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St. Helena Road, LONDON, SE16 2QU

The Royal William public house was at 15 St Helena Road, Rotherhithe, SE16 from 1852 to 1865. The site, and a much larger area, later became the St Helena Tea Gardens which incorporated the St Helena Tavern. Possibly the Royal William was demolished for this project or was left intact and renamed the St Helena tavern.

Did at one time extend to Silwood Street. It was about this location in the early 1700's where the famous St Helena Tea Gardens stood. It was built on the periphery of the events concerning the Mill Pond and described as a general purpose entertainment area. It comprised of two fish ponds with yew trees forming alcoves, two Chinese pavilions surrounded by weeping willows and similar. Nearby was the parade ground where the Rotherhithe Volunteers trained.

It stood opposite and just east of Luxford Street at the junction with Eugenia Road (Eugenia Road used to run into St Helena Road). The last pub was built or first recorded in 1787 and closed in 1966. However, in the mid 1750's, on or very close to the site stood the famous St Helena Tea Gardens - a respectable general purpose entertainment area that boasted of trees, ponds and two Chinese pavilions. Said at the time to be bounded by hay fields and hills forming a range from east to west. Nowadays it feels that the place is bounded by a scenic railway due to the small hills called roads. Near the tea gardens was a site where the Rotherhithe Volunteers trained.

The junction was where the former line to Peckham met the line from New Cross on the former East London Line. The Peckham tracks were lifted as early as 1913 though one track to the west side of New Cross Gate survived until 1964 [source: London Railway Atlas by Joe Brown]. As part of the redevelopment of the route for London Overground, a stub of track was laid (left foreground) to permit the Peckham route to be reinstated at a later date. The track at the far side of the formation is the northbound track from New Cross Gate that now uses a new flyover - see Image Behind it is a ramp to the new footbridge.

Signed 'East London Line Infrastructure Maintenance Facility'. The view is from the ramp up to the footbridge that connects Oldfield Grove and Trundley's Terrace.

View from the southern end. On the right is the London Outreach Centre; "John 3:16 For God so loved the world". Surrey Quays underground station is a couple of hundred yards to the north.

A recent building development to the west of Oldfield Grove, viewed from the railway footbridge.

An Overground train soon after leaving Surrey Quays station is seen from a footbridge. The train is keeping to the eastern-most track so it's most likely heading for New Cross Gate and points south: West Croydon or Crystal Palace. Photo number 7885441.