functions. This included the Socialist Sunday School and the Woodcraft Folk Club.  It had a reading room from 1902. Later demolished
14 Tram Shed. This was the depot for 54 trams in the 1880s.   In 1881, a 3' 6" gauge horse tramway was built by the Woolwich and South East London Tramways Co. between the terminus of the Bexley trams at The Plume of Feathers in Plumstead to The King William IV in East Greenwich. This was their depot where the narrow studded garage block was the tram shed for the narrow horse trams. The London County Council bought it in 1903 and instigated a system of electric trams.  It became a garage for a private bus operator in 1925; this was Pearson operating on a variety of routes. The 'Tram Yard' sign dates from 1977 and a garage currently operates from the site.  At one time a tram line ran from Plumstead High Street into the site.
1 Fire Station. This was built by the London County Council. Architects Dept. Fire Stations Division in 1907 under Owen Fleming including C.C. Winmill and W.E. Brooks.  It is a neo classical building of 5-storeys in red brick. There is lettering saying: 'L.C.C. Fire Brigade Station, Plumstead'. The exterior has two principal elevations on the prominent corner location. There are two large appliance bay entrances for horse-drawn fire vehicles and there was once fireman's accommodation on the upper storeys. Inside is the wood casing and doors to the sliding pole. It was opened in 1907 by the Chairman of the Fire Brigade Committee of the London County Council, Rupert Guinness and replaced a number of small houses

Liffler Road
1a New Testament Gospel Church. This is in what was St.Paul’s Memorial Hall. There is a stone memorial plaque on the Conway Road wall to the building.

Marmadon Road
Railway marshalling yard was behind it to the north

Mineral Road
The road is built round two sides of the Invicta Athletic Grounds. The eastern end is on the line of Butchers Lane going up to Plumstead High Road. It is named for the previous owner George Weaver who had a mineral water factory in Plumstead High Street

Nathan Way
Access to the Ridgeway Path along the Southern Outfall to Crossness

Parkdale Road
Receiving House for Children, previously known as ‘Artizans Dwellings’. These had been built by the Plumstead Vestry to house people whole their houses and property was being disinfested. There is now new housing on this site.
Dispensary. This was connected to the workhouse and used as a Tuberculosis Dispensary. There is now new housing on this site.

Plumstead Gardens
Plumstead Gardens.  This park is accessed from Church Manorway, to the east. The park dates from soon after the Second World War. it was originally laid out as an ornamental garden with a raised terrace at the east end, and a central bay on an axis with an ornate sunken garden with central a pool, walks and rose beds.  There was also a children's paddling pool, and a roller skating rink. Later there was a track for BMX and mountain biking. In the early 1990s the formal ponds were drained and some of the stonework damaged, and this area was later demolished and infilled. A pavilion built in the 1950s for youth groups and clubs and the toilets were demolished following vandalism.

