PART III. 
Hn Ztinerary of the Borough. 
CHAPTER I. 
From BLACKHEATH TO THE CLOCK TOWER. 
HERE are few places that can show a richer record 
of historical interest than Blackheath. Its ample 
SEO extent, its proximity to London, and the ancient 
hk }Oty homes of our kings at Eltham and Greenwich 
a Sav. have all combined to make it the meeting ground 
yer’ of royalist and rebel alike, the scene of fights 
real and mimic, of encampments without number, and pageants 
connected with some of the most stirring events in the history of 
the country. It will then be a fitting place from which to start on 
our itinerary of the Borough of Lewisham, within the bounds of 
which the greater part of the Heath lies. 
The Hundred of Blackheath, which comprises the seven parishes 
in the north-west corner of Kent, is styled the Hundred of Grenviz 
or Greenwich in Domesday, but by the time of Edward I the title 
had been changed to that of Blackheath. The name has been 
variously derived from the colour of the soil—which seems rather 
fanciful—and its bleak situation, which is probably the more correct. 
It appears in early charters and court rolls as the Common ‘de la 
Blake Hethe.” On the Heath are various ill-defined mounds, 
which have been designated British, Saxon, Danish and Roman 
by various investigators. The mount known as Whitfield’s Mount 
has been thought by some to be a British burial place, but the 
whole surface of the Heath has been so continually disturbed from 
time to time, that it is almost impossible to assign any of the earth- 
works with certainty to a particular period. 
After crossing Shooters Hill the Roman Road, Watling Street, 
passed along what is now called the Old Dover Road, and crossed 
_ that part of the Heath now Greenwich Park. Here, along the edge 
of the road by Vanbrugh Park, and within the confines of Greenwich 
Park, Roman remains have been discovered, including portions of 
a villa excavated in 1903 by Mr. Herbert Jones, F.s.A.* The road 
probably passed down the slopes to Croom’s Hill (the name savours 
of a Celtic origin), and crossed the Ravensbourne near Creek 
* See an illustrated account in the ‘‘ Home Counties Magazine” of July, 1903. 
