Saturday 9 March 2019

The Coal Hole Hall of Fame ………no. 6 …… one road seven covers

Now I am impressed.

Karine has discovered seven coal hole covers on Kirkside Road in Blackheath, and quick as a flash she photographed them and sent the images across.

What strikes me is that not only are they in good condition, but there are five different designs, with two  carrying the name of Peppercorn Brothers, Deptford, who according to one source, were provision dealers, dealing in “Furniture, Carpets, Pianos, Lino, and Second-Hand furniture”. *

“John Peppercorn was born in 1843/4 and died in November 1915.  He was a businessman and local politician active in south east London.

Born in Deptford, he was one of several sons of Joseph Peppercorn, a Bedfordshire born grocer and cheese monger and his wife Ann Howard née Down from Devon.


After serving an apprenticeship, John set up in business as a grocer by 1870, when he married Florence L Poulton from Torquay.

His business prospered and by 1898 he was described as a large draper or merchant. 

In that year he won a seat as a Progressive Party member of the London County Council representing Greenwich. 

He only served a single three-year term on the county council, standing down at the 1901 elections.

When the first elections to the Metropolitan Borough Councils were held in November 1900, Peppercorn stood for election to Deptford Borough Council but was defeated, with the Moderate Party gaining control. By 1905 he had gained a seat and served as Mayor of Deptford for 1905-06.

His business became a limited company, Peppercorn Brothers Limited of Greenwich and Deptford, and he retired to Lee, where he died aged 70”. **

Now there is a lot more research to do on the man, and the firm, and at the end of it we may discover that his is not our man.

In the meantime, I will just leave you with the five, and thank Karine for taking the trouble to photograph them.

I would happily send her a gold-plated coal hole cover, but I couldn’t stretch to such an expensive exercise.

 I have however inducted the seven in the Coal Hole Cover Hall of Fame.

Location; Blackheath














Pictures; coal hole covers, Kirkside Road in Blackheath, 2019, from ye collection of Karine Lepeuple

*There is a picture on the Bexley Archive of a shop front of Peppercorn Brothers, dated 1900 which announces that the firm sold,  “Furniture, Carpets, Pianos, Lino, and Second-Hand furniture”.

*Shop front of Peppercorn Brothers Provision Dealers, Deptford c.1900. Images from Bexley Local Studies and Archives, https://www.boroughphotos.org/bexley/dew172/


**John Peppercorn, London Wiki, https://london.fandom.com/wiki/John_Peppercorn

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