Editing Deptford (section)

==History==

=== Ancient ===
Deptford took its name from a ford across the [[River Ravensbourne|Ravensbourne]] (near what is now [[Deptford Bridge DLR station]]) along the route of the [[Ancient trackway#Great Britain|Celtic trackway]] which was later paved by the Romans and developed into the medieval [[Watling Street]].<ref name=route>{{cite web |url= http://www.dartfordarchive.org.uk/early_history/transport_rs.shtml |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20020109203103/http://www.dartfordarchive.org.uk/early_history/transport_rs.shtml |url-status= dead |archive-date= 9 January 2002 |title= Roman and Saxon Roads and Transport |work= Dartford archive |via= Dartford Grammar School |publisher= Kent County Council }}</ref> The modern name is a corruption of "deep ford".<ref>{{cite book| author1 =Patrick Hanks | author2 =Flavia Hodges| first3 =A. D. | last3 =  Mills| first4 = Adrian | last4 = Room |title=The Oxford Names Companion|date=2002|location= Oxford |publisher= The University Press|isbn= 978-0-19860561-4|page= 1003}}</ref>

Deptford was part of the pilgrimage route from London to [[Canterbury]] used by the pilgrims in [[Chaucer]]'s ''[[Canterbury Tales]]'', and is mentioned in the prologue to "[[The Reeve's Tale]]".<ref>{{cite web | author = Geoffrey Chaucer |author-link = Geoffrey Chaucer |url= http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/rvt-par.htm#PROLOGUE |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620005954/http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/rvt-par.htm |archive-date=2019-06-20 |title=The Reeve's Prologue | at= line 3906 |website= Harvard University| access-date= 20 June 2019}}</ref> The ford developed into first a wooden then a stone bridge, and in 1497 saw the [[Battle of Deptford Bridge]], in which rebels from [[Cornwall]], led by [[Michael An Gof]], marched on London protesting against punitive taxes, but were soundly beaten by the King's forces.<ref>{{Cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CSkGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA468 |title=The Environs of London: pt. 2 |year=1811|page= 468 | author1 =Daniel Lysons | author2 =Samuel Lysons}}</ref>

=== Early modern ===
[[File:Deptford Strond.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|A 1623 map of Deptford Strond with annotations by [[John Evelyn]] showing [[Sayes Court]] in the bottom-left corner, and Deptford Green as "The Common Greene" just above centre left (click for larger version)]]
A second settlement, '''Deptford Strand''' or '''Deptford Strond''', developed as a modest fishing village on the Thames until [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] used that site for a royal dock repairing, building and supplying ships, after which it grew in size and importance, shipbuilding remaining in operation until March 1869.<ref name= brit_deptford>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45272 ''Deptford''], Old and New London: Volume 6 (1878), pp. 143–64. accessed: 19 September 2009</ref>

[[Trinity House]], the organisation concerned with the safety of navigation around the British Isles, was formed in Deptford in 1514, with its first Master being [[Thomas Spert]], captain of the [[Mary Rose]]. It moved to [[Stepney]] in 1618. The name "Trinity House" derives from the church of Holy Trinity and St Clement, which adjoined the dockyard.<ref name=moorhouse>{{Cite book| author = Geoffrey Moorhouse  | title =Great Harry's Navy | publisher =Weidenfeld & Nicolson | year =2005 | location = London | pages =169, 170 | isbn =978-0-297-64544-3}}</ref>

Originally separated by market gardens and fields, the two areas merged over the years,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/lewisham/main/deptford.htm |title=Deptford |publisher= Ideal homes |access-date=17 August 2008  |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080601064304/http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/lewisham/main/deptford.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 1 June 2008}}</ref> with the docks becoming an important part of the [[Elizabethan era#Science, technology and exploration|Elizabethan exploration]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server.php?show=ConNarrative.38&chapterId=469 |title=The Tudor and Stuart port | work = About maritime London |publisher=Port Cities |access-date=9 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081222004120/http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server.php?show=ConNarrative.38&chapterId=469 |archive-date=22 December 2008}}</ref> [[Queen Elizabeth I]] visited the royal dockyard on 4 April 1581 to knight the adventurer [[Francis Drake]].<ref name= Green2000>Greenwich 2000 - ''[http://wwp.greenwich2000.com/info/local/deptford.htm Deptford Strand] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110711125222/http://wwp.greenwich2000.com/info/local/deptford.htm |date=11 July 2011 }}''</ref> As well as for exploration, Deptford was important for trade – the [[Honourable East India Company]] had a yard in Deptford from 1607 until late in the 17th century,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/conMediaFile.484/The-East-India-Companys-Yard-at-Deptford.html |title= The East India Company's Yard at Deptford |publisher=Port cities |access-date=5 July 2010 |archive-date=9 June 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110609184430/http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/conMediaFile.484/The-East-India-Companys-Yard-at-Deptford.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> later (1825) taken over by the [[General Steam Navigation Company]]. It was also connected with the [[History of slavery|slave trade]], [[John Hawkins (naval commander)|John Hawkins]] using it as a base for his operations,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.paradise-inn-carriacou.com/slavetrade.php |title=Slavetrade in the caribbean, from the beginning till abolishment. |publisher= Paradise inn Carriacou |access-date=9 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100412005442/http://www.paradise-inn-carriacou.com/slavetrade.php |archive-date=12 April 2010}}</ref> and [[Olaudah Equiano]], the slave who became an important part of the abolition of the slave trade, was sold from one ship's captain to another in Deptford around 1760.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.itzcaribbean.com/olaudah_equiano.php |title=Olaudah Equiano, UK |publisher= It's Caribbean |access-date=9 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013124330/http://www.itzcaribbean.com/olaudah_equiano.php |archive-date=13 October 2008}}</ref><ref>''The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, Written By Himself, Volume 1'', [[Olaudah Equiano]], Kessinger Publishing, 2004, {{ISBN|1419167499}}</ref>

