130 BOROUGH OF LEWISHAM. 
The house immediately south of the preceding is described by 
Mr. Colfe as ‘‘a house and tan yard”; it was also part of the 
Valentine property, and was held of the Manor of Bankers and 
Shroffolds. This house was rebuilt at the end of the 18th century, 
and was latterly known as ‘‘ The Jasmines.” Together with the 
remaining part of the Colfe property adjoining it to the south, it 
was acquired in 1890 by the Lewisham Guardians for the enlarged 
Infirmary, and a house for the medical officer was built on the site. 
The site of the carriage entrance to the Infirmary, the’ In- 
firmary Office and part of the Infirmary frontage, was occupied by 
two old plastered houses—one known as ‘‘ Woodham’s” in 1845, 
from the-name of the occupier—and by Mr. Colfe’s Reading School. 
A view of Woodham’s house in given in Plate 57. 
The Reading School was founded by the Rev. Abraham Colfe 
about the*year 1652. It possibly preceded the opening of the 
Grammar School. It was intended to be what is now called a 
‘‘primary school,” but included the rudiments of Latin, and the 
Founder’s intention was that it should be a stepping stone for boys 
“of good wit” to the Grammar School, and thence to the Uni- 
versities. Thirty-one boys were to be freely instructed, the master 
being permitted to take others on his own terms. The school seems 
to have been conducted as desired by the Founder during the 17th 
century, and there are records of boys passing up to the Grammar 
School, but the system fell into decay in the latter half of the 18th 
century, and on the establishment of the Elementary Schools, sub- 
sequent to 1870, the school was closed. The site was granted for 
the Grammar School for Girls, but was sold in 1889 to the Guardians 
of the Lewisham Union for the Infirmary buildings. 
The Lewisham Infirmary and Workhouse have also absorbed 
the site of an interesting row of houses known as Exchequer Place, 
which extended from the Reading School up to, but not including, 
the site of the office of the Relieving Officer. The houses, which 
probably dated from about the year. 1700, were in two blocks, 
with an ancient timber house in the centre, as wiil be seen from 
Plate 58. 
No. 392 High Street is on the site of the house nearest to the 
reader in Plate 58, and to some extent reproduces the appearance 
of its predecessor. This little row of houses was one of the most 
picturesque in the village, and one cannot but regret that the 
necessary enlargement of the Workhouse entailed its removal. 
When the first Workhouse was erected in Lewisham we have 
no record. The altered condition of things in the middle of the 
16th century, made some systematic provision for the poor essential. 
This was at first met from the ‘‘poor men’s box” in the parish 
church, but it was soon found that the State would have to make 
the care of the poor a compulsory matter, and in 1601 the basis of 
the present poor law system was laid. The early records of the 
Overseers for Lewisham were destroyed in the fire at Lewisham 
Church in 1831, except one book now at the Town Hall, which 
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