Parishes: Camberwell

CAMBERWELL

Camberwell, including Peckham, Peckham Rye, Nunhead and Dulwich, consists naturally of two portions. To the north is a perfectly flat marshy soil, probably once often flooded at high water; to the south is a range of hills of the London Clay, capped generally by sand and gravel, which extend on their northern side in a curving sweep from near Camberwell Green to near Deptford, and rise southwards to the various eminences called Denmark Hill, Champion Hill, Herne Hill, Forest Hill and (formerly) Primrose Hill. The situation of the southern part of the parish was agreeable and healthy, and when Brayley wrote in the early forties of the 19th century it could still be called a pleasant though populous village. Manning and Bray described it as 'retired' and given up to meadow, arable and garden ground; the hills which were formerly well wooded had been recently cleared to a great extent, whilst the small farms were being gradually thrown together. Already, however, at this date many suburban villas and larger houses had been built. There were then five commons in the parish—Camberwell Green, Peckham Rye of 54 acres, Goose Green, Moulsey Common and Dowlas Common. Dulwich Common, of 130 acres, had been inclosed under an Act of 1805. (fn. 1) There were also then small common fields surviving.

The old villages of Camberwell and Peckham were situated on the northern face and at the foot of the slope of the hills, where the old road along the dry side of the Thames Valley, after passing down Coldharbour Lane (called in Rocque's map Camberwell Lane), is continued as Camberwell Church Street and Peckham Lane to meet the road from Kent at New Cross. The Kent Road ran diagonally from southeast to north-west across the lower part of the parish towards the Thames. Manning and Bray (fn. 2) record an ancient causeway running north-east from the Kent Road towards Rotherhithe. Two streams from several sources ran north-eastwards from the hills to the Thames. One at the crossing of the Kent Road, by what is now Albany Terrace, made St. Thomas Waterings—the spot where the host began to move Chaucer's Pilgrims to begin their stories. It was here that the Lord Mayor and Corporation came to welcome Henry V after Agincourt, and where they met every procession and pageant coming from Kent to London down to the Restoration of Charles II. This place was the Tyburn of South London, where traitors, felons, and above all offenders against the ecclesiastical supremacy under the Tudors were hanged, a frequented road being chosen to advertise the vigour of the government. The last executions there were about 1740. The Jacobite prisoners suffered at Kennington in 1746. Somewhere near this spot apparently, for the accounts are confused, the head of a Roman Terminus was dug up in the late 17th century. On Primrose Hill, or Ludland's Hill, in the southern part of the parish (now crowned by houses and gardens), to the west of the line of the Crystal Palace High Level railway, between Honor Oak and Lordship Lane stations, was an oblong fortification with a double ditch, traceable on one side when Manning and Bray wrote. Part of the bank seems to be still visible behind the houses on Overhill Road, though the building on the ground has nearly destroyed it.

In the 14th century the assessment of Camberwell for subsidies was rather over £5 (exclusive of Dulwich, which was 15s.) —that is, about equal to country parishes like Charlwood and Burstow of rather larger area. The ship-money assessment was £52, nearly equal to Richmond, Kew, and Guildford, which were £53 each. (fn. 3) In 1725 the population was returned as 1,520, with several resident gentlemen. (fn. 4) It is spoken of as a small village on the road to Croydon in 1730, and there were then 700 houses. (fn. 5) In 1842 it was still a village, but an unbroken series of streets connected it with London. In the low ground to the north, before the endless small streets now existing were built in the latter half of the 19th century, there were market gardens in great numbers, in which the so-called Deptford onion seed was chiefly raised. Camberwell Green was inclosed by rails in 1811. (fn. 6) The fair held upon the Green on 18, 19 and 20 August was suppressed in 1823, having become a nuisance.

After having been urban for forty years Camberwell was included in the county of London by the Local Government Act of 1888. It was made a parliamentary borough by the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 and a metropolitan borough by the London Government Act of 1899. The borough consists of twenty wards, and includes the districts of Denmark Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Peckham Rye, Dulwich, East Dulwich, West Dulwich and part of Herne Hill (the rest being in Lambeth).

In Peckham Road is the Wilson Grammar School, founded by Edward Wilson, vicar of the parish, in 1615. The old building (a gabled house as shown in early 19th-century views) was pulled down in 1845, when the school was dissolved. A scheme having been formed by the Charity Commissioners in 1880, the present school was built and opened in 1883. It consists of an assembly hall, a luncheon room, a head master's and governors' meeting room, nine class rooms, a small library, chemical and physics laboratories, two science rooms, an art room and two manual instruction rooms. Another wellknown school is the Mary Datchelor Girls' School and Training College in Camberwell Grove, (fn. 7) the outcome of a charity founded by Beatrice Cook in 1726, in pursuance of the will of her sister Mary Datchelor. The charity did not take the form of a school until 1871. The school was first established at two houses bought for the purpose in Grove Lane in 1878, but, the endowment having been increased by the appropriation of other charities, a new school was built at a cost of nearly £12,000. (fn. 8) The County Council school in Gloucester Road represents two charity schools called the Green Coat School, founded in 1709. There are a number of other schools in the parish. (fn. 9) Among other modern buildings the Camberwell Central Library was opened in 1893. There are also district libraries at Dulwich, Old Kent Road, Nunhead and North Camberwell. The Minet Library was founded by Mr. W. Minet, F.S.A., of Hadham Hall. This was opened in 1890 and contains a remarkable collection of books, views and manuscripts relating to Surrey. The South London Art Gallery (Lord Leighton Memorial) in Peckham Road was conveyed to the Camberwell Vestry (now the Borough Council) in 1898. New buildings have now been erected, the cost being largely borne by the late Mr. Passmore Edwards.

Peckham Lane, or Peckham Road as it is now called, still contains some old houses of the 18th or even 17th century, but these have been considerably refaced and modernized. On the southern side, rather east of Rye Lane, is a somewhat pretentious house, now converted into shops. Basing Manor House stood west of Rye Lane, where Basing Road now leads to the tramway depot. The house, which, judging from old views of it, was probably Elizabethan, was turned first into a farm and then into cottages. The last remains of it were destroyed when the tramway depôt was made. Peckham Rye Park was formed out of agricultural land in 1894. Peckham Fair, once held in the common fields, later in the village street, became like the one at Camberwell a scene of great disorder and was abolished before 1835.

Denmark Hill is said to have been named from the re idence of Prince George of Denmark, husband of Queen Anne, who came here for hunting. The house traditionally occupied by him is now divided into Nos 149, 151 and 153 Denmark Hill, facing the Upper Triangle. The wall of the house is very thick; part of it is stone, older than the reign of Queen Anne. On Dog Kennel Hill near it is said to have been the place where his hounds were kept. 'The Fox under the Hill' is the name of a once well-known house of entertainment, of which some part still stands on the southern slope of Denmark Hill. The house behind Prince George's House, now called Westbury House, is said to have been the original 'Fox under the Hill.' It is a converted farm-house of about 1680 to 1700. The new King's College Hospital is now being built on Denmark Hill. The site was given by the Hon. W. F. D. Smith and the foundation stone was laid by King Edward VII in 1909.

In the reign of William III a Huguenot refugee of the family of Crespigny, who had married an English lady, Miss Pierrepoint, settled at Camberwell. His house, Champion Lodge, bore the date 1717. His descendant Claude Champion de Crespigny entertained the Prince Regent there in 1804 and was created a baronet the next year. Champion Hill and De Crespigny Park retain the name of the family estate. The park covered over 30 acres. The house was finally demolished in 1841, but some of the walls of the grounds remain in Love Walk.

