New Cross takes its name from an inn called the Golden Cross which was a popular staging post for carriages on the road between London and Dover. It was mainly a farming area, with the emphasis on market gardens. In the 1870s the Haberdashers Company (a City of London livery company) which had owned the area for several hundred years, built the Hatcham estate as a new residential area for middle-class owners. Robert Browning once lived in New Cross just south of New Cross Road.

There are Victorian houses to be found in Florence Road off New Cross Road. But for a decent enclave of suburban housing you need to go west to the streets near Telegraph Hill which contain large detached and semi-detached houses in leafy streets such as Pepys Road and Waller Road. The Hatch Park Conservation Area is just on the other side of New Cross Road and contains Victorian terraced houses in streets such as Brocklehurst Street and Camplin Street. South of New Cross is the St John’s Conservation Area, which is really in Lewisham.