is a district on the north tip of the
London Borough Of Lewisham . New Cross is covered by
London Postal District SE14. It is home to
Goldsmiths College ,
Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College ,
Addey And Stanhope School and was once the home of
Millwall F.C. for 83 years. They now play in
Bermondsey SE16, in the
London Borough Of Southwark . The area is served by two stations,
New Cross Station and
New Cross Gate Station . Both are on the
East London Line of the
London Underground network as well as being suburban
Railway stations.
New Cross is near
St John's ,
Nunhead ,
Peckham ,
Brockley ,
Deptford and
Greenwich . Its proximity to the latter two, both of which have strong maritime connections, led to the establishment of the Royal Naval School in New Cross in
1843 to house "the sons of impecunious naval officers". The school relocated further south-east to
Mottingham in
1889 , and the former school building subsequently (from 1891) housed Goldsmiths College.
On 25 November
1944 , a
V-2 Rocket exploded at the Woolworth’s store in New Cross Road, on the site later occupied by the Iceland store. 168 people were killed, ranging in age from Michael Glover, aged 1 month, to William Frank, aged 80.
In January
1981 , 13 young black people were killed in the
New Cross Fire at a party at 439 New Cross Road. Suspicions that the fire was caused by a racist attack, and official indifference to the death, led to the largest ever political mobilisation of black people seen in
Britain .
The Jehovahs Witness Hall was formerly a synogue. For a time during the 1980's this was squatted and used by local influencial performance artists, including Peri Mackintosh's Proj-X and Test Department, as a rehearsal venue.
During this time The Goldsmiths Tavern hosted what was then known as "alternative cabaret nights" These were organised by Nikky Smedley (later a Tellytubby) into the Parrot Cafe. This played host to fledgling acts including, Peri Mackintosh, The Cholmondelys, Julian Clarey and Vic Reeves Big Night Out.
Recently the area has become something of a property hot-spot on account of the so-called arts boom in neighbouring
Deptford and the
New Cross Scene that has benefited local nightlife.
- Poet Robert Browning lived in Telegraph Cottage near New Cross Road during the 1840s
- Music hall star Marie Lloyd lived in Lewisham Way from 1887 to 1893
- Sir Barnes Wallis ( Blue Plaque on building on corner of New Cross Road and Nettleton Road)
- 1970s Glam rocker Steve Harley grew up in Fairlawn Mansions, New Cross, going to Edmund Waller and Haberdashers' Aske's schools.
- Actor Gary Oldman was born and raised in New Cross. His film 'Nil By Mouth' is loosely based on his life growing up in South East London.
- Carter USM wrote a song called ''The Only Living Boy in New Cross'' (1992) (the title being a play on that of Simon and Garfunkel's song ''The only living boy in New York'').
- Gordon-Orr, Neil (2004). Deptford Fun City: a ramble through the history and music of New Cross and Deptford. London: Past Tense Publications .
