is a place in the
London Borough Of Greenwich . It is a suburban development situated 8.6 miles (13.8 km) east south-east of
Charing Cross .
It originally developed along part of the road from London to
Maidstone and lies three miles (4.8 km) almost due south of
Woolwich (
Mottingham , to the south, was originally part of the parish - explaining why
Eltham College is not actually in Eltham anymore).
Eltham was a civil parish of Kent until 1889 when it became part of the
County Of London and from
1899 formed part of the
Metropolitan Borough Of Woolwich . The metropolitan borough was abolished in 1965 and Eltham then became part of the present-day London Borough of Greenwich.
Eltham lies on a high, sandy plateau which gave it a strategic significance. That, and the fact of its position on the main route to the English Channel ports in Kent, led to the creation of the moated
Plantagenet Eltham Palace , still its most notable landmark.
The nearby manor of Well Hall was home to Sir former barn, known as The Tudor Barn, is now a prominent
Public House .
Also of note is Avery Hill Park and its former mansion, accessed from Bexley Road and at various points along the three miles of other streets that surround the park. Today the mansion is part of the
University Of Greenwich , which has a significant presence on two sites in the area. Avery Hill was the home of Colonel North, who made his fortune working
Caribbean plantations. A hothouse is still open to the public and contains temperate and tropical plants. There are also remnants of the formal gardens in the public park.
The village streets adjacent to the Palace, and the surrounding land, remained rural until Archibald Cameron Corbett bought the Eltham Park Estate and developed it with well-built suburban housing between
1900 and
1914 . The Bexley Heath Railway (see below) had opened what came to be known as the
Bexleyheath Line in
1895 . Suburban development of the district really began when the Government through Her Majesty's Office of Works built the Progress Estate and large estates of temporary hutments in
1915 , to house the vastly increased numbers of wartime workers in the
Royal Arsenal at
Woolwich . In the early years this was called, rather pretentiously, Well Hall Garden City, but it compares well with later groups of municipal housing in south London - which is surprising given the fact that it was constructed rapidly between February and December
1915 and its sub-division by the South Circular Road and, until about 1988, by the even busier A2 Trunk Road.
After ), Middle Park (1931-36), and Horn Park (begun
1936 , completed 1950s). The latter two were built on Eltham Palace's former hunting parks. Coldharbour Estate was built in
1947 . In the 1990s the defence of
Oxleas Wood to the east of the town became a focus for a pan-European campaign to resist high capacity urban roads. Significantly the European Court found the UK government at fault for not adequately assessing the environmental impact of the planned road, that would have joined Beckton to Falconwood and perhaps - if objectors' fears are to be believed - been a first stage of a wider orbital road through Catford (a revival of a GLC-backed Ringway Two). In 2005 proposals to replace both the
Andrew Carnegie -funded library on Eltham High Street and the newer public swimming pool were announced by
Greenwich London Borough Council, the local authority.
Eltham, along with most other suburbs in south east London, is not served by the London underground. Commuters rely on two rail lines to central London, and the road network. Unfortunately, Eltham High street, the commercial centre situated on its elevated plateau, was not on an obvious route for the railway, so it is distant (and uphill) from both lines. Bus connections are adequate between these locations.
Eltham Green is one of the only places in south London served by
National Express coaches, generally those serving Ramsgate,
Deal or
Dover on the
Kent Coast.
Originally opened on
1 May 1895 by a private company, it was taken over by the
South Eastern Railway after suffering bankruptcy. There were originally two stations in Eltham - Eltham (Well Hall) (originally simply "Well Hall"); and Eltham Park ("Shooters Hill" originally) opened
1 July 1908 {Link without Title} .
On
11 June 1972 , a London-bound train came off the track at Well Hall, killing 6 and injuring 126. Both stations in Eltham were closed in 1985 when major work was carried out on the A2 motorway. The new Eltham station opened in Glenlea Road the same year, combining bus and rail links in one complex, high above the A2. The new station is constructed in concrete, and the position of the platforms above the ticket office (with long ramps and stairs, denying a view of approaching trains), combined with its modernist feel, has led to negative comparisons with the two stations it replaced.
picture
This line, about 1km south of Eltham High St, was opened by the South Eastern Railway on
1 September 1866 . It is commonly known by locals as the 'Sidcup line to Dartford' (
Sidcup is a suburb situated south-east of Eltham). There are two stations on this line that best serve the population living to the south of Eltham: Mottingham (given the name "Eltham" until the Bexleyheath line opened), and New Eltham (formerly "Pope Street"). Both date from the early 20th century and have been significantly upgraded.
Given the lack of Tube access, the two suburban rail lines work at, or above, their capacity during peak-hour commuting to central London. Both before and after rail privatisation, dissatisfaction with the punctuality and crowding of the service has been a constant feature of life in this sector of the city.
Eltham High Street lies on the A210, the original A20 London to Maidstone road. But the A20 has now been diverted southwards, passing through Mottingham, and it is a dual carriageway that connects to the
M20 Motorway in Kent. Similarly, to the north, the dual carriageway A2 has replaced the Rochester Road section, which was always very congested (the old road had dangerous readings of lead pollution, close to schools, before the advent of lead-free petrol).
