Painting Well Hall and Eltham ....... nu 8 ....... magic days and evenings by the Tudor Barn

An occasional series featuring buildings and places I like and painted by Peter Topping.

The Barn, 2017

I am guessing we all have our favourite memories of the Tudor Barn and the Pleasaunce.

Mine run from wandering around the gardens on warm sunny days with a girl friend enjoying that heady sense of romance mixed with the memories of the sunlight playing on the moat and the orange coloured brick work of the Barn

And if there is one special memory it will be of a Blues and Folk night sometime in the summer of 1966.

I can’t remember who was on but there was something magical about sitting in the small open air theatre listening to the music with all that history as a backdrop.

Junior Showtime in the Pleasaunce, 1967

For years afterwards I cherished the poster of the event which I bought for a shilling  from the entertainments office of the Council, and as you do I pasted it on the wall of my bedroom.

It featured a guitar and a pair of Chelsea boots in black on a white background and always reminded me of the Pleasaunce.

For my sisters one of their special moments might well be those summer entertainments put on during the holidays and featuring all sorts of kid’s entertainers.

By chance one of those Junior Showtime’s was photographed by the local paper and the clipping with our Jill aged about nine staring back at the camera has survived.

And there hangs a perfect moment in time down at the Tudor Barn.

Painting; The Tudor Barn © 2017 Peter Topping from a photograph by Scott MacDonald circa 2013

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Picture; Well Hall courtesy of Scott McDonald and Junior Showtime, August 20 1967 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Painting Well Hall and Eltham ....... nu 3 Well Hall Cottages

An occasional series featuring buildings and places I like and painted by Peter Topping.

I have always been fascinated by Well Hall Cottages which were demolished in 1923 and  date from at least the mid 18th century.*

They consisted of six properties just north of Kidbrook Lane and  formed a rough L shape with three running west from Well Hall Lane, another two pointing north with a sixth at the rear on the western side.

By 1844 one of the six was occupied by John and Mary Evans. They were in their sixties, he had been born in Wiltshire and she was from Dublin.

Tracking down the other five has been less easy, but judging from the people listed on the census returns for 1841 and ’51 the cottages may have been home to agricultural labourers, a blacksmith and a carpenter.

There are plenty of photographs of the cottages but to my knowledge no paintings of the buildings so it was fitting that Peter should paint them using a coloured picture postcard dating from the early 20th century.

Now I am not a fan of taking a monochrome image and adding colour using a software process, but as Peter has used a postcard which had already been colourized, a very long time ago, my objections fly away.

Painting; Well Hall Cottages © 2015 Peter Topping from a photograph circa early 19th century.
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*Well Hall Cottages, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Well%20Hall%20Cottages

Painting Well Hall and Eltham ....... nu 7 tram sheds and missing the tram

An occasional series featuring buildings and places I like and painted by Peter Topping.

The Tram sheds, 2017 painted from a photograph, 1977

Now I always took the bus shelters for granted after all they had always been there and had always been bus shelters.

But not so.

They had started off as places to wait for the trams which began coming through Eltham at the beginning of the 20th century and which in turn were only made possible by the extension of Well Hall Road.

Neither of which I found out until recently.

LCC tram 1622, 2015

Of course it made perfect sense to extend Well Hall Road up from Sherard Road making a more direct route from Woolwich to the High Street.

And it made equal sense to start a tram service.

If I travelled on the old trams I have no memory, although Dad told me we made a special trip to see the last one arrive at the New Cross depot in 1952.

Sadly I can’t remember, and nor did he take a picture.

All of which just leaves the shelters as a testament to what had once been.

Location; Eltham, London

Painting; the tram sheds Well Hall Road © 2017 Peter Topping from a photograph by Jean Gammons circa 1977

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Picture;  LCC tram 1622, 2015, Crich Tramway Village courtesy of Andy Robertson

That remarkable painting of Eltham Palace .........

I like this water colour of Eltham Palace by my old friend Peter Topping.

The painting, 2025

Like many people I continue to be fascinated by Eltham Palace along with the Tudor Barn, its more humble companion just down the road.

So, if you grew up in Well Hall and were interested in history then these two old buildings were special.

Back in the 1960s the Palace was only open on Thursdays and Sundays which meant timing a visit to the school holidays or a Sunday.

But admission was free and from May to October the doors were open from 11am to 7pm and in the winter from 11am till 4, which gave plenty of scope to wander the Great Hall and indulge in shock and awe, made all the more so when I discovered the Palace's history and its place in Shakespeare's plays.

The guide book, 1958

All of which meant I could often be found on Thursday afternoons standing below the great wooden roof letting my imagination roll away.

Later still as I became less interested in the doing's of royalty and more in the lives of those who worked to keep the posh people happy I started to explore what it meant to be a kitchen servant, a laundry woman or the man in charge of the cole house.

