is a place in the
London Borough Of Southwark . It is located 3.5 miles (5.7 km) south west of
Charing Cross , about a mile (1.6 km) east of
Camberwell and a mile (1.6 km) west of
New Cross .
Peckham has never been an administrative district, or a single ecclesiastical parish in its own right, but it developed a strong sense of identity in the nineteenth century when Rye Lane was one of the most important shopping streets in South London, and indeed still is for wigs and yams. It was the setting for the popular
Sitcom "
Only Fools And Horses " throughout the eighties and early nineties, and has not yet shaken off its reputation as the run-down, dangerous area that was depicted in the TV series, although the series was never filmed in Peckham, but in various locations including Acton, Brighton, Salisbury, Ipswich, Hull and Bristol. Most media coverage of Peckham is in relation to its high crime rate - recent famous cases include the murder of
Damilola Taylor in
November 2000 and the machine-gunning of eight or nine (contemporary reports vary) people queueing outside ''Chicago's'' nightclub in the summer of 2000.
Peckham is an area of great diversity: gang-related shootings, muggings and burglary characterise one picture whilst another emphasises the high population of artists and professionals. The Bellenden area in the south west is busy with cafés, wine bars, niche shops and artists' studios. There is also clear cultural diversity: the offspring of generations of Londoners mix with members of communities from
China , the
Caribbean ,
India ,
Ireland ,
Nigeria and
Turkey .
The
European Union has invested heavily in the regeneration of the area; partly funding the futuristic, award-winning
Peckham Library , a new town square and swathes of new housing to replace the
North Peckham Estate . Throughout the area state funding is being provided to improve the housing stock and renovate the streets. This includes funding for public arts projects like the
Tom Phillips mosaics on the wall of the Peckham Experiment restaurant.
The main shopping street is Rye Lane, and the large Peckham Rye Park is nearby.
The oldest surviving building in Peckham is 2 Wood's Road, built in
1690 .
'Peckham' is a
Saxon place name meaning the village of the river Peck, a small stream that ran through the district until it was enclosed in
1823 . Archaeological evidence indicates earlier
Roman occupation in the area, however, although the name of this settlement is lost.
The first certain reference to Peckham is as 'Pecheha' in
Domesday Book , when it measured about 240 acres (1 km²), land for one plough, one villager and three smallholders. The manor was owned by
King Henry I who gave it to his son
Robert, Earl Of Gloucester . When Robert married the heiress to Camberwell the two manors were united under royal ownership.
John Of England probably hunted at Peckham and local anecodotes suggest that the right to an annual
Fair was granted to celebrate a particularly good days sport. The fair grew to be a rowdy major event lasting three weeks until its abolition in 1827.
Peckham became popular as a wealthy residential area by the sixteenth century and there are several claims that
Christopher Wren had local links. By the eighteenth century the area was a more commercial centre with extensive
Market Gardens and
Orchard s growing produce for the nearby markets of London. Local produce included melons, figs and grapes. The formal gardens of the Peckham Manor House, rebuilt in 1672 by Sir Thomas Bond were particularly noticeable and can be seen on the Rocque map of 1746. The Manor House was sacked in 1688, as its then owner Sir Henry Bond was a Roman Catholic and staunch supporter of James VII and II. The house was finally demolished in 1797 for the formation of Peckham Hill Street, as the Shard family developed the area. Today Shard's Terrace, the block that contains Manze's Pie and Mash shop, and the western side of Peckham Hill Street represent this Georgian planned expansion.
The village was the last stopping point for many cattle drovers taking their livestock for sale in London. The drovers stayed in the local inns (such as ''The Red Cow'') while the cattle were safely secured overnight in holding pens. Most of the villagers were agricultural or horticultural workers but with the early growth of the suburbs an increasing number worked in the brick industry that exploited the local
London Clay .
In
1767 William Blake visited Peckham Rye and had a vision of an
Angel in a tree.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century Peckham was a "small, quiet, retired village surrounded by fields". Since
1744 Stage Coach es had travelled with an armed guard between Peckham and London to give protection from highwaymen. The rough roads constrained traffic so a branch of the
Grand Surrey Canal was proposed as a route from the
Thames to
Portsmouth . The canal was built from
Surrey Commercial Docks to Peckham before the builders ran out of funds in
1826 . The abbreviated canal was used to ship soft wood for construction and even though the canal was drained and backfilled in
1970 Whitten's timber merchants still stands on the site of the canal head.
In
1851 Thomas Tilling started an innovative omnibus service from Peckham to London. Tilling's buses were the first to use pre-arranged bus stops, which helped them to run to a reliable timetable. His services expanded to cover much of London until his horses were requisitioned for the army in
World War One .
Before Peckham Rye station was opened in 1865 the area had developed around two centres: north and south. In the north, housing spread out to the south of the
Old Kent Road including Peckham New Town built on land owned by the Hill family (from whom the name Peckham Hill Street derives). In the south, large houses were built to the west of the common land called Peckham Rye and the lane that led to it.
