Editing Eltham (section)

==History==

===Origins===
Eltham developed along part of the road from London to [[Maidstone]], and lies {{convert|3|mi|km|1}} almost due south of [[Woolwich]]. [[Mottingham]], to the south, became part of the parish on the abolition of all [[extra-parochial area]]s, which were rare anomalies in the parish system. [[Eltham College]] and other parts of Mottingham were therefore not considered within Eltham's boundaries even before the 1860s.

From the sixth century Eltham was in the ancient [[Lathe of Sutton at Hone]]. In the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 its hundred was named ''Gren[u/v]iz'' (Greenwich), which by 1166 was renamed ''Blachehedfeld'' [[Blackheath, Kent (hundred)|(Blackheath)]] because it had become the location of the annual or more frequent [[Hundred (county division)|hundred]] gathering.

{{blockquote|Eltham lies in the hundred of Blackheath, at the distance of eight miles from London, on the road to Maidstone. The parish is bounded by Woolwich, Plumsted, and the extraparochial hamlet of Kidbrooke, on the north; by Bexley on the east and south east; by Chislehurst on the south; by the extraparochial hamlet of Mottingham, on the south-west, and by Lee on the west. It contains about {{convert|2880|acres|km2}}: of which about 360 are woodland; about 60 waste; about three fifths of the cultivated land are arable. ....This place had formerly a market on Tuesdays, and two fairs; one at the festival of the Holy Trinity, and the other at that of St. Peter and St. Paul; both of which have been long discontinued.|Daniel Lysons, 1796|The Environs of London<ref name="british-history.ac.uk">Daniel Lysons. (1796) The Environs of London. Vol 4. Pages 394-421. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45484</ref>}}

By the 1880s the lathes and hundreds of Kent had become obsolete, with the civil parishes and other districts assuming modern governmental functions.

Eltham was a [[civil parish]] of [[Kent]] until 1889 when it became part of the [[County of London]]{{citation needed|date=April 2018}} and from 1900 formed part of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich]]. The metropolitan borough was abolished in 1965 and Eltham then became part of the then London Borough of Greenwich.

Eltham today is one of the largest suburban developments in the borough with a population of almost 88,000 people.{{fact|date=February 2025}}

===Early development===

[[File:Eltham Palace (25098625346).jpg|thumb|[[Eltham Palace]]]]

Eltham lies on a high, sandy plateau which gave it a strategic significance. That, and the fact of its position close to the main route to the [[English Channel]] ports in Kent, led to the creation of the moated medieval [[Eltham Palace]], still its most notable landmark. Daniel Lysons<ref name="british-history.ac.uk"/> described its origins.

{{blockquote|The Kings of England had a palace at Eltham at a very early period ... Henry the Third, in the year 1270, kept a public Christmas at his palace of Eltham, being accompanied by the Queen, and all the great men of the realm. Anthony Bec, Bishop of Durham, and Patriarch of Jerusalem, bestowed great cost, we are told, on the buildings at this place, and died there on the 28th of March 1311, having, as it is said, some time before given Eltham-house to Edward the Second, or, as some say, to Queen Isabel.... Edward frequently resided here. In 1315, his Queen was brought to bed of a son in this palace, called, from that circumstance, John of Eltham. Edward the Third held a Parliament at Eltham in 1329, and again in 1375.}}

The nearby manor of Well Hall was home to Sir John Pulteney, four times [[Lord Mayor of London]], and later to wealthy Catholic [[William Roper (biographer)|William Roper]] and his wife Margaret (daughter of Sir Thomas More, known to Catholics as [[Saint]] [[Thomas More]], Chancellor to King [[Henry VIII]]). In 1733 Sir [[Sir Gregory Page, 2nd Baronet|Gregory Page]] bought this estate for £19,000 and demolished Roper House, building Page House – later known as Well Hall House – on the site. Until its demolition in 1931, Well Hall House variously served as a home to [[watchmaker]] [[John Arnold (watchmaker)|John Arnold]], and later to socialist [[Hubert Bland]] and author [[Edith Nesbit]].

Also of note is Avery Hill Park and its former mansion, accessed from Bexley Road and at various points along the three miles (5&nbsp;km) of other streets that surround the park. Avery Hill was the home of [[John Thomas North|Colonel North]], who made his fortune working in the Chilean nitrate industry. A hothouse is still open to the public and contains temperate and tropical plants. There are also remnants of the formal gardens in the public park. The mansion was part of the [[University of Greenwich]], which had a significant presence on two sites in the area. However, in 2014 the university announced its intentions to withdraw from the site and has now done so.