Some distinguished men have been connected with Camberwell and the neighbourhood. Pope stayed at the Friern Manor House and is said to have written much of the Essay on Man there. Robert Browning was born in Southampton Street in 1812, in a house which has since been demolished. He went to a school kept by Mr. Thomas Ready which stood opposite Rye Lane. The Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain also was born at a house in Camberwell Grove. John Ruskin was brought up as a child from 1823 in a house on Henre Hill, and moved in 1843 to another opposite to Ruskin Park, which commemorates his work. He was at school at Camberwell. Lord Byron was at school at Dr. Glennie's at Dulwich in 1799. Oliver Goldsmith was an usher at Dr. Milner's school in 1757. Mendelssohn visited Denmark Hill several times and wrote the Frühlingslied there. Sir Henry Bessemer the engineer lived at Denmark Hill, and died there in 1898. He erected a fine observatory in his grounds. Famous also was Grove Hill, where Dr. John Coakley Lettsom (fn. 10) lived and was celebrated by John Scott and other writers of the early 19th century. The former owner had been Charles Baldwin. The grounds were noted for their plantations and statuary, and the view from the top of the hill was in those days picturesque. Camberwell Grove is named from the avenue which led up to the house. Part of a second house on the same estate, built by Dr. Lettsom, is still standing; also two cottages, one still thatched, which were in his grounds. Camberwell Place, which may have replaced the older manor-house, stood near St. Thomas Waterings, that is where the Kent Road crosses the Grand Surrey Canal. Bowyer House, (fn. 11) where the Bowyer family lived, was near the north end of Camberwell Green on the west side of the London Road. It was of melancholy aspect according to Evelyn, with a great yew overhanging it and elms surrounding; it dated from before 1657. Sir Christopher Wren is said to have resided in it whilst rebuilding St. Paul's. It was acquired by the Chatham and Dover railway and pulled down in 1861. The Scotts had two mansions, one in East Dulwich, sold to the Hallidays and by them to one Baily, and another right across the bottom of Camberwell Grove, which was the private avenue at the back of their house before it became the approach to the front of Dr. Lettsom's. In Camberwell Grove are some picturesque old stables, probably belonging to the Scotts' house, but these are now disused and the buildings are for sale. Sir Thomas Bond, who followed James II to France, built the manor-house at Peckham in 1672 on the left-hand side of the way from Camberwell to Greenwich. It was sacked by the mob at the time of the Revolution in 1688.

Dulwich, now a town of some importance, practically owes its existence to DULWICH COLLEGE. Edward Allen, the founder, was the owner of the 'Rose' Theatre in Southwark, and in 1604 was appointed overseer of the king's games of bears, bulls and dogs, which were chiefly carried on in Paris Garden, Southwark. Having bought the manor of Dulwich in 1605, Allen left Southwark, where he had been a churchwarden of St. Saviour's and a governor of the grammar school, and settled at Dulwich. He at once began building the college, which was finished in 1614, and in 1620 was endowed with the manor and Hall Place. The foundation was a double one, partly for almspeople and partly for scholars. Very little of the old building remains. The tower fell in 1638 and not long after the whole of one side and part of the other fell down, and in 1703 the porch and treasury chamber also fell. The southern range, comprising the chapel and the chaplain's house, and the library (now disused) appear to be the only remaining portions of the original buildings. The chapel was enlarged by the addition of a south aisle in the year 1823. The chaplain's house, which now includes the dining hall and kitchen of the college, was adapted and enlarged to receive the master and his family in the year 1857. The western range of buildings appears from a date carved on the inside of the mullion of one of the windows to have been erected in the year 1667, unless this date refers merely to a repair. The eastern wing was rebuilt in 1740, and again in 1831 a part of it, containing twelve dwellings, was rebuilt from the designs of Sir Charles Barry in the approved stucco perpendicular manner of the period; at the same time additions in a similar style were made on the side of the western range fronting on College Road. Further internal alterations were made to this range in the year 1857, to adapt it to the requirements of the school. Finally in the year 1864 the tower and cloister were added to the chapel and the east wing enlarged to accommodate sixteen instead of twelve almspeople as heretofore. The almspeople remained here after the school was removed.

The original portion of the chapel measures externally 70 ft. 3 in. by 27 ft., the modern aisle is of nearly the same length, with an internal width of 14 ft. 1½ in. measured to the centre of the arcade. The lower portion of the east window, which is of three four-centred lights, is original, but has been raised in modern times by the addition of upper lights, the head of the original window becoming a transom. At the extreme west of this wall is the north doorway. In the north wall are two ranges of three transomed two-light windows clumsily designed, with very wide mullions and transoms. The south arcade, constructed when the aisle was added in the year 1823, is of five equal-sized bays with a smaller western bay, and has four-centred arches of plastered 9-in. brickwork supported by columns masquerading in a wooden dress as triple-clustered shafts. At the eastern end of the aisle is a projection containing the gallery stairs. In the east wall of the aisle are two windows, one below and one above the gallery, the latter of three uncusped four-centred lights, and the former of two cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery within a four-centred head. It seems probable that the lower portion of the wall is original, and may possibly have formed the east wall of a vestry, as the three-light window of the ground stage is almost certainly 17th-century work. The windows in the south wall answer to those of the north wall, and appear to be the original windows re-erected. The upper portions of the aisle and of the whole of the west end of the chapel are occupied by galleries. The nave is roofed by a modern timber roof of moderate pitch, and the aisle has a flat plaster ceiling. The walls are cemented externally and crowned by a parapet, the roof being tiled. There are shallow buttresses between the windows. The white marble font was presented to the chapel in the year 1729. The bowl is oval, and is supported by a baluster-formed stem, standing on a plinth of black marble. The screen and stalls date from 1851 and are said to have been shown at the Great Exhibition. The present organ was originally built by G. England in 1759, and was enlarged and rebuilt in the year 1888, and again in the years 1897 and 1909. At the east end of the chapel is a low altar-tomb of modern date to the memory of the founder of the college, inscribed as follows:—

Here lyeth the bodie of | Edward Alleyn Esqr | the founder of | this church and college | who died | the twenty-first day of nov^br | A.D. 1626 | aetat 61.

The inscription has probably been copied literally from an originally external tomb-slab. Over the north doorway is a tablet commemorating the founding of the college.

There is a peal of five bells, hung in the modern tower. The dates and inscriptions are as follows: treble, 1816, the founder's name; (2) by Mears & Stainbank, 1866; (3) in cribed: 'The gift of Mr. Job Brocket Preacher and Fellow of the Colledge, 1705. S. K. 1739'; (4) by Mears & Stainbank, 1866; (5) inscribed: 'William Laud Made Mee, 1633.'

The communion plate consists of six pieces: a cup, silver-gilt, of 1599, which appears to have been made for secular use; a paten, with foot, of 1671, inscribed: 'The Gift of Ralph Alleyn, the fourth Master of God's guift Colledge, 1672'; a silver chalice engraved with the Alleyn shield, probably of 1758; a large silver-gilt paten of 1708, inscribed: 'Given by George John Allen, Master, 1850'; a silver flagon of 1712 inscribed: 'Doň Jacobi Alleyn MDCCXII' and engraved with his shield; and a large silver-gilt alms-dish probably of 1766, presented by George John Allen in the year 1852.

The registers previous to 1812 consist now of two volumes only; the rest, so far as can be ascertained, are missing. The first volume contains baptisms and burials from 1619 to 1757. The marriages begin with the marriage of John Alleyn to Dionysia, daughter of 'Mr. Cold of London,' on 4 October 1634, and continue down to the year 1754. This book is now in the library of Dulwich College. On the opposite page to that containing the registers throughout the volume are lists of the names of the 'Collegiates,' and on either side of this column are columns headed 'Entrance' and 'Departure.' The only other volume which is now in the possession of the College contains baptisms and burials from 1808 to 1812.

