Downham, Kent
| Downham | |
| Kent | |
|---|---|
 The Downham Tavern, Downham | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ395715 |
| Location: | 51°25’33"N, -0°0’21"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 14,567 (2011) |
| Post town: | Bromley / London |
| Postcode: | BR1 / SE6 |
| Dialling code: | 020 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Lewisham / Bromley |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Lewisham East |
Downham is a twentieth century development which has become an urban district of the metropolitan conurbation to the south of Catford and north of Beckenham and Bromley.
The development was named 'Downham' in honour of Lord Downham, who was chairman of the council between 1919 and 1920.
The Greenwich Meridian passes just to the west of Downham.
History
Before 1920, the area had no houses, apart from a shooting range close to Rangefield Road and areas of farmland in the period around 1890. Some belonged to Holloway Farm and others to Shroffolds Farm.
After the First World War the area was targeted by local councils for development to reduce overcrowding in the East End of London, backed by a new Act to encourage council housing. The Downham Estate was thus developed towards the end of the 1920s. The first new residents had mostly been relocated from certain less pleasant parts of the inner city like Rotherhithe and the East End, and in Downham they found new homes of a much higher standard than their previous dwellings.[1][2]
In reaction, in 1926, residents of Alexandra Crescent (then a private street in Bromley) built a dividing wall (the Downham Wall) to keep them from their new lower-class neighbours. Some private home-owners in Bromley wanted to prevent the working class 'vulgar people' from the Downham estate from accessing the neighbouring middle-class area, or coming through on the way to Bromley town centre.[2] The wall was built seven feet high and was fortified at the top with broken pieces of glass.[2] The Downham Wall was eventually pulled down by the council in 1950; largely because passage routes were required for the fire engines.[2]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Downham, Kent) |