A Shy Church In Deptford
On my travels to see the site of the Deptford Church Street Work Site for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, I found a church hidden behind trees and high walls on the north or river side of the Greenwich Rail Line. Ypu can see it on this map.
Deptford Church Street
The church is at the top of the picture. Small it isn’t!
I did get a some pictures, but there seemed to be no obvious entrance.
I thought for a time, that it might be something like a monastery or convent, especially, as there was a Catholic School nearby.
But the church is Anglican and is St. Paul Deptford, of which Wikipedia says this.
St Paul’s, Deptford, is one of London’s finest Baroque parish churches, cited as “one of the most moving C18 churches in London” in the Buildings of England series.
So why is it so hidden away?
Deptford Station Is Almost Finished
In April 2012, I went to see the new Deptford station and I reported on it here. Today after seeing HMS Bulwark I walked along the Thames to the station to get a train to London Bridge station.
It shouldn’t be long before Deptford has a station of which it can be proud.
St. Nicholas’s Church, Deptford
London is thought of as a fairly recent city, but dotted amongst the later buildings are some old parish churches, that wouldn’t be out of place in an English country village.
This is St. Nicholas’s Church, Deptford. The parish has a Wikipedia entry, Christopher Matrlowe was buried in an unmarked grave in the church.
The Statue Of Peter The Great, Deptford
Peter the Great came to Deptford and as I said in this post, I can remember a school history book, which said he worked in the shipyards there.
He may or may not, but there is a statue of him looking out over the river.
The guy sitting next to the statue, was a teacher who lived locally , who told me how he enjoyed living in Deptford
Poor Signage At Greenwich
I had intended to get to Deptford, by using the DLR to Greenwich and then changing. It sounds easy, except that the signage at Greenwich wasn’t the best.
In the end I made it, but I just missed one train and had to wait fifteen minutes for the next.
The New Deptford Station
To me Deptford is summed up by a picture of Peter the Great working in the Royal Dockyard at Deptford, that was in one of the school history texts I read.
I’d never knowingly been until today, when I went to look at the new Deptford station, which is just a few months away from being finished.
To my untrained eye, they have done a good job in creating a station with full step-free access, using ideas and components that could also be used in other places, where new or rebuilt stations are desperately needed.
I particularly liked the treatment of the brickwork in the tunnel under the tracks.
The Anonymous Widower 