Diarist [[John Evelyn]] lived in Deptford at [[Sayes Court]], the manor house of Deptford, from 1652 after he had married the daughter of the owner of the house, [[Sir Richard Browne, 1st Baronet, of Deptford|Sir Richard Browne]].<ref>Douglas D. C. Chambers, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8996 'Evelyn, John (1620–1706)'], ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, January 2008, accessed 13 January 2008.</ref> After [[Stuart Restoration|the Restoration]], Evelyn obtained a 99-year lease of the house and grounds,<ref name=Deptford/> and laid out meticulously planned gardens in the French style, of hedges and [[parterre]]s. In its grounds was a cottage at one time rented by master woodcarver [[Grinling Gibbons]]. After Evelyn had moved to Surrey in 1694, [[Peter the Great]], the Russian [[tsar]], studied shipbuilding for three months in 1698 while staying at Sayes Court.<ref name=Green2000/> Evelyn was angered at the antics of the tsar, who got drunk with his friends who, using a wheelbarrow with Peter in it, rammed their way through a "fine holly hedge". Sayes Court was demolished in 1728-9 and a [[workhouse]] built on its site.<ref name=Deptford>{{cite book|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=45482|title= Deptford, St Nicholas, The Environs of London: volume 4: Counties of Herts, Essex & Kent|publisher= T Cadell and W Davies|date=1796|pages=359–85|last=Daniel Lysons|work=British History Online}}</ref> Part of the estates around Sayes Court were purchased in 1742 for the building of the [[Victualling Commissioners#The Victualling Yards|Navy Victualling Yard]], which was renamed the [[HM Victualling Yard, Deptford|Royal Victoria Victualling Yard]] in 1858 after a visit by Queen Victoria.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.london-footprints.co.uk/wkdeptmillwalladd.htm |title=Deptford & Millwall - add info |publisher=London-footprints.co.uk |access-date=5 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820182731/http://www.london-footprints.co.uk/wkdeptmillwalladd.htm |archive-date=20 August 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This massive facility included warehouses, a bakery, a cattleyard/abattoir and sugar stores, and closed in 1961. All that remains is the name of Sayes Court Park, accessed from Sayes Court Street off Evelyn Street, not far from [[Deptford High Street]]. The [[Pepys Estate]], opened on 13 July 1966, is on the former grounds of the Victualling Yard.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mcad.demon.co.uk/tag1.htm |title=Pepys Estate Tenants Action Group |access-date=11 June 2010 |archive-date=26 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626213023/http://www.mcad.demon.co.uk/tag1.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Flats on Deptford Strand, SE8 - geograph.org.uk - 1492422.jpg|thumb|Surviving riverside building of the former [[HM Victualling Yard, Deptford|Royal Victoria Victualling Yard]]]]

The Docks had been gradually declining from the 18th century; the larger ships being built found the Thames difficult to navigate, and Deptford was under competition from the new docks at [[Plymouth]], [[Portsmouth]] and [[Chatham Dockyard|Chatham]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.52/chapterId/775/Deptford-and-Woolwich-Londons-Royal-Dockyards.html |title=Deptford and Woolwich: London's Royal Dockyards - London's docks and shipping - Port Cities |publisher=portcities.org.uk |access-date=14 January 2010 |archive-date=10 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110072751/http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.52/chapterId/775/Deptford-and-Woolwich-Londons-Royal-Dockyards.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> 

=== 19th century ===
When the [[Napoleonic Wars]] ended in 1815 the need for a Docks to build and repair [[Ship of the line|warships]] declined; the Docks shifted from shipbuilding to concentrate on [[victualling]] at the [[Royal Victoria Victualling Yard]], and the Royal Dock closed in 1869.<ref name="portcities">{{cite web |url=http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.52/chapterId/779/Deptford-and-Woolwich-Londons-Royal-Dockyards.html |title=Deptford and Woolwich: London's Royal Dockyards - London's docks and shipping - Port Cities |publisher=portcities.org.uk |access-date=14 January 2010 |archive-date=31 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091231064152/http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.52/chapterId/779/Deptford-and-Woolwich-Londons-Royal-Dockyards.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> From 1871 until 1913 the shipyard site was the [[City of London Corporation]]'s [[Foreign Cattle Market]], to which live animals were brought by cattle boat from four continents and from whence came about half of London's meat supply.

