62 BOROUGH OF LEWISHAM. 
which resulted by 1695 in nearly the present boundaries at Van- 
brugh Terrace and St. Germans Place, whilst on the western side, 
at the top of Blackheath Hill, the houses at Dartmouth Row were 
built about 1680, so that roughly the Heath had assumed its 
present shape by the last-named date. The houses were, how- 
ever, almost entirely confined to those in Dartmouth Row, for 
St. Germans Place and Montpelier Row are quite a century later, 
and those in Vanbrugh Terrace and Shooters Hill Road are later 
still, so that in the 18th century there were some four miles of open 
heath and country between Woolwich and Lewisham. The maps 
of Blackheath of 1695 and 1745 show very clearly how few houses 
then existed, and enable us to understand how highway robberies 
were possible with little risk to the “ gentlemen of the road.” 
The most conspicuous objects on the Heath from the 17th 
century onwards must have been the windmills, of which four 
appeared to have existed at one time or another. Of these the 
oldest was situated at the top of Lewisham Hill, where Holly 
Hedge House (the Territorial Force Headquarters) now stands. 
This mill is shown on the maps of 1695 and 1745, and in the latter 
map another mill is shown a little to the west at the top of Morden 
Hill. This is the mill which is apparently shown in the picture 
entitled, ‘‘ A view of Blackheath towards Lewisham,” engraved by 
J. Couse, who flourished about 1750 (Plate 12). The mills are 
mentioned in the parish registers, entries occuring as follows :-— 
Burials— 1716, Sept. 15. Mr. Thomas Baizdon, miller on Blackheath. 
1722, March 2. Elizabeth, wife of James Marlow, from the Wind- 
mill, Blackheath. 
1734, Aug. 1. Elizabeth Saxby, from the Windmill. 
1737, Oct. 30. William Baizdon, miller from Blackheath. 
Baptisms—1738, Nov. 26. Jane, daughter of John Lamer, from Blackheath 
Windmill. 
1741, Nov. 29. John, son of Wm. Hubbert, from Windmill, Black- 
heath. 
These two seem to have disappeared by the end of the century, 
and others were erected near the centre of the Heath, one where 
Mill House now stands, and another close by on the ground now 
occupied by Talbot Place. Of these two mills several drawings 
were made. The earliest in date was published by Carrington 
Bowles in 1770. It is entitled, “‘A view of a Windmill near Black- 
heath by moonlight” (Plate 13), and is one of a series of six views 
of this neighbourhood, each bearing titles in English and French. 
There is a view shewing both mills, etched by S. Prout, R.A., dated 
1815 (Plate 14). Another view, also reproduced here, occurs in 
‘‘ Blackheath, a poem,” by Noble, published in 1810 (Plate 15). A 
sketch made by Sir John Gilbert shows both the mills (a copy of 
this is in the possession of Mr. H. T. Wood, of Hollington). 
The view by Noble shows very clearly the gorse which then 
covered the Heath, and which is said to have been largely destroyed 
in 1821, when it was set on fire as an illumination in honour of 
Queen Caroline. 