The chapel occupies one half of the southern range. The chaplain's house, which occupies the other half, answers to it in elevation. The addition, in a most incongruous style, of the cloister and the central tower on the quadrangle side, deprives the façade of the quaint 17th-century air which constituted its sole claim to architectural consideration. No original detail of any interest remains in the chaplain's house or library. In the library of the new buildings of Dulwich College is preserved the mantelpiece which was formerly here. This is of wood, painted and grained; the interesting features of what is otherwise a very ordinary specimen of Jacobean work are the two painted panels over the fireplace. They are said to have come originally from the fittings of Sir Francis Drake's ship the Hind, and afterwards to have been transferred to Queen Elizabeth's state barge. When this was broken up they were purchased by Edward Alleyn and placed in this mantelpiece. The panels, about 3 ft. 6 in. in height, have semicircular hearts and are painted with allegorical representations of Piety and Generosity. Adjoining the chapel on the west, and now used as the vestry, is the original dining hall, which retains a little 17th-century panelling. The western range of buildings has windows of the same clumsy type as the chapel. It is two-storied, and has three shallow gabled projections, with barge-boards of atrocious design, probably added in 1831, when this block was altered and added to. The interior retains no detail of interest, having been adapted for school purposes in 1857. The walls are cemented and the roof is tiled. The additions fronting College Road, above referred to, are roofed with slates. These are now used as the offices of the estate governors. The eastern range is of the same materials. The triangular plot of open ground in front of the college formed by the forking of the High Street is inclosed by modern iron railings, with a wrought-iron entrance gate, which is probably of 18th-century date. The piers are modern.

The present school buildings, planned to contain both the Upper and Lower School, which were to stand one on each side of the great central block containing the hall and library, were opened in 1878. The rapid growth of the school, however, necessitated a second building for the Lower School or Alleyne School in Townley Road, which was opened in 1883, whilst under the scheme of the Endowed Schools Commissioners of 1882 a third school was founded, the James Allen's Girls' School, representing the charitable foundation of James Alleyn of 1741. (fn. 12) This stands in East Dulwich Grove.

Dulwich High Street still retains the appearance of a village street and is usually known as Dulwich Village. Dulwich Common is now only marked by the road bearing its name, but in 1740 it was over a mile and a quarter in length. (fn. 13) Dulwich Wood originally formed part of the great Northwood of the Archbishops of Canterbury, and extended within recent times to the corner of Lordship Lane. (fn. 14) It is now mostly inclosed in the grounds of private houses. Dulwich Park, opened in 1890, formed from meadow land known as Five Fields, was presented by the Governors of Dulwich College. It is now under the management of the London County Council. In College Road there is a toll-gate belonging to Dulwich College. An old house called Dulwich Court is marked on Rocque's map of London in 1746 and on later maps down to 1808, but the site has not been certainly identified. (fn. 15)

DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY

DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY originated in the collection of Desenfans, a picture dealer, who about the end of the 18th century was commissioned by Stanislaus, King of Poland, to make a collection of old masters works. These, at the downfall of the Polish king, were left on Desenfans' hands and he bequeathed them to Sir Francis Bourgeois. The latter died in 1810 and left them to Margaret wife of Noel Desenfans for life with reversion to Dulwich College. A gallery to the south of the old college was built for their reception under the direction of Sir John Soane, and was opened in 1817. The building is of stock brick with dressings of stone. With the Desenfans collection is incorporated the college collection of pictures bequeathed by Edward Allen (1626) and by William Cartwright, a bookseller in Holborn (1686). (fn. 16) Adjoining the gallery on the west is the mausoleum containing the remains of Sir F. Bourgeois and M. and Mme. Desenfans.

MANORS

CAMBERWELL BUCKINGHAM, alias CAMBERWELL AND PECKHAM.

—Camberwell, which before the Conquest had been held by Norman of King Edward, was in 1086 held by Hamon the Sheriff. It was assessed at 6 hides and 1 virgate as compared with the former assessment of 12 hides. (fn. 17) With the rest of the honour of Gloucester, Camberwell passed through Mabel daughter of Robert Fitz Hamon, brother of Hamon the Sheriff, to her husband Robert, natural son of Henry I, who was created Earl of Gloucester in 1119. The Earls of Gloucester appear to have subinfeudated the greater part of Camberwell, (fn. 18) retaining their court there and view of frankpledge with a few acres of land and some rents. (fn. 19) These descended through Margaret wife of Hugh Audley, sister and co-heiress of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, who died in 1314, to the Earls of Stafford and Buckingham, and escheated to the king after the attainder of Edward Duke of Buckingham in 1521. A few months afterwards they were granted by Henry VIII under the name of the manor of Camberwell and Peckham, with view of frankpledge, to John Scott and his heirs. (fn. 20) He died in 1553, leaving a son John Scott. The latter in the same year settled the manor on five of his sons, Edward, William, Bartholomew, Acton, his younger sons by his first wife, and Edgar, his elder son by his third wife. (fn. 21) John Scott died in 1558 seised of a moiety of the manor of Camberwell, that is Coldharbour Manor (see below), as well as of Camberwell Manor, late the Duke of Buckingham's. In 1571 Edward Scott, the son of John, conveyed a fifth of Camberwell Buckingham to John Puckering and Richard Acworth, (fn. 22) evidently for the purposes of a settlement on his brothers successively in tail (fn. 23); William thus succeeded to two-fifths, (fn. 24) and sold his twofifths to Bartholomew. (fn. 25) When William's son Robert died without issue in 1593 Bartholomew held five-sixths of a tenement called East Dulwich and of this manor, (fn. 26) but as he would naturally have four-fifths (Edgar having disposed of his share) by inheritance and acquisition, and as four-fifths regularly appears hence-forward, five-sixths may be a confusion, owing to John Scott having had six sons by his first wife. The four-fifths remained in the Scott (fn. 27) family down to the time of George I. In 1718 (fn. 28) Francis Scott and Katherine his wife sold four-fifths of the manor of Camberwell alias Buckingham alias Camberwell and Peckham to Joan Cock, widow of Walter Cock. (fn. 29) Mrs. Cock was involved in the failure of the South Sea Scheme, and Matthew Cock her grandson levied a fine and sold the entailed estates to William Belchier in 1769, (fn. 30) who mortgaged them to a Mr. Collins, and himself went bankrupt. (fn. 31)

In 1776 the four-fifths of the manor were sold by order of court. The rental was £1,301 2s. 3d. altogether, £706 14s. 9d. in Camberwell, £531 8s. 6d. in Peckham, and £62 19s. in Dulwich. (fn. 32) At this time the manorial rights were extinct. There was also a barn with 42 acres near the Grove worth £50 a year, a long room and 10 acres used for entertainments bringing in £42 8s. a year, a farm near Peckham Rye worth £100, a cottage worth £14, and total small rents worth £485. The buyers (fn. 33) were Wright and Salter, who sold two-thirds to George Daniel, John and Simon Halliday, bankers (John Halliday was member for Taunton), and onethird to Dr. Coakley Lettsom. In 1841 the Halliday family still had their two-thirds of the four-fifths; but Dr. Lettsom's representatives had then sold his onethird to William Whitton, from whom it had passed to Sir Edward Bowyer Smijth.

Edgar Scott in 1583 joined with William and James Patching, to whom he had shortly before conveyed his fifth, (fn. 34) in a sale to Edmund Bowyer and Katherine his wife (fn. 35); and this share follows the descent of Camberwell Freren (q.v.).

UVEDALE (formerly OVEDALE, hence Dovedale, Dowdale, and now Dowlas Lane).