=== 20th century ===
The yard was taken over by the [[War Office]] in 1914,<ref name="times-1926">''Sale of Deptford Market. Government to Pay £387,000.'' The Times, 13 March 1926, p.12, col F</ref><ref name="times-1924">''Future of Deptford Market. War Office decision to buy.'' The Times, 6 February 1924, p12, col B</ref> and was an Army Supply Reserve Depot in the [[World War I|First]] and [[World War II|Second World Wars]].<ref name="sh">Greenwich Industrial History [http://greenwichindustrialhistory.blogspot.com/2010/01/royal-dockyard-deptford_06.html Proposal to list the remains of the Royal Dockyard at Deptford] 6 January 2010</ref><ref>[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.htm PRO] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100105104154/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.htm |date=5 January 2010 }} Works 43/614-6</ref> The site lay unused until being purchased by Convoys (newsprint importers) in 1984, and eventually came into the ownership of [[News UK|News International]].<ref name="lf">[http://www.london-footprints.co.uk/wkdeptmillwalladd.htm london-footprints.co.uk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720064552/http://www.london-footprints.co.uk/wkdeptmillwalladd.htm |date=20 July 2008 }} Deptford Dockyard</ref><ref name="rr">[http://www.richardrogers.co.uk/render.aspx?siteID=1&navIDs=1,4,22,132 Convoys Wharf London] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091003221105/http://www.richardrogers.co.uk/render.aspx?siteID=1&navIDs=1,4,22,132 |date=3 October 2009 }}, Richard Rogers Partnership, 2002</ref> In the mid-1990s, although significant investment was made on the site, it became uneconomic to continue using it as a freight wharf.<ref>[http://www.london.gov.uk/archive/mayor/planning/docs/safeguarded_wharves_05.pdf Safeguarded Wharves on the River Thames - London Plan Implementation Report] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604095332/http://www.london.gov.uk/archive/mayor/planning/docs/safeguarded_wharves_05.pdf |date=4 June 2011 }}, Mayor of London, January 2005, pp 60-63</ref> In 2008 Hutchison Whampoa bought the 16[[Hectare|ha]] site from News International with plans for a £700m 3,500-home development scheme.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=29&storycode=3152565&c=1 |title=Mothballed £700m Deptford housing scheme on track |publisher= Building |date=6 November 2009 |access-date=5 July 2010}}</ref> The [[Grade II listed]] Olympia Warehouse will be refurbished as part of the redevelopment of the site.<ref name="rr"/>

Deptford experienced economic decline in the 20th century with the closing of the docks, and the damage caused by the bombing during [[the Blitz]] in the [[Second World War]] – a [[V-2 rocket]] destroyed a [[Woolworths (United Kingdom)|Woolworths]] store in New Cross Gate, killing 160 people.<ref>{{Cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=W9TODKJGzjwC&pg=PA170 |title=Easier Fatherland: Germany and the Twenty-First Century |isbn=978-0-8264-6320-3|year=2004 |author=Steve Crawshaw |page=170 |publisher=A&C Black }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.flyingbombsandrockets.com/V2_maintextb.html |title=Flying Bombs & Rockets |access-date=15 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121214000651/http://www.flyingbombsandrockets.com/V2_maintextb.html |archive-date=14 December 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> High unemployment caused some of the population to move away as the riverside industries closed down in the late 1960s and early 1970s.<ref name=TownTalk>{{cite web |url= http://www.deptford.towntalk.co.uk/about/ |title=About | work = Deptford Town Centre |publisher= Towntalk |access-date=14 January 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130101074054/http://www.deptford.towntalk.co.uk/about/ |archive-date=1 January 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> 

=== 21st century ===
The local council have developed plans with private companies to regenerate the riverside area,<ref name="concept" /> and the town centre.<ref name="regeneration">{{cite web |url= http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/Environment/Regeneration/DeptfordAndNewCross/DeptfordTownCentre/ |title= Proposals for the regeneration of Deptford town centre |publisher= Lewisham Council |access-date=14 January 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110608221248/http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/Environment/Regeneration/DeptfordAndNewCross/DeptfordTownCentre/ |archive-date=8 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>