===Suburban development after 1900===
The village streets adjacent to the Palace, and the surrounding land, remained rural until [[Archibald Cameron Corbett]] bought the Eltham Park Estate and developed it with well-built suburban housing between 1900 and 1914. The Bexley Heath Railway (see below) had opened what came to be known as the [[Bexleyheath Line]] in 1895. Suburban development of the district accelerated when the Government, through His Majesty's Office of Works, built the [[Progress Estate]] in [[Well Hall]] and large estates of temporary [[Shanty town|hutment]]s in 1915, to house the vastly increased numbers of wartime workers in the [[Royal Arsenal]] at [[Woolwich]]. In the early years it was called, rather pretentiously, "Well Hall Garden City".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/case-studies/progress-estate|title=Case Studies - Progress Estate|work=ideal-homes.org.uk|access-date=1 October 2015|archive-date=1 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001174119/http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/case-studies/progress-estate|url-status=dead}}</ref> Its name was changed to "[[Progress Estate]]" when it was purchased by the [[Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society]] in 1925. It compares well with later groups of municipal housing in south London – which is surprising given the fact that it was constructed rapidly between February and December 1915 and is sub-divided by the [[South Circular Road, London|South Circular Road]] and (until about 1988) by the even busier [[A2 road (Great Britain)|A2]] [[Trunk Road]]. The Progress Estate was made a Conservation Area in 2007.

'''Urban development''' 
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Eltham map 1870.jpg|Map 2. Eltham in 1870
File:Eltham map 1898.jpg|Map 3. Eltham in 1898
File:Eltham map 1908.png|Map 4. Eltham in 1908
File:Eltham map 1928.png|Map 5. Eltham in 1928
File:Eltham map 2014.png|Map 6. Eltham in 2014 (Source: OpenStreetMap)
</gallery>

After World War I the building of housing estates continued unabated. By the beginning of World War II, four large estates were in existence: the [[Progress Estate]] (1915), the Page Estate (1923), [[Middle Park, London|Middle Park]] (1931–36), and [[Horn Park]] (begun 1936, completed 1950s). The latter two were built on Eltham Palace's former hunting parks. [[Coldharbour Estate]] was built in 1947. The small council estates of Pippenhall and Strongbow Crescent were completed about 1960. Since that time new house building has been limited to small private "infill developments" and replacements for demolished properties.

Eltham residents occupy a housing stock of mixed age, particularly towards Eltham Park and the multiple streets with 'Glen' in their names. There are some fine houses scattered around Eltham. At least two roads, North Park and Court Road, contain million pound homes, and some of the older Victorian buildings have been subdivided into apartments.

A [[Micropub]], The Long Pond, was opened in December 2014 - the first pub in Eltham Park for at least 115 years as Archibald Cameron Corbett would not give permission for pubs and put a restrictive covenant on the land. However, since the [[Licensing Act 2003]] was implemented in 2005, Premise Licences are now granted by the local authority ([[Greenwich London Borough Council]]) instead of magistrates, as long as the applicant satisfies the council and the "responsible authorities" (such as Police, Environmental Health, Fire Service) that they will uphold the four licensing objectives (prevention of crime and disorder; public safety; prevention of public nuisance, protection of children from harm), then a licence will be granted. Several licensed premises in Eltham Park now offer "Off Sales".

'''Domestic architecture''' 
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Eltham houses 1.jpg|The Lord Chancellor's Lodging {{circa}} 1420
File:Eltham houses 11.jpg|Clapboard cottage {{circa}} 1750
File:Eltham houses 12.jpg|Pair of cottages {{circa}} 1800
File:Eltham houses 13.jpg|Villas {{circa}} 1880
File:Eltham houses 14.jpg|Terrace houses {{circa}} 1880
File:Eltham houses 2.jpg|"Corbett Houses" Eltham Park {{circa}} 1905
File:Eltham houses 3.jpg|"Corbett Houses" Well Hall {{circa}} 1905
File:Eltham houses 4.jpg|[[Progress Estate]]. Built 1915
File:Eltham houses 5.jpg|Semi-detached houses. Built 1938
File:Eltham houses 6.jpg|Local authority houses {{circa}} 1955
File:Eltham houses 15.jpg|Flats {{circa}} 1980. Replaced Victorian villas
File:Eltham houses 16.jpg|Flats {{circa}} 2012. Replaced old swimming pool
</gallery>

===Incidents===
In 1990, an IRA bomb outside the [[Eltham Palace]] headquarters of the [[Royal Army Educational Corps]] injured seven people (see [[1990 Eltham bombing]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/11945739.YARD_WARNS_IRA_HIT_SQUADS_MAY_BE_ACTIVE_IN_MAINLAND_BRITAIN_Bomb_in_flower_bed/|title=YARD WARNS IRA HIT SQUADS MAY BE ACTIVE IN MAINLAND BRITAIN Bomb in flower bed|website=HeraldScotland|date=15 May 1990 |access-date=22 March 2018}}</ref> The area was targeted three times by the [[Mardi Gra bomber]] in the 1990s.