I had planned to do something else today – but after the discussion about street by street history in Greenwich the other day, when Jim was asking about Woodlands Grove, Neil Rhind has sent me the most extraordinary picture which I just had to share with you.

It’s from 1906 and given the angle and height, I’m guessing it was taken from the scaffolding around the chimneys on the power station which was being built at the time.

It shows the area around Trafalgar Road, Maze Hill station and, in the background, Vanbrugh Hill. I had to reduce the quality to make it fit online but if you click on it you should still get a decent sized image.

What surprises me is how much I just don’t recognise. I guess two world wars and the 1960s have been and gone but even so I’d have expected more landmarks from somewhere that I hadn’t thought of of as having had that much development.

The best way to orient yourself is to find the railway track and Maze Hill sation which, of course, was a much bigger deal back then. From there you can shift down the image to the area north of that towards Trafalgar Road (the pub no longer exists of course, and it looks as though Hardy’s used to be the Bricklayer’s Arms) or allow your eye to travel left along the track past the not-there-yet nurses’ home to find Vanbrugh Hill, with Dinsdale and Humber Roads clear to view.

The Westcombe Woodlands is quite clear in this picture, though you can’t see Vanbrugh Castle. I particularly like the Indian teepee in the back garden of the house down the bottom right, presmumably not being played in by the little girls dotted around the roads in spotless white dresses.

I have no idea whether this image actually belongs to anyone else but I owe Neil a huge ‘thank you.’ It’s one of the most fascinating photographs I’ve ever seen of the area.



Van Hill 1906 very low

