Eltham

"ELTHAM, a parish in the hundred of Blackheath, Sutton-at-Hone lathe, county Kent, 2 miles S. of Woolwich, and 8 S.E. of London, of which it is a suburb. It is situated on the road from London to Maidstone,-S. of Shooter's Hill, which is included in the parish, and the extra-parochial hamlet of Mottingham joins it to the S. of Eltham church. The nearest railway station is Lewisham, on the North Kent line, about 2 miles W. of the town. This was formerly a market town, and is of ancient date. In the Domesday Survey it is called Alteham; and a palace was built here about the 12th century, which was the occasional abode of royalty from the time of Henry III. to the reign of Queen Mary. Edward II. had a son born here, and in the reign of Edward III. parliaments were held. Eltham is within the Metropolitan Police district, and jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court. The town is clean, well paved, and lighted with gas. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of London, value £355. The church is a plain edifice dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and contains monuments of the Shaw family. In the churchyard were interred Bishop Horne; Sir William Baines, Bart.; and Doggett, the comedian, whose bequest of a coat and badge is annually contended for on the 1st August by six young watermen of the river Thames. Christ Church, a modern structure in the early English style, is a district church at Shooter's Hill. The charitable endowments of the parish produce altogether about £560 per annum, the principal of which are Passey's almhouses, with £235, Philpot's, £166, and Leggatt's school bequest of £24. The Independents and Wesleyans have each a chapel, and there is a National school for boys and girls; also an infant school. There are some remains of the ancient palace, consisting for the most part of the great hall, some walls, parts of windows, and underground passages. Eltham Park and Eltham Place are the principal residences."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]