The upgrading of these two arterial routes in and out of London means that Eltham is handily positioned between the A20 and A2. Driving on either of these roads into London soon results in congestion, although the A2 does connect through to the
Blackwall Tunnel under the Thames, and thus into East London, all on dual carriageway. Driving eastwards allows access to the Dartford Tunnel, and the
Kent countryside, in as little as 20 minutes in off-peak hours.
Crossing the two from north to the south is the
A205 South Circular Road , a busy arterial route.
The back streets of Eltham are moderately free of traffic noise and congestion, and many have been traffic-calmed by the local Council. Provision for cyclists is modest, while there are some interesting footpaths along ancient rights of way, for example in Oxleas Wood and Avery Hill Park.
Scheduled coaches, marketed as part of the
National Express network, link Eltham Green to Pimlico and Victoria in central London and to several destinations on the Kent coast via
Bluewater a retail-based development on a grand scale situated in
Dartford borough and
Canterbury .
The 321 bus contracted by
TfL runs between
New Cross Gate and
Foots Cray , being the eastern end of a longer traditional radial service, route 21. However, the station and high street are well served by buses to other suburban destinations, including the 286 to
Greenwich and
Sidcup , the 161 to
North Greenwich Tube Station ,
Mottingham and
Chislehurst , the 132 to
Blackfen and
Bexleyheath , 162 to
Bromley and some less direct "hoppa"-style bus services.
Eltham appears to be similar to many of the surrounding suburbs of south East London, but its location and history has made it predominantly white (unlike areas further towards central London, but similar to Welling and Blackfen, to the East). In many respects it is at the furthest edge of the continuously built-up London urban area, since there is much more green space and Green Belt land to its East and south east. Thus it is both 'suburban' and 'urban', and it forms part of the inner-London Borough of Greenwich.
Its historical fame as 'royal' Eltham has not really endured - many pre and post-war housing estates were bland redevelopments, and visually unappealing (the Progress Estate is an exception). The town centre has lost several of its anchor stores and its Cinema since the 1980s, and some attractive back streets were replaced by a supermarket and a car park at that time. It does support a loyal core of shoppers, diners, and drinkers, but the nightlife is modest. House prices in this part of London, even during the booms of the 1980s and late 1990s, were significantly below the averages for other sectors of London, reflecting its disconnection from London's 'global' image and the finance capital of the City. Immigrants to London tend to head to other sectors - Eltham's relatively homogeneous racial and ethnic makeup is in stark contrast to the multi-ethnic areas situated a similar distance from the centre in North West or West London, like
Harrow or
Ealing . Eltham still has large areas of Council housing, and the historically white, working class population of these estates and apartment blocks have given a certain notoriety to the town's name, particularly after the
Stephen Lawrence murder in 1993. The "lower middle class" dominate Eltham as a whole. Outside the estates, Eltham residents occupy a housing stock of mixed age, particularly towards Eltham Park and the multiple streets with 'Glen' in their names, and there are some fine buildings scattered around the area. Only two roads, North Park and Court Road, contain million pound homes, although some of the older Victorian buildings have been subdivided into apartments. The school system, and the commercial hub, are really a reflection of Eltham's population and recent history - a functional centre, but increasingly under threat from out-of-town shopping and increased vehicle ownership.
- Socialist Hubert Bland lived in Well Hall House, Eltham from 1899 to 1922 .
- Singer Kate Bush was born in nearby Bexleyheath , and bought an imposing house on Court Road, Eltham in the 1980s. She sold it in 2002, when it was reported that she had moved to the London Docklands . 2005 Guardian and Mirror articles, however, suggest she lives on an island in the Thames near Theale, Berkshire, and recently bought a house and 17 acres in Devon.
- Millionaire, war veteran and philanthropist Sir Stephen Courtauld M.C. and his wife, Lady Virginia, lived at Eltham Palace from the mid 1930s to 1944 .
- Comedian and Hollywood Film Star Bob Hope KBE was born in Eltham in 1903 ( Blue Plaque at 44, Craigton Road, SE9).
- Commodore Sir William James (naval Commander) ( 1720 - 1783 ) settled in Eltham at Park Farm Place in 1759 and is commemorated by Severndroog Castle on nearby Shooter's Hill.
- Boy George , singer and performer, grew up in Eltham.
- Naturalist and writer Richard Jefferies ( 1848 - 1887 ) Blue Plaque (at 59, Footscray Road, SE9.)
- Cabinet minister and leader of London County Council Herbert Morrison (1888-1965) lived at 55 Archery Road, SE9 between 1929 and 1960 .
- Comedian and Comic Actor Frankie Howerd was educated at Shooters Hill Grammar School in Eltham. He also lived in the "Hutments".
- Billy Bonds MBE Former Charlton Athletic , West Ham United Footballer, and former Millwall F.C. Manager.
- Gavin Peacock Former Charlton Athletic , Chelsea , Queens Park Rangers Footballer, and currently Football Pundit for the BBC.
- Author Edith Nesbit wrote "The Railway Chidren" in Eltham.- She also, Lived in Well Hall House
- Actor and Hollywood film star Jude Law lived in Eltham and began his career at The Bob Hope Theatre.
