Eltham

Eltham developed along part of the road from London to Maidstone, and lies 3 miles (4.8 km) almost due south of Woolwich. Mottingham, to the south, became part of the parish on the abolition of all extra-parochial areas, which were rare anomalies in the parish system. Eltham College and other parts of Mottingham were therefore not considered within Eltham's boundaries even before the 1860s.

From the sixth century Eltham was in the ancient Lathe of Sutton at Hone. In the Domesday Book of 1086 its hundred was named Gren[u/v]iz (Greenwich), which by 1166 was renamed Blachehedfeld (Blackheath) because it had become the location of the annual or more frequent hundred gathering.

Eltham lies in the hundred of Blackheath, at the distance of eight miles from London, on the road to Maidstone. The parish is bounded by Woolwich, Plumsted, and the extraparochial hamlet of Kidbrooke, on the north; by Bexley on the east and south east; by Chislehurst on the south; by the extraparochial hamlet of Mottingham, on the south-west, and by Lee on the west. It contains about 2,880 acres (11.7 km²): of which about 360 are woodland; about 60 waste; about three fifths of the cultivated land are arable. ....This place had formerly a market on Tuesdays, and two fairs; one at the festival of the Holy Trinity, and the other at that of St. Peter and St. Paul; both of which have been long discontinued.

— Daniel Lysons, 1796, The Environs of London[3]

By the 1880s the lathes and hundreds of Kent had become obsolete, with the civil parishes and other districts assuming modern governmental functions.

Eltham was a civil parish of Kent until 1889 when it became part of the County of London and from 1900 formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich. The metropolitan borough was abolished in 1965 and Eltham then became part of the then London Borough of Greenwich.

Eltham today is one of the largest suburban developments in the borough with a population of almost 88,000 people.

Eltham Palace

Eltham lies on a high, sandy plateau which gave it a strategic significance. That, and the fact of its position close to the main route to the English Channel ports in Kent, led to the creation of the moated medieval Eltham Palace, still its most notable landmark. Daniel Lysons[3] described its origins.

The Kings of England had a palace at Eltham at a very early period ... Henry the Third, in the year 1270, kept a public Christmas at his palace of Eltham, being accompanied by the Queen, and all the great men of the realm. Anthony Bec, Bishop of Durham, and Patriarch of Jerusalem, bestowed great cost, we are told, on the buildings at this place, and died there on the 28th of March 1311, having, as it is said, some time before given Eltham-house to Edward the Second, or, as some say, to Queen Isabel.... Edward frequently resided here. In 1315, his Queen was brought to bed of a son in this palace, called, from that circumstance, John of Eltham. Edward the Third held a Parliament at Eltham in 1329, and again in 1375.

The nearby manor of Well Hall was home to Sir John Pulteney, four times Lord Mayor of the City of London, and later to wealthy Catholic William Roper and his wife Margaret (daughter of Sir Thomas More, known to Catholics as Saint Thomas More, Chancellor to King Henry VIII). In 1733 Sir Gregory Page bought this estate for £19,000 and demolished Roper House, building Page House – later known as Well Hall House – on the site. Until its demolition in 1931, Well Hall House variously served as a home to watchmaker John Arnold, and later to socialist Hubert Bland and author Edith Nesbit.

Also of note is Avery Hill Park and its former mansion, accessed from Bexley Road and at various points along the three miles (5 km) of other streets that surround the park. Avery Hill was the home of Colonel North, who made his fortune working in the Chilean nitrate industry. A hothouse is still open to the public and contains temperate and tropical plants. There are also remnants of the formal gardens in the public park. The mansion was part of the University of Greenwich, which had a significant presence on two sites in the area. However, in 2014 the university announced its intentions to withdraw from the site and has now done so.