—A certain Alexander de Titsey seems to have been enfeoffed of part of Camberwell either by Robert Fitz Roy Earl of Gloucester or by William Earl of Gloucester, (fn. 36) his son. At the time of the Testa de Nevill (fn. 37) his descendant Geoffrey de Titsey held a quarter of a fee in Camberwell of the honour of Gloucester. The overlordship follows the descent of Camberwell Buckingham. (fn. 38) In 1222–3 Philip Vitdeners (fn. 39) quitclaimed to Agnes de Titsey (probably widow of Geoffrey) and John de Titsey and his heirs a moiety of a quarter fee, which she held in dower, and the Titsey family for some time held this manor and made minor grants. (fn. 40) In 1282 Thomas de Titsey assigned his manor of Camberwell to Henry Pyrot (fn. 41) in trust for himself and his heirs. At his death about 25 July 1297 he was found seised of land at Camberwell with rents and pleas and perquisites of court, held of the Countess of Gloucester, and of a messuage and land held of Sir Robert de Bekewell. (fn. 42) Thomas de Titsey left three co-heirs—John de Malevyle, who had married his sister Margaret, Alice the wife of Gilbert Etton, another sister, and Roger Horne, who had married Elizabeth, the third sister. Margaret had no issue, Alice had a daughter Isabel, who became the wife of John de Uvedale, Elizabeth had a son John. In 1305 Gilbert and Alice with John de Westwyk and Margery his wife conveyed the reversion of a third of the manor, held for life by Elizabeth, wife of John de Horton, to John de Uvedale. (fn. 43)

Thomas de Elingham and Richard de Bernham, trustees of John de Uvedale, granted these two-thirds to him and his heirs in 1302. (fn. 44) John left a son and heir Peter, (fn. 45) who in 1340 gave his mother a life interest in his lands in Camberwell, Peckham, and Dulwich (Dylewysshe). The Uvedale family continued to hold the lands until the reign of James I. (fn. 46) Towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth 'Dowdales' was demised to the Scotts (together with Dulwich), and Edgar Scott became involved in litigation with his brothers about it. (fn. 47)

In 1608 (fn. 48) Sir William Uvedale (1560–1616) and Richard Uvedale conveyed Dowdales in Peckham and Camberwell to Sir Robert Carey and Sir Richard Norton, the trustees of his will. Sir William his son (fn. 49) (1586–1652) had to sell his Surrey lands to satisfy his creditors. Probably this manor was bought by the Bowyers, as in 1808 it formed part of the Bowyer lands, for which see Camberwell Freren; as also in 1842, when it no longer formed a manor. It comprised about 90 acres.

At the end of the 13th century a manor of CAMBERWELL was held of the heir of the Earl of Gloucester by Robert de Bekewell, who owed the service of half a knight's fee. (fn. 50) He died seised of it before 22 March 1307, and it descended to his son Stephen de Bekewell. (fn. 51) The manor remained in this family until the reign of Henry V. In 1349 Henry de Bekewell son of Stephen (fn. 52) made a settlement on himself and his wife Agnes in tail. (fn. 53) In 1352 Henry and his wife Agnes (fn. 54) assigned to John de Worsted and John Fauconer and the heirs of the latter one messuage, 160 acres of land and 50 of meadow in Camberwell, which probably formed the manor of Basings, which was held according to the inquisition on Thomas Dolshill of 1373 (fn. 55) (see below) of Henry Bekewell by fealty. In 1356 (fn. 56) Henry de Bekewell granted the reversion of the life interest then held by William de Holbeck in the manor of Camberwell to Thomas Dolshill and Joan his wife for life.

William Bekewell in 1402 granted to John Langhorne a piece of land called Fynchescroffe, in a field called Fynchesfield. (fn. 57) This William Bekewell left two co-heiresses, (fn. 58) who inherited as from Henry Bekewell, one of whom, Isabella, married William Scott, the father of the William who married the co-heiress of Bredinghurst (see below). In 1417 (fn. 59) Isabella the widow of William Scott died owning the moiety of the site of the manor of Camberwell with the houses built upon it, held of Anne Countess of Stafford for the yearly service of a pair of gilt spurs value 6d. In 1439 (fn. 60) William Scott her son held at his death this half of Camberwell Manor, as well as half of the other moiety (by what title does not appear), of Humphrey Earl of Stafford. John Scott his son and heir was a minor, and his custody was entrusted to James Fenys, his marriage to be approved of the king without fee. Edward Scott the grandson of John Scott (of 1511 (fn. 61) ) was found at his death in 1573 to hold the moiety of the manor of Camberwell. John the father of this Edward Scott had had a son Richard who and whose son Thomas predeceased him, and Edward himself being childless his heir was the next brother William. John Scott the father of Edward had been married three times. By his first wife Elizabeth Robins he had six sons: John, the eldest, who died childless; Richard and Edward and William, who have been mentioned; Bartholomew and Acton. By another wife he had a daughter Margaret, and by a third Edgar and Southwell. In 1588 (fn. 62) William died, and in 1593 (fn. 63) his son and heir Robert died seised of the capital messuage of the manor of Camberwell, when his brother Bartholomew became the next heir under the settlement made by Edward (see Camberwell Buckingham). Bartholomew died in June 1600 (fn. 64) seised of this moiety of Camberwell, again described as the site and capital messuage. The only survivor of this large family was Peter Scott, the son of Acton, the youngest son by the first wife. Henceforth the separate history of the Scott moiety of Camberwell Manor follows that of the share of Camberwell Buckingham, which remained in the Scott family.

FREREN (Frieren, Friern).

—From a cartulary of Haliwell Priory, (fn. 65) a nunnery situate by St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, it appears that Robert Earl of Gloucester gave Robert de Rouen 100 acres out of his forest of Camberwell at a service of half a mark a year, and that the latter gave them to the nunnery of Haliwell at this rent. Subsequently the earl granted to Reginald de Pointz part of the vill of Camberwell with the service due on the 100 acres. (fn. 66) Reginald, in exchange for a road to the wood, gave the priory 8 acres, which Robert de Dunton held and for which he rendered tithes. Reginald also gave the priory in frankalmoign 12 acres near Godebald's land; afterwards he took the cross with King Richard and divided the rest of his part of the vill among his four nephews. Nicholas Pointz, one of these, gave the priory 10 acres extending from the house belonging to the priory to the grange of the monks of St. Saviour's (Hatcham Barnes) for 2s. a year; and Nicholas then gave the priory all these lands and services in frankalmoign. When the lands of Walter de Pointz came to him on the latter's death he sold them to the priory to hold by the service of a quarter of three knights' fees. Other small grants were also made to the priory. (fn. 67) In 1235 Henry III confirmed to the priory the gifts of Nicholas Pointz, Martin of Camberwell and Solomon of Basings. (fn. 68)

At the Dissolution these premises were valued at £13 6s. 8d. (fn. 69) The priory (or prioress) surrendered in 1539, (fn. 70) and in 1544 the manor was granted under the name of Camberwell or Camberwell Freren to Robert Draper. (fn. 71) In 1559 Matthew Draper held it, and in that year assigned it to William Blackwell as trustee on his marriage with Blackwell's daughter Lence. (fn. 72) They had no issue, and in 1577 Draper died, (fn. 73) leaving his sisters, Benedict the wife of John Fromonds, and Elizabeth, the wife of William Forster, his co-heirs. In 1581 (fn. 74) Benedict Formens or Fromonds conveyed her right in the manor to Sir Edmund Bowyer, son of her sister Elizabeth.

Sir Edmund Bowyer's will is dated 1626. He had no children, and his heir was Edmund Bowyer, son of his brother Benjamin, ten years old in 1623 and knighted in 1633. (fn. 75) This Edmund's eldest son Anthony died without leaving issue in 1709, (fn. 76) and his surviving heir was Edmund, the son of Sir Edmund's second wife. He died unmarried in 1718, and his heir was his sister Elizabeth, who married Sir James Ashe, second baronet. Her eldest surviving daughter Martha, who died in 1757, in 1715 married Joseph Windham, who died in 1746, and left two daughters, of whom Mary (1720–89) married John Windham, (fn. 77) who seems to have assumed the name of Bowyer. In 1761 (fn. 78) John Windham Bowyer conveyed the manor of Camberwell Frierne and one fifth of Camberwell Buckingham to Joseph Cocks, probably for the purposes of a settlement. Joseph son of John Windham had no issue, and in 1808 Sir William Smijth, bart., of Hill Hall, co. Essex, husband of his sister Anne, (fn. 79) owned the land. In 1842 Sir William Bowyer Smijth, his grandson, held his share of the manor, and, at any rate up to 1888 (after Camberwell had been incorporated with London), the Smijths held the manor. The land was all built over early in the 19th century.

