Lewisham's history from the Romans to the present day
Created by lewishaminformation on 11/07/2008
Last updated: 17/03/11 at 15:31
Manor House, a Grade II listed building, reopens after extensive refurbishment and renovation. The 1771 Georgian house gains a new life with a state of the art library, Children's Centre and community offer.
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Lewisham Library opens in a new building at 199 Lewisham High Street
90 people are killed and 109 seriously injured in a railway crash between St John's and Lewisham stations
New Cross Road is devastated by a V2 attack. Woolworths is destroyed and the Royal Arsenal C-Op seriously damaged. 168 are killed and 123 seriously injured.
Lewisham Gaumont Cinema opens
The Downham Estate is built between 1924 and 1930
Lewisham Hippodrome in Rushey Green opens - the largest music hall in London
The Clock Tower is built in Lewisham to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria
Ladywell Fields is opened as a park for the public
Ladywell and Forest Hill Baths are built
Lewisham Cottage Hospital opens in Verdant Lane
The sloop 'Druid' is launched - the last boat to be built in the royal dockyard
The Ladywell Cemetary is opened to serve the population of Lewisham
The first railway through Lewisham, the North Kent Line to Dartford, opens. Lewisham and Blackheath stations are built.
Captain Cooke's ship HMS Discovery is used as a convict hulk at Deptford.
The London & Croydon Railway Company buys the Croydon Canal and constructs a railway along the route. Stations are built at New Cross, Dartmouth Arms, Forest Hill, and Sydenham.
The London & Greenwich Railway opens, carried on a 876 arch brick viaduct. It runs from Spa Road, Bermondsey to Deptford.
Deptford Dockyard closes. It remains closed until 1844.
The Greenwich Steam Company is established in Deptford. It is one of the first steamboat companies.
Lewisham Brewery is built on the Ravensbourne. It is now the site of Tesco's.
The Croydon Canal is cut through Forest Hill. It is not a commercial success, mainly because there were too many locks to go through.
A footbridge is built across Deptford Creek
John Cator begins building houses on what is now called the Cator Estate
The Victualling Yard gateway is built. Still standing it is a listed building.
The Sierra Leone Resettlement Plan fleet sails from Deptford with 350 black emigrants
'The Bounty' is fitted out at Deptford for an expedition to take breadfruit from the South Seas to the West Indies to feed the slave population
The Manor House, Lee, is sold to Sir Francis Baring, founder of Baring Brothers bank
The Manor House at Lee is built
Captain James Cook takes charge of 'The Endeavour' at Deptford. The voyage charted the coast of New Zealand, then sailed west to land at Botany Bay
Olaudah Equiano lands at Deptford aboard 'The Preston', where his master resells him
Blackheath Golf Club is established
First Lewisham workhouse opens in Rushey Green
John Wesley preaches to between 12-14,000 people on Blackheath
Lewisham Nursery is founded by Henry Corbett. By 1800 it is the largest nursery in the south of England, covering some 150 acres.
Roman urns are found in a garden at New Cross
Ignatius Sancho is brought to Greenwich where he gains employment with the Duke of Montague and educates himself
St Paul's Church, Deptford, is built by Thomas Archer
Sayes Court, John Evelyn's old house at Deptford, becomes a workhouse
New Cross Turnpike Trust established
A Victualling Yard is established at Deptford, where ships' stores and provisions were assembled.
Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, worked at the Royal Dock as a carpenter to learn ship design. He stayed at Sayes Court, John Evelyn's house.
The former vicarage of Lewisham is built on the corner of Lewisham High Street and Ladywell Road. It is one of the oldest buildings in the borough.
Thomas Wilson writes to his family to tell them he has been press ganged in Deptford, sold into slavery and forced to work on the plantations in Jamaica
Samuel Pepys visits the Dockyard at Deptford on naval work
John Evelyn is in residence at Sayes Court in Deptford
Abraham Colfe becomes Vicar of Lewisham. He goes on to found a grammar school, a reading school and six almshouses.
Elizabeth I picknicked at One Tree Hill, which is now just outside the borough, but used to mark the boundary between Lewisham and Camberwell. The event is said to have been by an oak tree which was then named Honour Oak
The East India Company is established in Deptford
Christopher Marlowe, playwright and poet, is stabbed in the eye and dies in Deptford
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