Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Deptford

DEPTFORD, a town of England situated at the junction of the Ravensbourne with the Thames, 3J miles east of London Bridge. It forms the western portion of the par liamentary borough of Greenwich, occupying an area of about 1G50 acres, situated mostly in the county of Kent, and partly in Surrey. It comprises two parishes that of St Nicholas, including Lower Deptford on the Thames, and St Paul s, or the landward part of the town, which extends into Surrey and includes Hatcham Manor. Lower Deptford consists of irregular narrow streets, and the houses are mostly of a mean description. It contains the site of the old dockyard, and the royal victualling yard is also situated there. The former was discontinued as a dockyard in 1869; it was filled up and converted into a foreign cattle market by the corporation of London, but this was given up in 1873. The victualling yard immedi ately to the west of it is the most important establish ment of its kind in the kingdom, supplying the navy with provisions, medicines, furniture, &c., which are manufac tured or stored in the large warehouses that constitute the establishment. As many as 500 hands are employed in the warehouses and at the lading wharf. The only other industrial employment of importance in the place is to be found in the engineering works, which are carried on near the river. Of public buildings the most noteworthy are St Nicholas Church, with a square embattled tower, built on the site of an older structure at the beginning of the last century, and St Paul s, of classic design, erected in 1730. There is also the hospital for master mariners, maintained by the corporation of the Trinity House, which was origin ated here. Of the mansion known as Sayes Court, with, which Deptford is historically identified, nothing now re mains but the garden. The house- taken down in 1729 was the residence of the duke of Sussex in Queen Eliza beth s time ; it was occupied in the following century by John Evelyn, the author of Sylva, and by Peter the Great during his residence in England in 1698. The popula tion of Deptford in 1871 amounted to 60,188 persons, seven-eighths living in the landward parish of St Paul's.