The manor of BREDINGHURST probably formed part originally of the manor of West Greenwich, (fn. 80) which in 1086 was held by Gilbert Maminot, for at the beginning of the 13th century it formed one of the fees of the 'custodia de Maminot,' one of the Dover castle-ward baronies. (fn. 81) A family called 'de Bredinghurst' appear in Camberwell about the same date, and were probably then tenants of the manor. In 1218–19 Reginald de Bredinghurst granted Adrian son of Ralph Eswy 12 acres of land in Peckham, (fn. 82) and other similar small grants of Reginald's are extant. (fn. 83) In 1335 Robert de Bredinghurst died seised of 120 acres of land, 34 acres of meadow and 6 marks rent in Camberwell and Peckham, held by service of 10s. every thirty-two weeks to the ward of Dover Castle, and pleas and perquisites of court worth 2s. He also held 22 acres of Isabel de Uvedale and Joan de Malynes by service of 5s. and suit at the court of Hugh de Audley at Camberwell. He left a son and heir Stephen. (fn. 84) His widow Joan died the same year. (fn. 85) In 1369 Thomas Dolshill (or Doushull) was seised of this manor, (fn. 86) and in 1373, after his death, it was occupied by John Trope during the minority of Edward son and heir of Thomas. (fn. 87)

Edward Dolshill died in 1382 (fn. 88) seised of the manor of Bredinghurst. The heirs were Simon Worsted the son of Isabel, sister of Thomas, and Agnes the wife of John atte Pantoye the daughter of Joan Alye, another sister of Thomas. Probably Joan the widow of Thomas Dolshill (who lived until 1398) married Robert Little, (fn. 89) for the latter and Joan his wife held one-third of the manor in dower, the reversion of which they assigned in 1382 to John Worsted and his wife Agnes, (fn. 90) the other two-thirds having descended to the two co-heirs of Edward Dolshill. By 1407 all the members of this family were dead: Joan the widow, Joan and Alice Worsted the daughters and co-heiresses of Simon Worsted, (fn. 91) who both had no issue, and lastly Margaret the daughter of John atte Pantoye, who married Sir Robert Bernard. The heir of Margaret who re-united the manor was John Worsted, who is described as the son of John son of Isabel, the sister of Thomas Dolshill. (fn. 92)

At this point the history of the manor becomes more obscure. It looks as though this John Worsted left two daughters, each of whom inherited half of Bredinghurst. One of these, Isabel, (fn. 93) in the reign of Henry V was the wife of William Scott and held a tenement called Bredinghurst. This Scott moiety follows the descent of their manor of Camberwell (q.v.) up to 1563, when Edward Scott conveyed (fn. 94) half the manor of Bredinghurst to Thomas Muschamp and Matthew Muschamp his son and heir. Thomas Muschamp survived his son Matthew. Matthew left no children, and the heirs were Thomas's daughters Jane wife of Thomas Crymes, and Susan wife of Henry Toppisfield. (fn. 95) The latter assigned his quarter to Thomas Crymes. (fn. 96) His widow married Sir Thomas Hunt (fn. 97) and retained one quarter for her life.

The other moiety apparently went after the death of John Worsted to Florence, wife of Henry Appulton, who in 1456 conveyed it to Robert Wode. (fn. 98) Later it came into the Muschamp family, and in 1617 it was held by Francis Muschamp, a paternal great-nephew of Thomas Muschamp, the assignee from Edward Scott. (fn. 99) In 1632 his son and heir Francis died, leaving a son Edmund (fn. 100); he had married Frances Bowyer, widow, sister of Henry Clerk. Edmund died childless, and Mary wife of Edward Eversfield and Elizabeth the wife of John Pearse, his sisters, succeeded as coheiresses. In 1661 Elizabeth Muschamp, (fn. 101) probably widow of Thomas brother of Francis, joined in a conveyance by Mary Eversfield and her husband to John Herne, but by 1664 she must have died, for Mary and her husband conveyed the manor to Anthony Eversfield. By 1672 Mary had died, and Edward Eversfield was remarried to one Cecily. (fn. 102) In that year he sold the manor to Sir Thomas Bond, bart. Sir Thomas Crymes (knighted in 1603 (fn. 103) ) had died in 1644; his heir was Sir George, but his moiety was apparently settled on his sister, who married Sir Thomas Bond, and the two moieties thus became united.

Sir Henry Bond son of Thomas in 1688 conveyed his manor of Bredinghurst to trustees (fn. 104); he had in 1672 built a new manor-house (the date was on the weather-vane). It was sold to Sir Thomas Trevor, later Lord Trevor, who died in 1731, after which it was sold to Mrs. Hill. (fn. 105) She left it by will to her nephew Isaac Pacatus Shard, (fn. 106) whose son William inherited it. He died in 1806, leaving the manor to his mother for life, with remainder to his brother Charles. In 1797 the mansion was pulled down and the house and gardens let as a building estate, now Hill Street.

In 1362 Sir Thomas Vaughan died seised of the manor of COLD HARBOUR or COLD ABBEY, held partly of the king as of the manor of Hatcham Barnes and partly of the Earl of Stafford. (fn. 107) It seems possible to trace the manor rather further back. Some of the lands held by Roger de Rokesle in Hatcham (see manor of Little Hatcham in Deptford St. Paul) were probably retained by him when he conveyed Little Hatcham to Robert Burnell, and sold (as in the case of Foot's Cray in Ruxley Hundred in Kent) to John Abel, (fn. 108) who also held a quarter of a knight's fee in Camberwell of the honour of Clare. (fn. 109) Abel received a grant of free warren in his demesne lands of Hatcham and Camberwell in 1295, (fn. 110) and in 1322 died seised of a messuage and garden held of Roger de Bavent (lord of Hatcham Barnes) and lands held of various lords. (fn. 111) After his death his son Richard probably settled these lands in default of issue on Sir William Vaughan (as he did Foot's Cray (fn. 112) ), for in 1345 Vaughan granted £4 rent from lands in Hatcham and Camberwell to Master Gilbert de Bruera, canon of St. Paul's. (fn. 113) The Thomas who died seised in 1362 (see above) was therefore presumably William's son. He left a son and heir Hamon. In 1440 Alice Middleton, widow, and possibly the heiress of Hamon, granted to her son William and his heirs by Margaret Balgye her manor of Cold Abbey in Peckham. (fn. 114) By 1493 (fn. 115) the manor was divided into moieties, and Christopher Middleton, who held in right of his wife Margaret, assigned one of them to Michael Skinner, John Scott and John Skinner for 100 marks. Margaret may have been a daughter of William and Margaret Middleton.

The moiety of Michael Skinner must have devolved on Richard Skinner, whose daughter Elizabeth (fn. 116) married John Scott the elder and brought the moiety into the Scott inheritance. (fn. 117) Edward Scott died seised of this moiety, but in the subsequent Scott inquisitions it does not appear; probably it was merged in their other lands. Another daughter of Richard Skinner, Agnes, became the wife of Roger Legh, and on them their half manor was settled in 1506. (fn. 118) By 1559 it had come into the hands of Christopher Tubbes, (fn. 119) who in 1570 conveyed it to John Bowyer, (fn. 120) with whose estates it is henceforth merged.

PECKHAM (Peckeham, xi cent.; Peccheham, xii, xiii and xiv cent.).

—In 1086 Peckham was held by the Bishop of Lisieux of the Bishop of Bayeux. Formerly Alfled had held it of Harold, and it had been part of the great estate of Battersea. It was assessed at 2 hides and was valued at 30s. (fn. 121)

Seven acres at least of Bredinghurst Manor were in Peckham. The manor of Camberwell was called indifferently Camberwell or Peckham, or Camberwell and Peckham, (fn. 122) and Peckham after 1086 has no independent history, except in one instance where it appears as a separate manor. In 1369 Thomas Dolshill (fn. 123) (v. Bredinghurst Manor) conjointly with Joan his wife held a manor of Peckham of Henry Bekewelle as of his manor of Camberwell for 5s. 10d. a year. Part of Peckham also lay in Cold Abbey and was held of Thomas Vaughan at 18d. a year. The extent was of a capital messuage, 80 acres of plough-land, 15 acres of meadow, 10 of underwood.

