IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Coldbath Street, LONDON, SE13 7RN

A hurried shot of Coldbath Street in Greenwich, where I'd gone with a load of timber to be delivered to a building site nearby. It's always a bit of a culture shock for me to leave rural Herefordshire, where I live, and spend the day in London. I have no doubt it's a fabulous place to live, but I'm always glad to get away from the place ... there are just too many humans there.

The River Ravensbourne used to run in a concrete channel through Brookmill Park but as part of the construction of the Lewisham extension of the Docklands Light Railway in 1999, the river was given a more 'natural' winding course,whilst the DLR used the old course of the river. It was an inspired solution and both the park and the DLR benefited. Brookmill Park has been expanded over the years although some of the park was lost with the DLR extension. This photograph shows part of the old concrete course of the river whilst Brookmill Park is just beyond the footbridge on the left and this is where the diverted section of river starts. The footbridge in the middle of the photograph is over the DLR whilst the bridge on the extreme right leads to Elverson Road DLR station.

The London, Chatham & Dover Railway opened a line in 1871 with stations at Nunhead, Brockley Lane, Lewisham Road, and Blackheath Hill, to eventually reach Greenwich Park in 1888. Declining passenger numbers caused its closure in 1917 although the section from Nunhead to a point just east of Lewisham Road station was reopened to provide an alternative route into central London. Between the point where the Greenwich Park branch crossed over the main lines at St Johns and the terminus at Greenwich Park, the line was abandoned. This embankment at the southern end of Brookmill Park together with its continuation on the other side of Brookmill Road are the main indications now that this line ever existed beyond St Johns.

Looking downstream on the Ravensbourne

Former pub which closed in 1970. http://www.pubology.co.uk/pubs/803.html

A stencilled metal sheet on end announces the name of the park to visitors entering from Elverson Road DLR station.

Cyclists who have crossed the bridge over the Docklands Light Railway (by the ramp just out of shot to the right), coming down onto Conington Road. There is a dropped kerb here, but it is rare to find it left clear: repeated attempts by a local cycling group have failed to persuade the Council to paint yellow lines on the road at this point.