Deptford | |
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Deptford within the County of London |
|
Area | |
• 1911 | 1,563 acres (6.33 km2) |
• 1931/1961 | 1,564 acres (6.33 km2) |
Population | |
• 1911 | 109,496 |
• 1931 | 106,891 |
• 1961 | 68,829 |
Density | |
• 1911 | 70/acre |
• 1931 | 68/acre |
• 1961 | 44/acre |
History | |
• Origin | St Paul Deptford parish |
• Created | 1900 |
• Abolished | 1965 |
• Succeeded by | London Borough of Lewisham |
Status | Metropolitan borough |
Government | Deptford Borough Council |
• HQ | New Cross Road |
Coat of arms adopted by the borough council |
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The Metropolitan Borough of Deptford was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London between 1900 and 1965, when it became part of the London Borough of Lewisham along with the Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham.
Deptford Town Hall was built between 1903 and 1905 on New Cross Road. The building is in a grand baroque style, featuring carvings of tritons and admirals to emphasise Deptford's maritime heritage. It is now used by Goldsmiths College.
The borough covered the same area of the parish of Deptford St Paul, which had been separated from the neighbouring parish of Deptford St Nicholas to its north in 1730. The rateable values of the two parishes had been roughly equal when they were separated, but St Paul contained all the farmland to the south, the majority of which was built on over the next 170 years.
When the Metropolitan Borough was created, consideration was given to reuniting the two parishes, but a closer equalisation of rateable value was served by uniting St Nicholas with Greenwich to the east.
The growth of the London conurbation had reached Deptford by the end of the eighteenth century but it had been a large industrial town well before this time: the Royal Docks and the Victualling Yard, which provisioned the Navy, and the various private dockyards, meant it was a prosperous and cosmopolitan town.
The borough bordered Bermondsey, Greenwich, Lewisham and Camberwell.
The borough covered an area of 1,563 acres (6.3 km2) and included the localities of St Paul Deptford, Brockley, New Cross, and St Johns.