G. W. Bacon, Borough of Lewisham map, 1904

Click on the map above for an enlarged image or click here for a larger, readable image (slower download).

Until the end of the First World War the area was occupied by the fields of Bellingham Farm and the gardens of two large houses in Southend Lane.

The land taken for the original London County Council estate of the early 1920s is defined by the irregular triangle of Southend Lane and the two railway lines.