Not an easy piece of research but I was helped by a delightful little book from the Ministry of Works published in 1958 for one shilling which acted as the "Official Guide-book [to] Eltham Palace Kent" 

Not that the author "D.E. Strong, M.A., D.Phil, formerly Assistant Inspector of Ancient Monument" gave any time in his description to our kitchen servant,  laundry woman or the man in charge of the cole house, but in the back of the book there are two plans based on the work of John Thorpe, who was the Elizabethan surveyor.

And there amongst all the important state rooms are the places that kept the Palace working, from the Slaughter House, Cole House, Pastry, Spicery and "My Lord's Butry"

The plan, 1958, based on the two Elizabethan plans

Too which I can add that series of fine line drawings of the Palace in a state of decay in the 18th century when it was a home to cows and other live stock which appear from time to time on the blog.

All of which is a far cry from Peter's painting made all the more remarkable because he is from Preston, has lived in Manchester for half a century and only knows of the palace's existence because I wax lyrical about the place on cold winter evenings in the Horse and Jockey, that Inn on the Green.

And just as Peter left Preston, I left Well Hall for Manchester in 1969,but still miss Eltham, its Palace and the Progress Estate where I gew up.

So much so that everyso often Peter comes up with another painting of home.* 

Painting; Eltham Palace, Peter Topping www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Pictures; Plan and front cover from Eltham Palace Kent, Ministry of Works Official Guide-book, 1958

*Painting Well Hall and Eltham, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Painting%20Well%20Hall%20and%20Eltham

Painting Well Hall and Eltham ....... Nu 4 our house on Well Hall Road

An occasional series featuring buildings and places I like and painted by Peter Topping.

Now there had to come a time when I decided my bit of Well Hall Road should be recorded.

It came out of a conversation with Peter about the house two doors down which had been bombed in the Great War.

Tricia Lesley discovered the original war time photograph, Daniel Murphy tracked down its location to the same block where I grew up and with Tricia’s help we uncovered the full story.

All of which I have written about* and with that all done I asked Peter to paint the house knowing that in doing so our house would  get a look in.

But modest as I am I was content that part of it would be obscured behind that small tree.

Back in the 1960s when we moved in to 294 the spot was dominated by a tall oak tree which I guess had been planted when the estate was built.

It pretty much hid our house completely and in the fullness of time will do so again, but for now that's my old bedroom very much as I remember it and that will do for me.

Painting; 294 Well Hall Road, © 2015 Peter Topping 

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*Zeppelins over Well Hall,
http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Zeppelins%20over%20Well%20Hall

Painting Well Hall and Eltham ....... nu 2 the Greyhound

An occasional series featuring buildings and places I like and painted by Peter Topping.

I always remember this as the Greyhound and it will have been one of the first pubs I went into when I was old enough and so I asked Peter to paint it using a photograph taken by Chrissy Rose.

Peter and I have been working together on projects for almost a decade including two books and an 80 meter installation along with various smaller displays and plenty of commissions.

And next time I am home I might book to eat in the restaurant.

Location; Eltham, London




Painting; Ye old Greyhound © 2015 Peter Topping from a photograph by Chrissy Rose 2014

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Painting Well Hall and Eltham ....... nu 1 the Library

An occasional series featuring buildings and places I like and painted by Peter Topping.

Like many in Eltham I continue to remember the library with great fondness.  It was a place I used a lot, borrowing books and records from its collection and spending hours in the reference section.

It was also where our Stella worked and for all those reasons it was the first building I asked Peter to paint using a photograph taken by Chrissy Rose.

Peter and I have been working together on projects for almost a decade including two books and an 80 meter installation along with various smaller displays and plenty of commissions.

And that is all I want to say.

Location; Eltham, London

After all I have written about the library already and its history is well known.*

Painting; Eltham Library © 2015 Peter Topping from a photograph by Chrissy Rose 2014

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

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* The Library on the High Street, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Eltham%20Library

Painting Well Hall and Eltham ........ nu 9 ........ catching the tram*

Now I know route number 40 never went through Well Hall

We had  routes 44 and 46, but this one is close enough.

It ran via the Old Kent Road and Westminster to the Embankment.

But it is special because it was one of the trams I might just have caught had I been old enough, given that we once lived close to the Old Kent Road.

And knowing how special LCC 1622 was to me, Peter offered to paint it from a picture taken back in 2015 by Andy Robertson.

At which point I could go into great detail on the story of the Woolwich and Eltham trams, but I won't.

Instead I will merely say that when the Government settled on Well Hall for its huge housing estate for the Arsenal workers in 1915 our tram network had already been in place for five years and following the Great War the network was extended to Lee, Lewisham and London.

Which I think neatly gets in a bit of Well Hall’s history alongside my tram and leave me just to correct the story, because Sonia tells me that that the "72 tram went to New Cross through Well Hall all along Westhorne."

Location; London

Painting; LCC tram 1622 © 2016 Peter Topping from a photograph by Andy Robertson, 2015.

