Coldharbour, Kent
| Coldharbour | |
| Kent | |
|---|---|
 Coldharbour Estate Community Hall | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ427722 |
| Location: | 51°25’52"N, -0°3’8"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 13,062 (2011) |
| Post town: | London |
| Postcode: | SE9 |
| Dialling code: | 020 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Greenwich |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Eltham |
Coldharbour is a village which has become a suburb of Eltham in northern Kent and within the metropolitan conurbation. It grew from a post-war housing estate. It is to the south of Eltham and north of Chislehurst.
History
Coldharbour Farm
The area on which the estate now stands was a farm referred to as 'Merry Fields' in a 1761 map of Kent.[1] By 1769, the farm was known as Coldharbour and consisted of a small holding and two farm buildings opposite the entrance to Elmstead Lane, on what is now Speke Hill.[2]
The first farm bailiff for Coldharbour recorded in census records was Thomas Blanche in 1851, with labourers and shepherds living on the site. By 1861, Ephraim Jackson was the farm bailiff, living with his wife, children and three dairy labourers. He held this position until 1891, during which time the farm had expanded with various farmhands and milkmen living in the farm buildings and surrounding cottages.
Following Ephraim's retirement in 1891, the brothers Richard and James Higgs, at the time aged 21 and 29 respectively, became the resident farmers on Coldharbour Farm. They lived in the farmhouse consisting of one furnished room. By 1911, James Higgs had sole running of the farm with his wife, children and three servants, as Richard had departed to run a farm in Dorset.
In 1913, J.B Stocker bought the farm and his son Cecil ran it on his behalf until 1919, when Sydney Baldry took over. He was succeeded in 1936 by the final farm bailiff of Coldharbour, Thomas Spooner, who remained until the completion of the housing estate and removal of the final farm buildings in 1953.
Coldharbour Estate
The Coldharbour housing estate began development in 1947 on the site of Coldharbour Farm, by then the last working farm in metropolitan area. It was created in a garden suburb style in order to house borough residents made homeless by The Blitz and young families. The majority of initial residents, therefore, were rehoused from Woolwich or Eltham, and to a lesser extent Plumstead, Charlton and surrounding boroughs.
Churches
- Church of England: St Albans Church
- Independent / Evangelical: Coldharbour Evangelical Free Church
