202 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



the high ground beyond stood a windmill, the remains of 

 which are embedded in the Windmill Tavern. 



The next common west of Plumstead, is Woolwich, 

 maintained by the War Office and given up to military 

 exercises. The extent is 159 acres. It is so much 

 absorbed by the requirements of the War Office that it 

 cannot be classed among London's playgrounds. 



Going westward, the next large space is Blackheath, 

 whose history is wrapped up with that of Greenwich, 

 the beautiful Greenwich Park having once been part of 

 the Heath. It is high ground, for the most part bare of 

 trees, and with roads intersecting it — one of them, the 

 old Roman Watling Street. The wild, bare summit of 

 the Heath was a dangerous place for travellers, and many 

 was the highway robbery committed there in times past. 

 It is of very large extent, some 267 acres, and has been 

 effectually preserved for public use, for some thirty-five 

 years, since early in the Seventies. 



The Heath has played its part in history — gay scenes, 

 such as when the Mayor and aldermen of London flocked, 

 with a great assemblage, to welcome Henry V. after the 

 battle of Agincourt, or more ominous and hostile de- 

 monstrations, as when Wat Tyler collected his followers 

 there, or when Jack Cade, some seventy years later, did 

 the same thing. A few fine old eighteenth-century houses 

 still stand on the edge of the Heath, and an avenue, 

 " Chesterfield Walk," perpetuates the name of one of 

 the distinguished residents. Morden College, at the 

 south-east corner of the Heath, is a fine old building 

 of Wren's design, founded by Sir John Morden, for 

 merchants trading with the East who, through unforeseen 

 accidents, had lost their fortunes. 



To the west of Blackheath there v/as once a Deptford 



