In the police lock up on Eltham High Street

The Cage, circa 1909

Following on from our map of Shooters Hill I thought I would present you with another image short on text.

This is the ‘Cage’ or lock up which stood on the northern side of the High Street close to the Presbytery of Christ Church.

The Presbytery was once Eagle House but more about that later. In the meantime  I shall turn to the historian, R.R.C.Gregory whose descriptions of the places and people of Eltham can not be bettered.

So while he may not have had the advantage of online resources to track the individuals who lived here he could call on the memories of people who had been born in the opening decades of the 19th century and who in turn could fall back on stories from earlier generations.  Writing in 1909 when the lock up was still on the High Street Mr Gregory commented

‘Prisoners could be not accommodated in the old [police] station, so had to be taken to the “Cage” or Lock-up,” which is still in existence, at the entrance, on the right, to the wood-yard, near the old Workhouse.  “The Cage” in fact, is in the corner of the garden of Eagle House.  The entrance is from the High-street, where the door may be seen, secured by a padlock.’

Pictures; “the Cage” from The story of Royal Eltham, R.R.C. Gregory, 1909 and published on The story of Royal Eltham, by Roy Ayers, http://www.gregory.elthamhistory.org.uk/bookpages/i001.htm 

*R.R.C. Gregory, The Story of Royal Eltham, 1909