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| Deptford | |
|---|---|
 An anchor at the southern end of Deptford High Street links Deptford to its dockyard history | |
  Deptford Location within Greater London | |
| OS grid reference | TQ365775 |
| • Charing Cross | 4.7 mi (7.6 km) WNW |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | SE8 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Dockyards. This was a major shipbuilding dock and attracted Peter the Great to come and study shipbuilding. Deptford and the docks are associated with the knighting of Sir Francis Drake by Queen Elizabeth I aboard the Golden Hind,[1] the legend of Sir Walter Raleigh laying down his cape for Elizabeth,[2] Captain James Cook's third voyage aboard HMS Resolution,[3] and the mysterious apparent murder of Christopher Marlowe in a house along Deptford Strand.[4]
Though Deptford began as two small communities, one at the ford, and the other a fishing village on the Thames, Deptford's history and population has been mainly associated with the docks established by Henry VIII. The two communities grew together and flourished during the period when the docks were the main administrative centre of the Royal Navy, and some grand houses like Sayes Court, home to diarist John Evelyn, and Stone House on Lewisham Way, were erected. The area declined as first the Royal Navy moved out, and then the commercial docks themselves declined until the last dock, Convoys Wharf, closed in 2000.
A Metropolitan Borough of Deptford existed from 1900 until 1965, when the area became part of the newly created London Borough of Lewisham.[5]
- ^ Sir Francis Drake: The Queen's Pirate, pp 218-19, H Kelsey, Yale University Press (1 September 2000), ISBN 0-300-08463-3
- ^ Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado, pages 83 & 176, Marc Aronson, Clarion Books (17 April 2000), ISBN 0-395-84827-X
- ^ Captain James Cook, pp 273-294, Richard Hough, W.W. Norton (17 August 1996), ISBN 0-393-31519-3
- ^ Greenwich 2000 (5 January 2010). "Greenwich England: Deptford". Wwp.greenwich2000.com. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ [1] Archived 8 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Lewisham Borough Historical resource