The village streets adjacent to the Palace, and the surrounding land, remained rural until Archibald Cameron Corbett bought the Eltham Park Estate and developed it with well-built suburban housing between 1900 and 1914. The Bexley Heath Railway (see below) had opened what came to be known as the Bexleyheath Line in 1895. Suburban development of the district accelerated when the Government, through His Majesty's Office of Works, built the Progress Estate in Well Hall and large estates of temporary hutments in 1915, to house the vastly increased numbers of wartime workers in the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich. In the early years it was called, rather pretentiously, "Well Hall Garden City".[4] Its name was changed to "Progress Estate" when it was purchased by the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society in 1925. It compares well with later groups of municipal housing in south London – which is surprising given the fact that it was constructed rapidly between February and December 1915 and is sub-divided by the South Circular Road and (until about 1988) by the even busier A2 Trunk Road. The Progress Estate was made a Conservation Area in 2007.

Urban development

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  Map 2. Eltham in 1870
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  Map 3. Eltham in 1898
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  Map 4. Eltham in 1908
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  Map 5. Eltham in 1928
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  Map 6. Eltham in 2014 (Source: OpenStreetMap)

After World War I the building of housing estates continued unabated. By the beginning of World War II, four large estates were in existence: the Progress Estate (1915), the Page Estate (1923), Middle Park (1931–36), and Horn Park (begun 1936, completed 1950s). The latter two were built on Eltham Palace's former hunting parks. Coldharbour Estate was built in 1947. The small council estates of Pippenhall and Strongbow Crescent were completed about 1960. Since that time new house building has been limited to small private "infill developments" and replacements for demolished properties.

Eltham residents occupy a housing stock of mixed age, particularly towards Eltham Park and the multiple streets with 'Glen' in their names. There are some fine houses scattered around Eltham. At least two roads, North Park and Court Road, contain million pound homes, and some of the older Victorian buildings have been subdivided into apartments.

A Micropub, The Long Pond, was opened in December 2014 - the first pub in Eltham Park for at least 115 years as Archibald Cameron Corbett would not give permission for pubs and put a restrictive covenant on the land. However, since the Licensing Act 2003 was implemented in 2005, Premise Licences are now granted by the local authority (Greenwich London Borough Council) instead of magistrates, as long as the applicant satisfies the council and the "responsible authorities" (such as Police, Environmental Health, Fire Service) that they will uphold the four licensing objectives (prevention of crime and disorder; public safety; prevention of public nuisance, protection of children from harm), then a licence will be granted. Several licensed premises in Eltham Park now offer "Off Sales".

Domestic architecture

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  The Lord Chancellor's Lodging c. 1420
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  Clapboard cottage c. 1750
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  Pair of cottages c. 1800
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  Villas c. 1880
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  Terrace houses c. 1880
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  "Corbett Houses" Eltham Park c. 1905
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  "Corbett Houses" Well Hall c. 1905
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  Progress Estate. Built 1915
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  Semi-detached houses. Built 1938
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  Local authority houses c. 1955
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  Flats c. 1980. Replaced Victorian villas
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  Flats c. 2012. Replaced old swimming pool

In 1990, an IRA bomb outside the Eltham Palace headquarters of the Royal Army Educational Corps injured seven people (see 1990 Eltham bombing).[5] The area was targeted three times by the Mardi Gra bomber in the 1990s.

Map 6. Eltham: contours and water courses

Eltham has a varied topography. Map 6 shows contours, spot heights and water courses. The centre of Eltham is on a plateau at about the 60m level with the High Street running along its centre. There is a scarp slope to the west of the plateau from the top of which are unrestricted views across South London. Eltham Palace occupies a commanding position on the edge of the scarp. Eltham Hill offers the steepest descent from the plateau, starting at Eltham High Street and descending 30m over 1 km due west at the Yorkshire Grey (now a McDonald's outlet). The land to the north of Eltham rises to form the southern slope of Shooter's Hill, one of the highest points in London at a height of 430 feet (130 m). The recently (2014) restored 18th century belvedere Severndroog Castle offers wide views from its observation platform which is 490 feet (150 m) above sea level.

From Eltham Church at 200 feet (60 m) the High Street rises gently to 233 feet (71 m) and continues east as Bexley Road at a slightly lower level.