The manor of MILKWELL was partly in Camberwell and partly in Lambeth. Up to 1305 it belonged to St. Thomas, Southwark, and in 1291 was taxed at £1 5s. (fn. 124) In 1305 it was granted by the Hospital to St. Mary Overy in consideration of 10s. rent from the convent. (fn. 125) At the Dissolution it was valued at £5 2s. (fn. 126) The manor with Milkwell Wood in Lambeth was granted in 1541 to Sir Thomas Wyatt, (fn. 127) who was attainted in 1554. It was afterwards acquired by Richard Duke, clerk of the Court of Augmentations, and remained for some time in the same family. By 1609 (fn. 128) it had come to Thomas Duke, whose property consisted of the manor, 6 messuages, 8 cottages, 5 barns, 5 gardens, and 400 acres in Milkwell, Camberwell and Lambeth, besides 30 acres once parcel of the monastery of Bermondsey. (fn. 129) Sir Edward Duke, his heir, sold them to Robert Campbell, (fn. 130) alderman of London. By his will Robert Campbell left his estates to his two sons James and Thomas in tail successively, and in default to his five daughters.

In 1672 (fn. 131) Richard Bassett suffered a recovery of one-third of the manor of Milkwell. According to Manning and Bray (fn. 132) it was acquired by the Bowyer family, and passed through them to the Windhams and Smijths (see Camberwell Freren).

BASINGS.

— From Testa de Nevill (fn. 133) it appears that Henry de Wyk and his co-parceners held two knights' fees in Camberwell of the honour of Gloucester. In 1224–5 Richard de Wyk and Asceline his wife were assigned from Philip Vitdeners a quarter of a knight's fee. (fn. 134) They had a daughter Margery, to whom in 1241 Asceline the widow assigned half a knight's fee in Camberwell and Peckham, herself retaining a life interest. (fn. 135) By a fine three years later (fn. 136) Asceline Wyk reserved a rent of £10 during her life, probably in the stead of a direct holding. Margery married Robert de Basings, a citizen of London, and in 1287 (fn. 137) the two acquired from William the son of Reginald de Rokesle, evidently trustee for a settlement, a messuage, 140 acres of land, 15 acres of meadow and rents in Camberwell.

The inquisition of 1373 on Thomas Dolshill (see above), in whose possession Basings next appears, states that it was held of Bekewell's manor of Camberwell, and, apparently, after the failure of the Basings it had been re-granted by Henry de Bekewell in 1352 to John de Worsted and John Fauconer, (fn. 138) who must have assigned it to Thomas Dolshill. The extent was 160 acres of land and 50 of meadow. In 1373 (fn. 139) it appears among his possessions, and follows the descent of Bredinghurst (q.v.) as late as the death of Margaret Bernard. (fn. 140) In 1543 (fn. 141) Henry Baker assigned to Humphrey Styll lands and tenements called Bydinges, ground called Austyns Fylde, and a close called Giskyns, in Camberwell, and at his death (fn. 142) in 1557 Baker held the manor of Basings in Peckham said to be held of Ralph Muschamp, as of his manor of Camberwell. His son and heir Richard Baker conveyed it in 1591 (fn. 143) to Edward Newport, and in 1596 (fn. 144) he and Newport joined in conveying it to Bartholomew Scott and Thomas Sadleir. In 1631 the manor was in the hands of Sir Thomas Gardner, (fn. 145) whose father William had bought it of Bartholomew Scott and others. (fn. 146) His heir was his son George. (fn. 147) In 1812 it was in the possession of Sir William East, and in 1842 of Sir East George Clayton East.

DULWICH (Dilewys, x cent.; Dylewish, xiv cent.).

—A part of Dulwich seems to have been included in the manor of Bermondsey, which was ancient demesne of the Crown, and at the beginning of the 12th century was conferred by successive royal grants on Bermondsey Abbey. (fn. 148) Besides these there were apparently two knights' fees at Dulwich forming part of the inheritance of the Earls of Gloucester, for at the time of the Testa de Nevill these were held by Henry de Dulwich and his co-parceners. (fn. 149) Possibly they were also given to the monastery.

At the Dissolution the manor of Dulwich was valued at £13 5s. 8d., lands in Camberwell at 13s. 4d., the rectory of Camberwell at £10, and the church at £7 7s. (fn. 150) In 1546 (fn. 151) the reversion of the manor and advowson of the vicarage were granted, after the expiration of a fifty years' lease from the prior to John Solt, to Thomas Calton, whose widow Margaret and son conveyed them in 1570 (fn. 152) to Lord Giles Paulet, son of William Marquess of Winchester, and William Chyvall as trustees for a settlement on Margaret and her son Nicholas. (fn. 153) In 1571 Margaret Calton, the widow, died holding the manor and a mansion-house called Hall Place and the advowson. The lands were settled on Nicholas, a younger son, and his heirs, with remainders to the other sons in succession. In 1575 (fn. 154) Nicholas Calton died, and in 1605 Sir Francis Calton, kt., sold the manor, Hall Place and the advowson to Edward Allen, the founder of Dulwich College. (fn. 155) In 1620 Edward Allen (fn. 156) conveyed the manor to the trustees for Dulwich College.

Hall Place, the manor-house, stood in Manor House Fields at the bottom of Croxted Road. About 1882 the land on which the house stood was let for building purposes, and Hall Place was pulled down. (fn. 157)

KNOWLES or KNOLLES.

—Of this reputed manor very little is known. The first mention is in 1433, (fn. 158) when John Browe, esq., brother of Robert Browe, released to John Winter and Nicholas Molyneux all his right in lands once belonging to Robert Knolles, later to David Bykley, in Camberwell, Lambeth and Streatham. In 1449 (fn. 159) litigation arose between Nicholas Molyneux and Thomas Coberley as to the manors of Stockwell, Knolles and Levehurst in Lambeth and Camberwell, lands and tenements held at the will of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Abbot of Bermondsey, a tenement with appurtenances in the lordship of Kennington, and a tenement called the Boreshede in St. Mary Magdalene, Southwark. It was decided that Molyneux was to pay William Fitz Water 64 marks on behalf of Thomas Coberley for the manor of Knolles. Nicholas Molyneux also was to give the arbiter William Laken 100 marks, or the value in plate to the use of the White Friars, Fleet Street, they to pray for the soul of John Winter. Nicholas Molyneux was to discontinue forging false deeds. Thomas Coberley and his warrantor Fitz Water were to make over to Nicholas Molyneux Knolles and all the lands once belonging to Rauf Silkesten, Rauf Stokes, John Brian, and Clement Bisshopps. In the same year John Audley and William Vavasor released to John Stanley, Nicholas Molyneux, John Basket, and Adam Levelord all their rights in the manor by feoffment of Roger Wynter and John Cofford. (fn. 160) Molyneux's rights seem to have been those of a trustee or mortgagee, for they had apparently expired before 1463, when a certain Richard Cely (possibly a trustee) released to John Browe all his lands in Peckham. (fn. 161) This John Browe and William Wode (fn. 162) in 1467 received a grant from Stephen Godewin and John Baker the younger of divers parcels of land at 'le Knoll' otherwise called le Worpyn, below Asschlynhawe, in a place called le Cheker, between St. Nicholas Forlonde and Bernesmede in Shortworth, between the waterway and Soulstrete, and in Lyneacre adjoining Estbroke. At the end of the 16th century this manor belonged with Dulwich to the Caltons, (fn. 163) and in 1620 (fn. 164) Edward Allen and his wife conveyed it with Dulwich to William Allen and William Austen, the trustees for Dulwich College.

