A. Mottingham Lane

When the railway in the mid 1870s arrived, the small farming village of Mottingham began to change to suburbia. Some very grand houses were built a good example of which is Fairmount (near Carters Hill Close). The house has a blue plaque outside to commemorate WG Grace the cricketer who lived here from 1909 until his death in 1915. He is buried in Elmers End Cemetery.

B. Grove Park Hospital

The building was originally built as a workhouse for the poor, destitute and sick of Greenwich and the plans were displayed at the Paris International Exhibition in 1900. The building was completed in 1904 but during the First World War its occupants were relocated and the building used by the Army Service Corps as their headquarters. The site has now been redeveloped for housing, but the gatehouse and some of the original frontage has been retained. Adjacent to the hospital is Sydenham Cottages Nature Reserve, owned and managed by Lewisham Council. The nature reserve contains part of the original tree-lined watercourse of the River Quaggy as well as shrub and meadow habitats.

C. Chinbrook Meadows

Half of the allotment site is now managed by Lewisham Council as a community orchard, and has been planted with many old and rare varieties of fruit and nut tree. The orchard also features meadow areas where common lizards, grasshoppers and Roezel’s bush-crickets thrive, as well as prolific colonies of grass vetchling. (Access is by arrangement only). Towards the end of the 19th Century Chinbrook Road was noted as a very elegant, select and fashionable street. There were also a number of farms in the area at that time. Chinbrook Farm on Chinbrook Meadows was a dairy farm. Click here for more details.

D. Edith Bland

In the 1890s Hubert and Edith Bland lived in a house called Three Gables, which was on Baring Road close to the junction with Coopers Lane. Edith Bland was better known as E. Nesbitt the authoress of ‘The Railway Children’. E. Nesbitt died in 1924 and she is buried at St. Mary in the Marsh, Romney Marsh. The section of footpath from Baring Road to Reigate Road has now been named ‘The Railway Children Walk’ in her honour.

E. Hither Green Nature Reserve

The Hither Green Nature Reserve covering 6 acres is partly woodland and scrub on old allotments with chalk grassland adjoining the railway line. Its aim is to conserve habitats and enable schools and the local community to use it for nature study. Much of the work was undertaken by volunteers and a committee with representatives from the local community manages the reserve. Click here for more details.

F. Tonbridge Line

A major railway disaster occurred here at Hither Green just to the North in November 1967 when a Hastings to Charing Cross train was derailed by a broken rail, killing 49 passengers and injuring 78.

G. Hither Green Cemetery

Hither Green Cemetery, seen from the bridge, was founded in 1873 and covers a total of 65 acres. Appropriately the cemetery’s architect, Francis Thorne, was buried here in 1885. The row of poplar trees running down the middle of the site is home to a large roost of Indian ring-necked parakeets. Up to eighty of these large and colourful birds gather here at dusk during the Autumn and Winter months, before dispersing to their meeting sites in mid January. Native to the Himalayas, these tropical looking birds seem immune to the cold and are now thoroughly at home here. Good views of the roosting spectacle can be seen through binoculars from Hither Green Nature Reserve.

H. Downham Estate

The Downham Estate was built after the First World War to provide 7000 houses and help replace many of inner London’s 19th Century slums. Many of the early residents however, found the 12 shillings a week rent for a one bedroomed house too high and had to move. The 522 acre estate was an area known as Seven Fields in the 1920s and was a popular spot for weekend outings. Many of the road names reflect the attempt of the architect to produce a cottage estate with many being named after villages or resorts. The woodland walk through the estate was an imaginative piece of planning, preserving an existing wooded strip which is now part of the Green Chain Walk.

I. Woodland Walk

The many large oak trees in this section of Woodland Walk attract a number of birds associated with established woodland, such as greater-spotted woodpecker, nuthatch and treecreeper. Mowing under the trees has now been stopped to allow regeneration to occur, and some dead wood is being allowed to remain on site to encourage insects, fungi and woodland birds. The recreation ground to the North of the walk contains a pond of nature conservation interest which is thought to lie along an old cattle drovers route leading from Kent to the slaughterhouses on the banks of the Thames at Deptford. It is not currently accessible to the public. Click here for more details.

J. River Ravensbourne

The river here flows in its natural bed and attracts water-birds such as moorhens and grey wagtails.

K. Beckenham Place Park

Beckenham Place Park contains one of the few remaining areas of ancient woodland in inner London. Both the true service tree and the wild service tree can be found here, along with oak, sweet chestnut, beech, hornbeam and rowan. The park was acquired by John Cator in 1773 and he quickly restored the mansion to its former glory. His father in law, Peter Collinson, an early landscape architect and botanist, introduced to the grounds many exotic trees and a lake (now drained). The Cator family became one of the largest landholders in the area, and at one time the Cator estate spread from Shortlands to Sydenham Hill. In the late 19th Century the house was used as a boys’ school and it then became a sanatorium. Beckenham Place Park is now the home of one of England’s largest public golf courses and reputedly the busiest. Click here for more details.

Select an area 1 - 10 for an overview of that section on the Green Chain Walk.