Brookmill (for Black and Green 2022)

 

I spent much of last year writing about the industries on Deptford Creek. I thought that now might be a good time to look at how many sites have been turned into places where people go and  have fun or relax.   Running towards Lewisham from Deptford Bridge is Brookmill Road which leads us past Brookmill Park,  and there is much of interest to see there in a beautiful setting.

‘Brookmill’ – the name itself is a clue to how the whole thing started.  Right back in the early 18^th century an old water mill on the River Ravensbourne site was taken over by a company to use as an early Water Works supplying fresh water to people in Greenwich and Deptford. This they did most successfully and wells in this area still supply much of the water we use today.

Over the years  the water works built reservoirs and then closed them and built new ones.  The first Brookmill  Park was opened in 1880 on the site on an old reservoir which had been filled in.  After the Second World War land was added from bomb sites along Brookmill Road and in 1951 it was renamed Ravensbourne Park and then, in 1965 it was taken over by the London Borough of Lewisham. In the 1990s it has been enlarged again following the building of the Docklands Light Railway and the area the water works used shrank. It was then renamed Brookmill Park.

As you walk through the park there are many features which have survived from the old waterworks. There is a beautiful garden with ponds, pergolas and flowerbeds which was originally part of the waterworks estate.  There is also part of an old reservoir which is now a small lake full of water birds.   There are details of what you can see in the park on the website of the Friends of Brookmill Park – and they also tell you about social events, and working parties in the park.  https://brookmillpark.deptfordcreek.net/

At the Lewisham end of the Park there is a footpath from near the Docklands Light Railway Station which goes into the park and up a slope.  This path follows an old railway line which used to go from Greenwich to Nunhead.  It continues the other side of Brookmill Road where there is another separate nature reserve – but this is not open for a the public just to wander in. 

Back in the park where the original waterwork senranx stood is now the Stephen Lawrence centre. This is a stunning nw building and as such a itting Memorial  to th murdered  teenager who was himself as aspirations to be an architect . The centre offerseducsational acilitids to tackle underachievement amomg  young peole.

Over the other side the river is the Janes Engunne Hiuse – th oe still remaining pumping station of the Brookmill waterworks.  Pumpin frin deeo wells Istill provides high quality water to great deal of out area as it has done for the last 300 years

A footpath and cycle path in the park are part of the Waterlink Way, which gors through Lewisham to Bromley. It is also called form part of National Cycle Route 21, which irs all he way from the River Thames to Eastbourne

park is just one example of how industrial buildings and sites to narrow having turned to positive leisure and educational use we should all go to the park please go to the park see the wildlife and the and learn something history of the how it came to look as it does today