Deptford was a town of two parts, the old fishing village at Deptford Strond beside the Thames, and the settlement around Deptford Broadway, close to Deptford Bridge, which depended economically upon the traffic along the Dover Road.

Only the former is shown on this 1623 map, which belonged to John Evelyn, the diarist.

It shows the importance of shipbuilding in Deptford by this time, with the Royal Dockyard at the bottom of the map (the west) and the East India Company's yard closer to Deptford Creek.

Inland there were still few houses.

Anonymous manuscript map of 1623, with annotations by John Evelyn

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