Lewisham (1897 map)
Here is Lewisham and Brockley around the turn of the twentieth century.
In those days, Lewisham was still on the edge of the countryside and you can peruse the rest of the map as I'm going to concentrate only on a small section.
Joy Farm can be spotted in the area south of Hilly Fields, Deptford and Lewisham cemeteries. Joy Farm was on the site of the modern Elsiemaud Road. Elsiemaud Road was part of a group of roads, off Brockley Grove, that are better known today as the 'double name' roads - Amyruth, Arthurdon, Francemary, Gordonbrock, Henryson Phoebeth and Elsiemaud.
The Daily Telegraph & Courier reported on 28 April 1899: ‘Some amusement was caused at a meeting of the Lewisham Board of Works, when the following list of names of new thoroughfares was read by the chairman: Phoebeth, Francemary, Arthurdon, Gordonbrock, Amyruth, Henryson, Elsiemaud, Huxbear and Abbotswell streets. One member described the names as the most ridiculous he had ever heard. Another pointed out that the London County Council objected to two streets of the same name in the Metropolis, and it was difficult to invent new appellations.'
The estate was built in 1899 by the Heath family and were named after the first and second names of the children of the architect and surveyor for the estate, Henry Hewitt Bridgman.
