Lewisham history

Alfred the Great’s daughter gave the Manor of Lewisham to an abbey in Belgium in 918. Ownership presumably soon reverted to England. The area was mainly farmland. Lewisham High Street was quite a fashionable place to live in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Ravensbourne River ran through Lewisham and for some reason had a collection of watermills on its banks producing various metals. The Domesday Book lists eleven mills even at that time. Riverdale Mill, which was constructed in 1828, is the only mill which survives, and gave its name to the Riverdale shopping centre where it forms the focal point of an office development. The arrival of the railways in 1849 led to comprehensive development of the Lewisham area with terraces of houses and shops. It became a middle-class suburb in the 19th century, but deteriorated badly during the 20th century.