CHURCHES

The parish church of ST. GILES is a large building of stone in the style of the 14th century, erected in 1844 and designed by Sir Gilbert Scott after the old church had been burnt down. It has a chancel of three bays, central tower with an octagonal stone spire, transepts, nave of five bays, with a clearstory, low aisles and north and south porches. The roofs are covered with lead. It occupies a site on the south side of Peckham Road. The churchyard is large and contains many graves to the south and west of the church, but none to the north between the church and the road.

There is a ring of ten modern bells, all of 1844.

The plate consists of a silver gilt chalice of 1557 with V-shaped bowl and baluster stem; a chalice with hall mark of 1630, and two modern ones, all silver gilt; three silver gilt patens, dated 1630, 1635 (?) and 1665 respectively, the last being inscribed 'The guift of Theodore Cock, Merchant'; a silver gilt plate of mid-17th-century date; two silver flagons of 1691, inscribed 'The Gift of John Byne, Gent. to the Church of Camberwell, A.D. 1691 '; two glass cruets and a brass alms-basin.

The registers are in six books: (1) all entries 1556 to 1754; (2) baptisms and burials 1754 to 1802; (3), (4) and (5) marriages 1754 to 1780, 1780 to 1794, and 1794 to 1813; (6) baptisms and burials 1802 to 1815.

The parish of ST. GEORGE was formed in 1825. The church, which stands in Wells Street, consists of a small apsidal chancel with a large nave at the west of which is a hexastyle Doric portico. Above this is a square tower in three stages, the first of which is solid, whilst the second and third open with Doric and Ionic columns and entablatures. The body of the church and the apse are of stock brick, the portico and tower being of stone. Internally and externally the nave is divided into bays by pilasters of Greek detail. The apse, which is of Roman Doric design, is a much more recent addition. There is a fair-sized churchyard, now used as a small park.

The church of ST. CHRYSOSTOM, Hill Street, Peckham, is a barn-like structure of stock brick and cement of the quasi-Gothic of about 1830–40. The chancel and nave are of equal width (the latter having galleries) lighted by wide pointed single lights and having an embattled parapet. The west front, which is of cement, faces the road, contains three entrances and is surmounted by a bell turret with an octagonal lantern.

The parish of CHRIST CHURCH, Old Kent Road, was formed in 1838. The church was built about 1840 of brick with stone dressings in the style of the end of the 13th century and consists of a chancel, nave, south transept and aisle, and north baptistery and a south-east tower.

The parish of EMMANUEL was formed in 1842. The church, which was built in the same year, consists of a chancel, two eastern towers, aisleless nave with galleries and eastern vestry. It is of white brick with stone dressings.

The parish of ST. MARY MAGDALENE, Peckham, was formed in 1842. The church occupies a detached oval site in St. Mary's Road, to the south of Queen's Road, Peckham, and was built about 1840 of stock brick in the style of the end of the 12th century. It has a shallow chancel with vestries, &c., a wide nave with galleries and an engaged west tower with an octagonal brick spire and a clock.

The parish of CAMDEN was formed in 1844. The church, which stands in Peckham Road, is built of stock brick with stone dressings in the Renaissance classic style of the period; it has a chancel and nave with short transepts. The west front towards the road contains the three principal entran es and has a horizontal parapet.

The parish of ST. MATTHEW, Denmark Hill, was formed in 1848. The church, which stands within the ancient parish of Lambeth, is a stone building in the style of the 14th century. It has an apsidal chancel and nave, both with a clearstory, low aisles, vestries, &c., and a north tower with a tall thin octagonal spire enriched with crockets, &c. At the east end towards the road is a low porch with passages around the apse.

The parish of ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, East Dulwich, was formed in 1865. The church, which stands on Goose Green, is built of rubble and Bath stone in the style of the 13th century. It has a chancel with a round apse and vaulted ceiling, nave with a clearstory lighted by dormer windows, narrow north and south aisles of five bays, porches, &c., and a south-east transeptal tower containing a side chapel with a gallery over, and crowned by an octagonal tiled spire. The roofs are slated. The stone font has a tall oak cover.

The parish of ST. ANDREW, Peckham, was formed in 1866. The church consists of a chancel, nave, narthex and tower. It is built of stone and is designed in the style of the late 13th century. The tower is surmounted by a shingled spire.

The parish of ST. STEPHEN, South Dulwich, was formed in 1868. The church, which is in College Road, consists of an apsidal chancel, nave and aisles and spire. In the south wall of the chancel is a recess containing a fresco by Sir E. J. Poynter, P.R.A., representing the trial and martyrdom of St. Stephen.

The parish of ALL SAINTS, Blenheim Grove, Peckham, was formed in 1872. The church was built about 1870 of rag and Bath stone in the style of the 13th century. It consists of a chancel with a round apse, nave with semi-dormer clearstory windows, vestries, &c., north and south aisles and the stump of a north-west porch tower with one bell. The roofs are tiled.

The parish of ST. JAMES, Knatchbull Road, was formed in 1874. The church is a stone building in the style of the 14th century. It has a chancel with an apsidal east end, nave with a clearstory of circular windows and with a west doorway, north and south transepts off the nave, north and south aisles and a north-west tower with corner pinnacles and an octagonal stone spire. In the tower is a clock. An inscribed stone records the consecration of the building in 1870.

The parish of ST. PHILIP, Avondale Square, was formed in 1876. The church consists of a half octagonal chancel with north organ chamber and south vestry, a fair-sized nave of five bays, a south transept and north and south aisles. The whole church is built of Kentish rag stone with dressed details, and is designed in late 13th-century style. The churchyard is of moderate size, and contains, besides the church, a parish room.

The parish of ST. ANTHOLIN, Nunhead, was formed in 1878. The church is a large rectangular structure of red brick, built in 1877, in the style of the first part of the 13th century. It has a nave and chancel of equal width, the nave having a clearstory with lancet windows, north and south aisles, transepts, porches, &c. The middle roof is gabled and covered with slates, the aisles have lean-to roofs. The oak reredos designed by Sir Christopher Wren and a bell were brought from St. Antholin's, Watling Street.

The parish of ST. LUKE was formed in 1878. The church, which is situated in Rosemary Road, consists of a chancel and nave with aisles in one range and a south-west porch. It is of the simplest design and is built of stock bricks.

The parish of ST. JUDE, Peckham, was formed in 1880. The church in Meeting House Lane is built of stock and red brick and stone in the style of the 12th century. It has a chancel with organ chamber, south chapel, nave with a clearstory, aisles with arcades of four round-arched bays and northwest and south-west porches; a bell-cote above the west gable contains two bells. The aisle windows have semi-dormer gable heads. The roofs are covered with slates. The chancel arch is spanned by a carved oak screen, above which is a rood with figures.

The parish of ST. MARK, Camberwell, was formed in 1880. The church in Coburg Road consists of a chancel and nave, and is built of brick with a sparing use of stone and with slate roofs. Over the nave roof is a wooden flèche, and attached to the church are parish rooms, &c. It was designed by Mr. Norman Shaw and is a lofty and dignified structure.

The parish of ST. SAVIOUR, Denmark Park, was formed in 1881. The church, which stands in Coplestone Road, was built about 1880 of white bricks with stone dressings in the style of the 14th century. It consists of a chancel, nave with a clearstory lighted by dormer windows, low aisles of six bays with round pillars and pointed arches, north organ chamber and a south chapel. The entrance to the chancel has an oak screen and rood.

The parish of ST. MARK, Peckham, was formed in 1884. The church, which is in Harders Road, is a building of red brick and stone in the style of the 13th century erected in 1883; it has a continuous chancel and nave, the former having an arch on either side opening into an organ chamber and a vestry, nave and low aisles, with arcades of three wide bays; a bell hangs in a bell-cote above the west gable.

