New Eltham
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
New Eltham is a commuter suburb in the London Borough of Greenwich, England, although the Dulverton catchment area to the North side of Footscray Road falls within the London Borough of Bexley.
The crossroads around the railway station are the hub of the area, with the library, post office and other shops along Footscray and Avery Hill Roads providing the areas amenities.
Neighbouring the area south west at the end of Green Lane is Chislehurst, with Eltham and Sidcup at either ends of Footscray Road.
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[edit] History
New Eltham grew up as a suburb of farmland to the south of Eltham in and around the small hamlet and crossroads of Pope's Street.
The railway station was opened in 1878 as "Pope Street", and acted as a catalyst for growth. Less than a decade later in 1886, the station officially became known as "New Eltham". The redevelopment of land into housing had spread southwards from Eltham, the Pope Street area being rechristened as a new extension. On the main building of Wyborne School (Footscray Road) there is a sign, clearly identifying it as "Pope Street" School, built in 1904.
There has not been any major developments or sprawl in the area. Extra housing has been built where factories were closed and demolished, notably in Hainault Street and more recently on the site of the Stanley factory at the junction of Avery Hill and Lannoy Road.
In 1974 the bridge (crossing the railway line) at Avery Hill Road was completed. This replaced a narrow iron bridge which only had a separate path on one side for pedestrians.
As with most small towns, it has seen massive change in local shops. Until the mid 1970's it had three butchers, two greengrocers, three supermarkets, two toy shops, a clothing and material store, timber yard, cycle sales and repairs, two motor spares, hardware store, two dairy's and even a fishmongers. What is now the CO-OP supermarket was actually comprised of smaller separate purpose shops (all CO-OP). From the station end, was a greengrocers, a chemist, butchers then the co-op grocery store. Where the fish & chip shop is now, was the fishmongers, behind all this, in what is now the car park was the CO-OP dairy, the other (Unigate) was in Green Lane near Fiveways in what is now a small commercial park.
[edit] Sport & Recreation
New Eltham Joggers is a running club based in the area. They claim to be the friendliest group of runners in the South East, and take part in many events wearing their distinctive green shirts. They have a website where full details of upcoming events and training are available. See external links below.
Footscray RUFC is located on Footscray Road - a rugby club that proudly follows rugby traditions. The club is better known for its reputation off the pitch rather than its playing prowess. The Footscray 7s is a highly competitive annual Rugby 7s tournament held at the club on the first Saturday in May. The tournament attracts entries from across the country.
New Park FC play in the South London Alliance Division 3 and are currently holders of the Beckenham Hospital Cup. Several other local football clubs and the Premiership side Charlton Athletic train in New Eltham.
RACS Cricket Club bring high quality club cricket to the area.
Andy Thomson - Professional lawn bowls player lives in this area. He is currently ranked number four on the World Bowls Tour rankings. He is the England Indoor International Captain, and has qualified for the final stages of the English National Championships in the Paris and Triples. Andy Thomson will almost certainly become the most capped England International of all time next season in MArch 2008. He is currently equal to the great David Bryant.
[edit] Shops & Restaurants
The shops around the station include the Co-operative food store, a Grocer, Butcher and Baker. Other conveniences include a Pharmacy, Post Office, Barber Shop, Hair Salon and Dry Cleaners.
The selection of restaurants offer Mediterranean, Italian, Indian and Thai cuisine. A traditional Fish & Chip shop also serves the neighbourhood.
Larger chain stores including M & S and Debenhams can be found in nearby Eltham High Street. The larger shopping areas of Bromley or Bluewater are also less than 15 minutes drive.
[edit] Neighbouring areas
[edit] Railway stations
Frequent services from New Eltham railway station operate to London Bridge, Waterloo East, Charing Cross & Cannon Street terminals in Central London. Journey times average around 20 minutes. Connections are also made with Lewisham Station (10 minutes) where Docklands Light Railway services operate to the Docklands commercial district.
The following stations are adjacent stops on the line to Charing Cross and Cannon Street stations in London known locally as the Dartford Loop.
- Mottingham railway station distance: 1 mile
- Sidcup railway station distance: 1.5 miles
The following stations are adjacent stops on the line to Charing Cross and Cannon Street stations in London known locally as the Bexleyheath Line.
- Eltham railway station distance: 1.5 miles
- Falconwood railway station distance: 1.5 miles
[edit] External links