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*Painting Well Hall and Eltham, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Painting%20Well%20Hall%20and%20

Painting Well Hall and Eltham ....... nu 10 outside the Park Tavern

Now I have been a wee bit harsh about Passey Place in the past.

You turn off into it from the High Street and once you have passed the old post office you are flanked by drab modern buildings with the side of the Market Place to your right and that long block of shops and flats opposite.

But there are those two fine looking houses a little further along and then the Park Tavern which Peter decided to paint recording it before its latest makeover.

So with that as an incentive I thought I would revisit Passey Place but with the twist that we are back in the April of 1911 when it was called Park Place and it counted amongst its residents, a doctor, a retired Professor a rate collector, and an omnibus conductor.

And I shall be even more specific and point out that those two fine houses I admire were the homes of Mr Murphy the rate collector and Mr Hutchinson the omnibus conductor and by 1914 the first had become the Blackheath Conservatoire of Music and perhaps because of that the Hutchinson’s next door had moved out and a Mr Morris had moved in.*

But there was one constant and that was William Smith the publican of the Park Tavern who was pulling pints by 1911 and perhaps earlier.

He was 50 years old in the year we wandered down the road, had been born in Scotland and had married Mrs Smith in 1883.

And they shared the pub with young Beatrice Serres and Alfred Osborn.  Beatrice was just 19 came from Kent and was employed as a domestic servant and Alfred at 79 was still working as a carpenter.

On the opposite side of the road along with the Post Office and Methodist Chapel were a number of residents including Madame Cecilia Ronsard who described herself as a dressmaker.

So an interesting and mixed bag of people in what I suspect was a more gentle and interesting street.

And now The Park is the favourite pub of our Jill and Geoff which is yet another reason to rethink all I have ever said and thought about Passey Place.

Painting; The Park Tavern © 2015 Peter Topping 

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*The Post Office London Directory, 1914 & the 1911 census return for the  Park Tavern Enu 06 Eltham London

Painting Well Hall and Eltham ....... nu 5 Eltham Church

An occasional series featuring buildings and places I like and painted by Peter Topping.

Now our parish church is one of those landmarks in Eltham with history.*

Long before Burton’s became McDonald’s it was one of the places I would arrange to meet friends.

Unlike the Eltham Grill and Wimpy’s it was free to wait there usually in the entrance which offered fine views up the High Street and down Well Hall and Court Roads.

And in a pre mobile age you had to be clear of the time and place with a back up destination if for any reason you had to move on.

The old tram sheds a little further down Well Hall Road were a good alternative as was the entrance to the Library otherwise it was in front of the post office.

But Eltham Church was always that first choice which is why I like Peter’s painting.

Location; Eltham, London

Painting; Eltham Church, © 2015 Peter Topping from a photograph circa early 19th century.

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

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*Eltham Church, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Eltham%20Church

One hundred years of one house in Well Hall part 15 ........... moving on

This is the continuing story of one house in Well Hall Road and of the people who lived there including our family.*

Now I am in reflective mood, after all it is over half a century ago that we moved into 294 Well Hall Road which we continued to occupy for more than thirty years.

But oddly what brought the memories flooding back was a story of another house, a house which has seen all my children grow up in, and which I first fell into in the mid 1970s.**

One of the four was born in the upstairs bedroom and all of them still come back for Christmas, and casual visits.

And I have been wondering if they feel about Beech Road as I do about the house in Well Hall.

For my sisters their memories of the old property in Lausanne Road are so vague as to be meaningless and so 294 is pretty much associated with their growing up and eventual moving on.

We don’t get back to Eltham very often but when we do I always feel a need to pass the place.

Not that I have ever wanted to knock on.  In that great sweep of memories revisiting your old home doesn’t work.

I remember going back to Lausanne Road and by chance we were invited in.  I was impressed by the way it has been modernised and for a few minutes was drawn to the place.

But it was a house I never really liked added to which it seemed so small.  In particular the garden which as a child stretched for ever was less than I remembered.

So I have avoided becoming a casual visitor to 294.

Better that it remains as it was, and a little bit of me feels the same about Eltham.  For a long time the place was frozen in my memory sometime around 1973, and while more recent visits have chipped away at that picture of the place when I think of the High Street, there is still a Burton’s on the corner, Hinds and the Co-op still offer up a shed load of stuff to buy and the old ABC is still showing reruns of Carry On films.

But Google street maps and the increasing number of pictures posted of the place today help make the transformation from then to now.

All of which leaves me pondering on the point of the story which I suspect is nothing more than doing what most of us do when we feel home sick, which is to recognise that all places change, and no less Well Hall.

Location; Well Hall, Eltham, London

Painting; 294 Well Hall Road, & St John's parish church © 2015 Peter Topping

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

*One hundred years of one house on Well Hall Road, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/One%20hundred%20years%20of%20one%20house%20in%20Well%20Hall

**One hundred years of one house in Chorlton part 62 ............ a quiet place, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/one-hundred-years-of-one-house-in.html