The parish of ST. CLEMENT, East Dulwich, was formed in 1886. The church in Friern Road was built in 1883 of red brick and stone in the style of the 13th century and consists of an apsidal chancel, south chapel, vestry, organ chamber, &c., nave of six bays with stone pillars and arches and a clearstory with lancet windows, north and south aisles, and west baptistery flanked by porches. The chancel has an unfinished carved oak rood screen and loft, with a temporary cross above. The pulpit is of carved oak, the font of carved stone. The roofs are covered with slates.

The parish of ALL SAINTS, North Peckham, was formed in 1892. The church consists of a chancel with north organ chamber and vestry and south chapel, a nave with north and south aisles, a north porch and a west baptistery. The whole church is well and freely designed in late 13th-century style, and is built of red brick and stone with tile roofs. It was designed by Walter Planck, architect, and was built in 1893.

The parish of ST. BARNABAS, Dulwich, was formed in 1894. The church in Calton Road is a large and well-built structure of red brick and stone in the style of the 15th century, begun in 1892. It has a continuous chancel and nave, with arcades of eight tall bays having octagonal pillars and pointed arches of red and white stones set indiscriminately, high aisles with lean-to roofs of panelled oak and traceried windows, south chapel with altar and oak reredos and closed off with oak screens, and an exceptionally massive plain red brick west tower, added in 1907, containing a gallery. Provision is made for future west porches, but these are still unfinished. The walls are lined with oak panelling, and such of the furniture as is permanent is of wellcarved oak. Red sandstone is used for the windows; the roofs are covered with slates.

The cemetery at Nunhead was laid out shortly before 1840 and was consecrated in that year. The chapels were built in 1844. The Camberwell Borough Cemetery is in Forest Hill Road.

Besides the churches mentioned above there are the Cambridge Mission House, Trinity College Mission and other centres of religious and social work conducted by various Cambridge colleges.

There are Roman Catholic churches in Camberwell New Road, Lordship Lane and Elm Grove, Peckham.

There are also a large number of Nonconformist places of worship. The beginning of Nonconformity in Peckham seems to date from the retirement of the Rev. John Maynard from the vicarage of Camberwell before 1658. (fn. 165) He is said to have lived and preached in Old Meeting House Lane, off the Kent Road, but no congregation appears in the lists under Charles II. A meeting house, however, is said to have been built in 1657. One was certainly built before 1717, when Oliver Goldsmith was usher to the school kept by its minister, John Milner. A century later, in 1817, Hanover Chapel was built for this congregation. From answers to the visitation of 1725 it seems that this meeting was Congregationalist from the early days, though some of the earlier ministers had Presbyterian orders. It was opened by H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex. The name dates probably from 1717, when the Hanoverian succession was specially welcome to Nonconformists. The chapel is now used as a place of entertainment, the congregation having migrated to Collyer Place. Another congregation was organized at the Manor House by the Rev. W. Smith, a Presbyterian minister, in 1780, and one with a separate meeting house was organized in 1799. The first chapel in the Kent Road was opened in 1827, and a Baptist chapel in Albany Road was purchased for the use of the Congregationalists in 1835. The congregation in the Camberwell New Road dates from 1853; the congregation from the old Manor House Chapel migrated here and a new chapel of some architectural pretensions was opened in 1856. In Dulwich a chapel was built in 1852 and a new and larger one in its place in 1855. A new Congregational chapel was built at Peckham in 1859.

There were twenty Quakers in the parish in 1725. In 1825 a Friends' Meeting House was built in Hanover Street. In Camberwell New Road is a Welsh church, and in Flodden Road is a New Jerusalem church, built in 1867 for the Swedenborgian denomination. There is also a Catholic Apostolic church in Camberwell New Road. The Wesleyan chapel, where the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes formerly preached, is in Barry Road.

ADVOWSONS

The church of Camberwell, mentioned in the Domesday Survey, was granted by William Earl of Gloucester, lord of the fee, to the convent of Bermondsey. (fn. 166) In 1248 Richard de Clare confirmed the gift. (fn. 167) Apparently the church was appropriated before 1190, when a vicar was presented by the abbot. After the Dissolution the advowson descended with the manor of Dulwich until 1607, when Edward Alleyn conveyed it to Edward Wilson, clerk, the vicar of the parish, probably in trust for Sir Edmund Bowyer, (fn. 168) to whom the rectory and advowson belonged in the reign of Charles I, (fn. 169) and in whose family it descended (fn. 170) (see Camberwell Freren). The Rev. Sir Edward Bowyer Smijth, chaplain to George IV, was vicar as well as patron. In 1849 the Rev. J. Williams held the advowson, and from 1866 to 1911 the Rev. F. F.Kelly, who also is the incumbent. (fn. 171)

The advowson of St. Philip, St. Bartholomew, St. Luke, Peckham, St. Mark (with the United Girls' School Mission) and St. George belongs to the Bishop of Southwark; of All Saints, Blenheim Grove, Camden Church, Emmanuel Church (with the South London Welsh Mission Church), St. Saviour, Denmark Park, and Christ Church, Old Kent Road (with Corpus Christi College Mission), to trustees (the last to the Hyndman trustees); of St. James the Apostle, Knatchbull Road, to Mr. W. Minet; of St. Andrew, Peckham, to the vicar of Camden Church; of St. Mary Magdalene, Peckham, to the Church Patronage Society; of St. Mark, Peckham, to trustees; of All Saints, Peckham North, to Mrs. Gooch and Messrs. H. C. and G. P. Gooch; of St. Chrysostom, Peckham, and St. Jude, Peckham, to the Bishop of Southwark; of St. Matthew, Denmark Hill, to Lady de Crespigny; of St. Antholin, Nunhead, to the Crown; of St. Silas, Nunhead (with Cheltenham College Mission), to the Bishop of Southwark; of St. Clement, East Dulwich, and St. Barnabas, Dulwich, to the same; of St. John the Evangelist, East Dulwich, to trustees; of St. Stephen, South Dulwich, to Dulwich College; and of St. Peter, Dulwich Common, to Mrs. Pulley.

CHARITIES

From the returns made at Bishop Willis's visitation in 1725 it appears that there were then 7 acres of land for the poor, three small tenements and a rent-charge on some others, the total value being £41 13s. 4d. a year (see also under schools and description of parish). Further, the Rev. Edward Wilson left £20 to the poor in 1618. Sir Thomas Hunt in 1625 left land for the poor producing £2 12s. 6d. a year, but the estate came into Chancery and was lost to the parish.

Baron Hilton in 1640 left £24 a year for ninety-nine years, which expired in 1739.

Sir Edmund Bowyer gave £30 in 1674 and three houses in 1675 for the poor. The houses had been lost in 1786.

Antony Bowyer in 1702 gave six houses in the hands of trustees.

Mr. Henry Ballow gave £5 in 1615; Mr. Edward Bowyer left £50 in 1718; Sir William Bowyer gave £21 in 1721; Sir Francis Ballow £5 in 1723; and Mrs. Hannah Gransden left £5 in 1724.

Mr. Richard Arnott left £100 South Sea annuities in 1753, to be divided between the poor and the charity schools.

Mr. William Matthews left £187 Bank annuities for bread to sixty poor communicants in 1764.

Mr. Charles Devon left £40 for the poor in 1772.

Mrs. Hannah Brown left £20 for the poor in 1777.

Mr. Thomas Roup left £40 for the poor in 1780.

Miss Laetitia Cook left ten guineas for the poor in 1783.

Smith's charity is distributed as in other Surrey parishes.

The Licensed Victuallers' Asylum, for distressed members or widows of members of the trade, was opened in 1827 at Peckham. Additional buildings were added in 1840.

At Nunhead are the Beeston Almshouses, founded in 1834 by — Beeston. The Girdlers' Company are trustees. They were for seven aged persons.

The Aged Pilgrims' Friend Society for the aid of aged and infirm Evangelical poor was established in Camberwell in 1807, chiefly by the help of Mr. William Peacock. This asylum was built in 1837, and Mr. Peacock was buried in the court of the building in 1844. Near it is the Bethel Asylum, also established by Peacock in 1838, for twelve old women.