SOUTH-EAST LONDON 217 



spaces that touch or abut on streets, or rows of 

 houses, we find that South London, from east 

 to west, exceeds North London in length, the 

 distance from Plum stead andBostellto Kew and 

 Old Deer Park being about nineteen miles as the 

 crow flies. Not, however, as the London crow 

 flies when travelling up and down river between 

 these two points, as his custom is : following 

 the Thames in its windings, his journey each way 

 would not be a less distance than twenty-seven 

 to twenty-eight miles. At the eastern end of 

 South London we find that the open spaces, from 

 Bostell to Greenwich, lie near the river ; that 

 from Greenwich the line of open spaces diverges 

 wide from the river, and, skirting the densely 

 populated districts, extends southwards through 

 a hilly country to Brockwell and Sydenham. 

 On the west side, or the other half of South 

 London (the South-west district), the open 

 spaces are, roughly speaking, ranged in a 

 similar way ; but they are more numerous, 

 larger, and extend for a much greater distance 

 along the river — in fact, from Richmond and 

 Kew to Battersea Park. There the line ends, the 

 other open spaces being scattered about at a 

 considerable distance from the river. Thus we 