To the south the plateau slopes gently downwards to Mottingham (at 163 feet (49.6 m)) and New Eltham (at 151 feet (46.1 m))

Eltham is devoid of any major water features, although the River Thames is approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) away from Eltham's northern limits. The most prominent body of water is the River Quaggy which runs to the south-west of Eltham and joins the River Ravensbourne at Lewisham. The Quaggy receives additional water from a tributary named Little Quaggy, flowing from the lake of The Tarn in Mottingham, and feeds the wetlands in Sutcliffe Park. The only other significant watercourse is the River Shuttle, which rises in Avery Hill Park and flows east to join the River Cray.

Other nearby areas

Green Chain Walks in and through Eltham

There is a large variety of open green space in Eltham, in the form of parkland, fields and woodland. "Green Chain Walks" are signposted footpaths that run through or link the green spaces. Some are also bridleways or cycle routes.

• Avery Hill Park is large, open parkland, to the east. It is most notable for its Winter Garden, a hothouse containing tropical trees and plants from around the world. The parkland was acquired by the London County Council in 1902.
• Oxleas Woods, Castle Wood and Jack Wood, directly north of Eltham, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Oxleas Wood covers 190.3 acres (0.8 km²) and is at least 8,000 years old. The wood is home to specimen of tree including oak, silver birch, hornbeam and coppice hazel. Severndroog Castle, built in 1784 as a memorial to William James of the East India Company, stands in Castle Wood.
• Sutcliffe Park is a 35 acres (0.1 km²) park at the westernmost point of Eltham. Previously known as Harrow Meadow, the parkland was reclaimed from the River Quaggy in the 1930s. The Quaggy was diverted into culverts, and the park officially opened in 1937 as Sutcliffe Park, named after the Borough's engineer. On 26 June 1954, the athletics track in Sutcliffe Park was opened, and has since been home to the Cambridge Harriers. In 2003, the park was re-landscaped as a wetland area. The River Quaggy was allowed to flow above-ground in the area, for the first time in 70 years. The park borders the Ferrier Estate, which was completed in 1970 and demolished by 2012 to make way for "Kidbrooke Village".
• The Royal Blackheath Golf Course[6] and the adjoining Tarn date back to Tudor times. The golf club, founded in 1766 to the north in Blackheath and to the south since its merger with Eltham Golf club in 1923, is the oldest golf club in the world outside Scotland.[7] The club house Eltham Lodge[8] is a grade I listed building.
• Well Hall Pleasaunce[9] – formal gardens, ponds and woodland, originally the site of a manor house, in Well Hall
• Eltham Park North[10] and Eltham Park South[11] are the final major green areas in Eltham. The southern park is adjacent to the Eltham Warren Golf Course.
• The Tarn, 1 km (0.62 mi) south of Eltham High Street, a 9 acres (3.6 ha) public garden, and bird sanctuary, with a lake amongst woodland.[12][13][14]
• Horn Park', 1.8 km (1.1 mi) southwest of Eltham High Street, a 16 acres (6.5 ha) public park in Horn Park, with grassland, woodland, playground, football pitch and skate park.[15][12]

Eltham Parks North and South, Avery Hill, Sutcliffe Park, The Tarn, Well Hall Pleasaunce and Horn Park all have Green Flag status.[16]

In the 1990s the defence of Oxleas Wood to the north east of the town became a focus for a pan-European campaign to resist high capacity urban roads. Significantly the European Court of Justice found the UK government at fault for not adequately assessing the environmental impact of the planned road, that would have joined Beckton to Falconwood and perhaps – if objectors' fears are to be believed – been a first stage of a wider orbital road through Catford (a revival of a Greater London Council-backed Ringway Two).

Green places in Eltham

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  King John's Walk (Green Chain Walk)
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  Butterfly Lane
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  Avery Hill Park (Green Chain Walk) and the Winter Gardens
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  Oxleas meadows (Green Chain Walk)
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  Well Hall Pleasaunce - Woodland Garden
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  Well Hall Pleasaunce - Tudor Barn

The Royal Borough of Greenwich maintains an online directory of open spaces.[17] Most parks have active Friends groups

At the census of 2011, the white population of Eltham was recorded at 80.95%; the largest minority group in Eltham was Black-African and Black-Caribbean people, who comprised 7.46% of the total population with Asians comprising 6.62%. Eltham's proportion of white residents is significantly higher than the Royal Borough of Greenwich average of 62.5%. Eltham's population by ward in 2011 was as follows:

Eltham, along with most other suburbs in south east London, is not served by the London Underground. Commuters rely on two rail lines to central London, and the road network. Trains through Eltham terminate at London Charing Cross, London Cannon Street or London Victoria in a westerly direction, and Crayford, Dartford, Slade Green, Gravesend, Gillingham or Rochester in an easterly direction. Given the lack of London Underground access, the two suburban rail lines work at, or above, their capacity during peak-hour commuting to central London. Fast trains take as little as 20 minutes to get to London Charing Cross. Eltham's closest London Underground station is North Greenwich tube station, a few miles to the northwest.

Bexleyheath line

Originally opened on 1 May 1895 by a private company, the Bexleyheath Line was taken over by the South Eastern Railway after it suffered bankruptcy. There were originally two stations in Eltham: Eltham Well Hall and Eltham Park. Eltham Well Hall station opened in 1895. Eltham Park station opened (after a prolonged legal wrangle) on 1 July 1908.[41] On 11 June 1972, a London-bound train came off the track at Well Hall, killing 6 and injuring 126. Both Eltham stations were closed in 1985 and replaced by a new ‘Eltham’ station; this coincided with the construction of the Rochester Way Relief Road part of which was built on the site of Eltham Well Hall station. Glenlea Road between Well Hall Road and Archery Road was replaced by the station forecourt and a bus station (this had previously been adjacent to Well Hall station). The new rail station was built above the new road at the point it travels through what is sometimes referred to as 'the Eltham tunnel'. The new station has a modernist feel.[42]

Dartford Loop

The Dartford Loop line, about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) south of Eltham High Street, was opened by the South Eastern Railway on 1 September 1866. It is commonly known by locals as the 'Dartford line via Sidcup'. There are two stations on this line that serve the population living to the south of Eltham: Mottingham station, originally named 'Eltham Station' until 'Eltham Well Hall' opened, and New Eltham station. Neither station is as large as Eltham station, but both have been heavily upgraded since opening.

Eltham High Street lies on the A210, the original A20 London to Maidstone road. But the A20 has now been diverted southwards, passing through Mottingham, and it is a dual carriageway that connects to the M20 motorway in Kent. Similarly, to the north, the dual carriageway A2 has replaced the Rochester Road section, which was always very congested (the old road had dangerous readings of lead pollution, close to schools, before the advent of lead-free petrol).

The upgrading of these two arterial routes in and out of London means that Eltham is handily positioned between the A20 and A2. Driving on either of these roads into London soon results in congestion, although the A2 does connect through to the Blackwall Tunnel under the Thames, and thus into east London, all on dual carriageway. Driving eastwards allows access to the Dartford Tunnel, and the Kent countryside, in as little as 20 minutes in off-peak hours.

Crossing the two from north to the south is the A205 South Circular road, a busy arterial route.

The back streets of Eltham have been largely traffic-calmed by the local Council, but there are chronic rat-runs[43] as many of the measures are ineffective or insufficient. Provision for cyclists is modest, while there are some interesting footpaths along ancient rights of way, for example in Oxleas Wood and Avery Hill Park.

Scheduled coaches, marketed as part of the National Express network, link Eltham Green to Pimlico and Victoria in central London and to several destinations on the Kent coast via Bluewater (a retail-based development on a grand scale in Dartford borough) and Canterbury. Eltham Green is one of the few places in south London served by National Express coaches.

Eltham is served by Transport for London bus routes 122, 124, 126, 132, 160, 161, 162, 233, 286, 314, 321, B15 and B16.[44][45] These routes connect Eltham to Beckenham, Bexley, Bexleyheath, Blackfen, Bromley, Catford, Charlton, Chinbrook, Chislehurst, Crystal Palace, Foots Cray, Greenwich, Grove Park, Horn Park, Kidbrooke, Lee, Lewisham, Middle Park, New Addington, New Cross, North Greenwich, Plumstead, Ruxley, Sidcup, Swanley, Well Hall, Welling and Woolwich.