Plumstead High Street
Leads towards Bostall Heath and the woods. Before the Thames was embanked by the monks at Lesnes an ancient road ran between Erith and Woolwich on the margin of the marshes and the stream and washed by the tide.
11-15 Plumstead Community Seventh Day Adventist Church
15 Plumstead Community Sdaj
26 This industrial building fronted by shops has signage at first floor level for Maxi Engineering Co. They appear to have left and the building appears to be a bedding warehouse plus a number of churches, including the Redeemed Christian Church of God, The Dominion Life Assembly, and the Fresh Grace Global Christian Centre. Before the Second World War this was the site of the works of W.Dingle, printer. This was a general print and publishing business but produce some works for the philatelic market.
64 Mineral Water Factory. This was owned by George Pike Weaver along with land later built up as Mineral Street. The building remains in other use.
65 The Electric Theatre. This was a shop conversion to a cinema in 1909 which closed in 1913. It is now a shop.
67 O’Dowd’s Pub. This was originally the Green Man, an early 20th pub with terra-cotta decoration. It was also once called Blue Moon
95 Red Lion. This pub is now a noodle bar. Part of the structure dated from the early 18th and it said to be a timber-framed building. There is however 19th tiling and 20th half timbering.
81-93 Century Cinema. This opened as The Empire Kinema in 1913. It was taken over in 1928, by Gaumont/Denham Theatres, but was operated by Bernstein/Granada. In 1928 the facade was reconstructed by Cecil Masey and it re-opened in 1928 as the Kinema. It was re-named Century Cinema in 1952, and closed in 1960. It stood back from the main street behind a narrow forecourt. It was converted into a warehouse, and later a training centre. From 2002 it was unused and in 2012 was demolished and flats were on the site named Century House and Bernstein Court.
100 Paddy Power. This was once The Belfry, Social Club
105 Plumstead Community Law Centre
107a Barclays Bank. This replaced a Methodist Chapel
Butchers Farm. This farm seems to have fronted onto the High Street at roughly no 110. It appears to have been in front of the tram yard and to have been in place until the 1890s.
Bannockburn Primary School. This school has another site in Church Manorway. The High Street branch was a London School Board School dating from 1896.
Plumstead Methodist Central Hall opened in 1905. The site is now flats and houses.
Police Station. Opened in 1991 to replace an older station.
130 The Volunteer.  This was the originally westward one of two buildings used as the vicarage and belonging to John Hobby's Charity and leased as a pub from 1865. It was exchanged for the building now called Bramblebury. It has been altered since. It is now a two-storey building with a rendered and painted front. It may once have been called The Greyhound.
142 – 146 Plaza Cinema. The Plumstead Cinematograph Theatre was opened in 1911. In 1931, it was re-modeled in an Art Deco style and re-named Plaza, operated by London & District Cinemas Ltd and later, in 1946, taken over by Granada Theatres. It was closed in 1954 and was empty until 1961, when it became a shop. It was later demolished and a Woolworth’s shop was built there. This closed in 2009 and is now Iceland.
232 Plumstead Library. Built in 1904 by the Borough Engineer, Frank Sumner as a Carnegie Foundation Library. It is in red brick with a projecting bay windows and stone. Above the entrance is the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich coat of arms and the words 'Public Library'. The Borough Museum was originally on the first floor and there was a small theatre to the rear. There was a flat for the Librarian on the Second Floor
234 Plumstead Baths. There were two Swimming Baths, warm slipper baths for men and women and also Turkish and Russian Baths. There was a public laundry. Plans were drawn up for the baths following the amalgamation of Plumstead and Woolwich in the 1890s and were agreed in 1902. There are now flats on much of this site
236 Kinara House. This was used as local authority offices and community buildings in a red brick building which appears to be pre-Great war. It may have originated as a medical centre.
242 Redeemed Church of God.  Kings Chapel. This was previously the Horse and Groom pub
244 Expo International Supermarket. This was previously the Electric Orange pub but in fact originally The Prince of Orange pub.
282 Plume of Feathers. 18th pub with lean-to weather boarded extension
Pavilion Theatre. This is said to have been near Wickham Lane 1914/15
St Nicholas Gardens.  This was a Cemetery but is now a small park and playground. 40,000 burials took place before 1890 and the ground is uneven because of the layers of tombs. There have been 2nd century Roman coins here. Many famous military burials and some unmarked including Daniel Cambridge, VC. The churchyard was later closed for burials and gravestones were cleared largely to the perimeter. South of the church it was laid out an ornamental public garden in 1955, with a railed path between it and the church. There are remains of old walls along Church Manorway, and two old entrances with steps lead up to the gardens. The 19th mortuary was replaced by toilets but these have also now gone.

Purrett Road
6 Plumstead Children’s  Centre
Gallions Mount Schools. This is near near the top of a hill which overlooks Gallions Reach – which is where the name came from. Initially an all girls' school, but since being rebuilt in 1977 it is co-educational.  It was originally called Purrett Road School and was a London School Board School

Quilter Street
Housing and car parks on the site of Plumstead Public Baths
Flush Bracket. Triangulation mark on metal plaque on the wall of Plumstead Library

Railway
Sidings and marshalling yard parallel with Marmadon Road and including line going into the Arsenal site.  Some of this site is currently being developed for the Crossrail tunnel portal.
Transformer Station

Rippolson Road
2 Old stable and forge, former Farrier’s workshop, arch dated 1883 plus a horseshoe.

Riverdale Road
This was previously called Skittles Alley

Southern Outfall
The Southern Outfall Sewer takes sewage from the southern area of central London to Crossness. It was designed by Joseph Bazalgette as part of the plans for handling sewage in the late 1850s. Three major interceptor sewers were constructed south of the river and meet at Deptford, and then proceed to Plumstead with another sewer joining at Charlton. From Plumstead the covered sewer forms the southern boundary of Thames and is landscaped as an elevated footpath called the Ridgeway.  It can be accessed from Nathan Way

Speranza Street
Leisure centre built in the late 1960s, and known as Plumstead Leisure Centre. In 2010 the centre was refurbished to include dance and performance arts studios and became The Warehouse Sports and Performing Arts Centre. It is now managed by Greenwich Leisure Ltd. T has a bowls rink, gym, 4 badminton court sports hall and other facilities.

St Nicholas Road
St. Nicholas' church. The church is believed to have been founded in 950 probably built of wood. Before the river was embanked by the monks at Lesnes the church would have stood on the edge of the flooded area of the Thames. There are two ancient splayed windows. A modern stained glass above the porch shows St Nicholas as Bishop of Myra who rescued three children from an evil butcher. The current building dates to the 13th and the size of the old church can be seen from the columns of the south aisle. In 1958 workmen found a 13th chisel, which is now in the Science Museum. Work begun in 1230 is assumed to have halted because of flooding .The tower, was built in 1664 and Being close to the Thames has been used as a beacon for ships arriving in London. It was also used by Cadets of the Royal Artillery for sighting and calculating distances on rangefinders. When In the late 19th the flagstaff was destroyed in a storm the War Department paid for its replacement. There are four bells Three cast in 1686 and the fourth in 1790. The wooden ceiling of the Lady Chapel is in the style of an upturned keel. The church was badly damaged in the Second World War and Restored in 1959 by T. F. Ford & Partners.
Manor Farm. This was north east of the church and featured a massive tithe barn.

