Preface. 
HE story of Lewisham and Lee which is the 
subject of the following pages has been set 
forth with a double object. First and fore- 
most it is an outcome of a desire on the part 
of the members of the Lewisham Municipal 
Association and the Lewisham Antiquarian Society to interest 
their fellow-townsmen in. the place in which they live, and, 
secondly, it seemed very desirable that the many changes which 
have taken place in the district within the last half-century 
should be placed on record in’ a handy form. 
The very large increase in population within the Borough 
area during the above period, with the consequent building of 
new streets, has tended to obscure the historical interest of the 
place, whilst the ever-absorbing power of London has robbed 
the neighbourhood of any local feeling which once prevailed. 
That the claims of its history will ever by themselves rekindle 
that local feeling is not of course to be looked for, but they 
may play their part, and it is with that hope that this book 
has been prepared. 
The outline of the history of the Manors of Lewisham and 
Lee and the subsidiary’manors within the area of the Borough 
given by HASTED (Drake’s edition) necessarily forms the ground- 
work of the first portion of the historical sections, but this has 
been developed by adding details of the local life and institu- 
tions from the Court Rolls and Rentals of the Manor, from 
the Assize Rolls and other documents in the Public Record 
Office. 
