DEPTFORD 23 



VI 



When the old coachmen had got through New Cross 

 Gate, which stood where the " ^larquis of Granby " 

 occupies the junction of the Deptford and Lewisham 

 roads, they found themselves in the country, with 

 Deptford, a busy but small and compact place, yet 

 some distance ahead. Also, they had entered the 

 county of Kent. Nowadays, it is difficult for the 

 uninstructed to tell where New Cross ends or Deptford 

 begins, for there is never a break in the houses all the 

 way, while the street presents no attractions whatever ; 

 and even though the " good view of part of the 

 Greenwich Railway, the carriages of which may be 

 seen in motion to and fro " (a view which the local 

 guide-book, published in 1837, considered worthy a 

 visit from London), remains to this day, together 

 with several other railways to keep it company, one 

 does not find crowds of visitors hanging on the delirious 

 delights of the several New Cross stations. 



The Deptford of to-day is no place for the pilgrim. 

 Instead of reminiscences of Kenilworth and Queen 

 Elizabeth, of Drake and Peter the Great, it is rich 

 in " stores " and " emporiums." A workhouse stands 

 where Sayes Court afforded shelter under its roof, 

 and amusement in its gardens, for the Czar ; the 

 Trinity House of Deptford Strond has been removed 

 to Tower Hill ; and perhaps the most remarkable 

 thing in modern Deptford is the Foreign Cattle Market. 

 And yet here Elizabeth knighted Francis Drake, 

 in 1581, on that good ship the Golden Hind, in which 

 he had '' compassed the world " ; and here, on a site 

 now occupied by cattle and by business premises, was 

 the greatest dockyard in England at the most inter- 

 esting period of English naval history. 



It was at Deptford, they say, in 1593, that 

 Christopher Marlowe, that bright particular star of 

 poesy, was slain, while yet in his thirtieth year. AVe 