Tewson Road
Plumstead Health Centre. Built 1977-80 by P. Hockaday of the Greenwich and Bexley Area Health Authority
Parish Workhouse. There was a parish workhouse in Plumstead in 1777. From 1838 this was part of the Greenwich Poor Law Union but in 1868, a new Woolwich Union was created which took in Plumstead. In 1870, the foundation stone for the new Woolwich Union workhouse was laid by the Revd Francis Cameron and it was inscribed "The poor ye have always with you". The workhouse was at the south side of Plumstead High Street, and was designed by Church and Rickwood. It is not shown as fronting on the main road.  In 1872, a separate infirmary was erected to the south of the workhouse which included three ward blocks with staff quarters, kitchens, offices and committee rooms. There was accommodation for children and a sick bay for vagrants from the casual ward. In the 1920s it was known as the Woolwich Institution, and the infirmary as the Plumstead and District Hospital. In 1930, the site passed to the London County Council ad was renamed St Nicholas Hospital. In the Second World War the northern block was destroyed by bombing.
St. Nicholas Hospital. Built as the infirmary for the workhouse of the Woolwich Union opened in 1874. From 1884 emergency cases, brought in by the Woolwich Union horse ambulance were admitted.   In 1890 two observation wards were added, as well as padded cells.  In 1900 another ward block was added, and a laundry, and in 1902 a Nurses' Home was built and a Matron appointed.  In 1928 the Board of Guardians renamed it the Plumstead & District Hospital.  In 1930 it passed to the London County Council who renamed it St Nicholas' Hospital.  In the Second World War it suffered considerable bomb damage and in 1945 was damaged by a V1.  In 1948 it joined the NHS and later a six-storey ward block was built including the Gooding Ward with 23 maternity beds.  In 1965 a new Accident & Emergency Department opened. It began to close down from 1978 and finally closed in 1986.  The Hospital site is now a housing complex.  The only surviving building is now the St Nicholas Centre, owned by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust.

White Hart Road
Council depot. White Hart Road Depot. This was the site of the Woolwich municipal electrical generating station fuelled by domestic rubbish and the second such plant built by a local authority’s engineer and surveyor Frank Sumner in 1903. It supplied power to streets, public buildings and domestic premises. The main building had the generating hall referred to as the 'tiled hall'. Copper and aluminium were removed from the rubbish by women known as scratchers ad sold to dealers. A ramp at the front was for dust carts were driven into the unloading area. Rubbish was fed on to moving belts which was then tipped for loading into the boilers. The chimney was Low chimney because of the closeness to the Arsenal firing grounds.  There was a Meldrum destructor with 4 grates, Babcock and Wilcox boilers. Power generation ended in 1923 when the municipal power station in Woolwich was opened but incineration of rubbish continued into the 1970s.   The main generating hall has a tiled interior the second hall has brick walls painted white and the third hall, is thought to be an addition but has offices underneath,.
Laundry. This was on site and integrated with the power station. The washing of foul items from social services and other outlets was the last function to run on site.
Piggery. In the 1920s until he Second World War the site included a piggery where residents were encouraged to collect food waste for the pigs. The resulting bacon went to Council children’s and old people’s homes
Road making site. Clinker from the destructors was used in an associated road making works on site.
37 Salvation Army. This is a large 19th building from which the Army actively works.
Shaheed Udham Singh Asian Community Centre


Sources
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Bygone Kent
Cinema Treasures. Web site
Clunn. The face of London
English Heritage. Web site
Field. London Place Names,
Glencross. Buildings if Greenwich
GLIAS Newsletter
Greenwich Hindu Temple. Web site.
Greenwich Industrial History. Newsletter
Greenwich Industrial History. Blog site.
London Borough of Greenwich. Local List
London Borough of Greenwich. Web site
London Gardens. On line. Web site
Lost Hospitals of London. Web site.
Meantime Brewery. Web site
Nature Conservation in Greenwich
North West Kent History Society. Web site
Pevsner and Cherry. London South
Plumstead Stories. Web site
Quantum Theatre. Web site
Smith. History of Charlton
South East London Industrial Archaeology
Spurgeon. Discover Woolwich,
Spurgeon. Discover Greenwich and Charlton
Woolwich Antiquarians, Transactions
Workhouses. Web site

Comments

Anonymous said…
Lakedale Road formerly Cage Lane was originally Water Lane. The now underground river which emerges briefly to fill the ponds in the Slade used to flow along this route. The nearby formerly named Washerwoman's Bottom also gives a clue to its usefulness to the residents of Plumstead.

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