The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 10 a historian and a book

The challenge is to write a history of Eltham in just 20 objects which are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

Anyone who wants to nominate their own is free to do so, just add a description in no more than 200 words and send it to me.

Now everyplace deserves a historian and a good history book and Eltham had R.R.C.Gregory who wrote the Story of Royal Eltham in 1909 which remains a fine account of the area’s history

Mr Gregory was a teacher and later the headmaster at Eltham National School from 1901-1920 and the book began as a series of lessons for his students.

He had found the Admission Register for the school for 1814 which formed the inspiration of his teaching of local history, which drew praise from the Inspectors.

"The Headmaster directs the work with sympathy and he has striven to maintain the more helpful characteristics of a village school, more especially in regard to the old customs and associations."

It is available on the internet and more on Mr Gregory later.

Location; Eltham, London

Picture; of R.R.C Gregory,  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 

The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 9 a water trough chosen by Jean

The challenge is to write a history of Eltham in just 20 objects which are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

Anyone who wants to nominate their own is free to do so, just add a description in no more than 200 words and send it to me.

And here my friend Jean has chosen a horse tough and describes her choice.

This is a photograph of a disused Horse Water Trough still in position in Bexley Road, the road linking Eltham with the neighbouring town of Bexley.

With the growing awareness in the late 19th century of the need for such street furniture, to ease the way of the hundreds of workhorses pulling wagons and vehicles of all kinds up and down the highways of the kingdom, stone troughs of the kind shown in this photograph were provided throughout the country through the generosity and compassion of individual benefactors, and many survive to this day.

The one provided on the Bexley Road was presented by Sir Spencer Maryon-Wilson of Charlton House, Greenwich.  Charlton House is one of the finest Jacobean mansions in the London area and it remained the home of the Maryon-Wilson family until 1916, when Sir Spencer Maryon-Wilson moved out of the house which was being used as a hospital for officers during the 1st World War.

Charlton House and Park were sold to Greenwich Borough Council in 1925, and Sir Spencer Maryon-Wilson died in 1944

Location; Eltham

Picture and text; courtesy of Jean Gammons

The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 8 a family photograph

The challenge is to write a history of Eltham in just 20 objects which are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

Anyone who wants to nominate their own is free to do so, just add a description in no more than 200 words and send it to me.

This is a picture of Annie Morris sometime around 1911 outside her home at 25 Court Yard.

She was born in 1848 at 4 Pound Place, and almost her whole life was spent in Eltham.

She was a cook and may have worked for Captain North at Avery Hill and through her life we have a snap shot of what Eltham had been and what it was becoming.

Her grandfather had set up a farrier’s business in Eltham in 1803 on what is now the Library, and “attended the old Parish Church in his leather apron.”*

All of which makes her a little piece of Eltham’s history.

Pictures; from the collection of Jean Gammons

*Eltham District Times, June 1931

The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 7, down at the Arsenal

Now there is every chance that none of these eleven women came from Eltham or even lived here, but on the other hand they might have done.

The Progress Estate is testimony to the many people who came from all over the country to work at the Arsenal.

And as we uncover more personal stories of the hutments it is fitting that this picture should be included in the 20 objects

There is no printed caption and it has been left to someone to write “Woolwich Arsenal Girls.”

Location; Woolwich

Picture; Woolwich Arsenal Girls, date unknown, from the collection of David Harrop

The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 6 the artist and Pound Place

The challenge is to write a history of Eltham in just 20 objects which are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

These cottages have long gone but once they were the subject of this drawing by Mr Llwyd Roberts who lived in Eltham in the 1930s.

During his stay here he drew many pictures and some of these appeared in the Kentish Times in 1930 and were reprinted in Old Eltham sixty-six years later.

So here you get two for one.  A reminder of an artist whose pictures are still popular and the memory of the village pound or pinfold which was used to accommodate stray animals.

Location; Eltham, London

Picture; Pound Court, Llwyd Roberts, circa 1929-30, from Old Eltham, 1966, courtesy of Margaret Copeland Gain

*Llwyd Roberts, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Llwyd%20Roberts

**Pound Place, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Pound%20Place

The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 4, a royal palace and another book

The challenge is to write a history of Eltham in just 20 objects which are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

Anyone who wants to nominate their own is free to do so, just add a description in no more than 200 words and send it to me.

Now I don’t intend to write about the history of our royal palace, which is so much part of Eltham’s past other than to acknowledge its importance to the area.

Instead I want to highlight a book written all about it by Roy Brook and published in 1960.

It is now out of print but copies can be picked up relatively cheaply which is how I got my copy.

It is more than just the story of the Palace provinding information and maps on Eltham's development.

Picture; cover of the book

The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 3 the Rock Band and the Welcome Inn from Paula

The challenge is to write a history of Eltham in just 20 objects which are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

Here is Paula's choice

ROCK legends Status Quo were filled with nostalgia after they were honoured with a plaque commemorating their first gig.

The Music Heritage Plaque from the Performing Rights Society was unveiled at the former site of the Welcome Inn in Well Hall Road, Eltham, where the band first performed in 1967.

The pub, at the junction of Westmount Road, burnt down in 2006 and is now a block of flats.

Location' Eltham

Contributed by Paula Nottle

Picture; supplied by Paula Nottle

The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 2 eight miles to London Bridge

The challenge is to write a history of Eltham in just 20 objects which are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

Anyone who wants to nominate their own is free to do so, just add a description in no more than 200 words and send it to me.

So here we are with a mile stone announcing that it is just eight miles to London Bridge, and reminds us that for most of its history Eltham was a place in its own right and only relatively recently became a part of London.

Location; Eltham, London

Picture; courtesy of Jean Gammons

The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 1 the Tram sheds

The challenge is to write a history of Eltham in just 20 objects which are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

Anyone who wants to nominate their own is free to do so, just add a description in no more than 200 words and send it to me.

Today I have chosen those three buildings on Well Hall Road beside the parish church.  For over a century they consisted of a waiting room flanked by public lavatories.  They were originally built to serve tram passengers when the service began in 1910 and carried on in to the age of the motor bus.  In the 1970s the planners wondered if they should be demolished for a public place.  In their way they are a little bit of our history.

Picture; courtesy of Jean Gammons

The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 10 the drainhole cover ..... from Tricia

The challenge is to write a history of Eltham in just 20 objects which are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

And here is Tricia's Contribution to Eltham's Hall of History

"The drainhole cover was situated until 1970 in Eltham Court Yard and was only removed when the road was widened to take the bus lay-by outside Grove Market. 

It bore the following inscription 'Invented by T.C. HAWORTH, Surveyor, Eltham 1874'. 

It appeared more like a safe door than a drainhole cover and needed several men to remove it.

It was presented to The Eltham Society by the Greenwich Borough Council but the question is where is it now?"

Contributor; Tricia Lesley


Pricture; Court Yard, 1970, Mr. F Shepherd (beared) then Chairman of the Eltham Society recieves the Haworth drainhole cover from Greenwich Council officials, Photo; Kentish Independent supplied by Tricia Lesley