Creek Road is now part of a major highway between Greenwich and Deptford, linking North West Kent to central London running parallel to the river in south London and which crosses Deptford creek as the main obstacle on its route. Until the early 19th century this route did not really exist except as a series minor roads. Paterson’s Roads, which detailed routes throughout the country, ignores it as a way between London and Greenwich even in revised versions of the 1820s. In its earliest days it was called ‘Bridge Street”.
Over the years before 1800 there had been talk of a crossing of Deptford Creek on the site of what is now Creek Road bridge. In 1754 there was a newspaper report of a plan to place a stone bridge over the creek reached by a new road running off the Deptford Turnpike Road- thats the Roman road we now know as the A2.. It was hoped to provide a route which would avoid the long climb up Shooters Hill which the Roman road follows.
It appears that a ferry across the Creek near the site of the later bridge was also established in 1754 but just over twenty years later, in 1777 there were requests for a Parliamentary debate and a possible enabling Bill for a ‘new road from the foot of London Bridge to Woolwich via Deptford creek”. ,. And it was said it would be as ‘pleasant a road as any in the kingdom’.
The ferry crossed here from the 1754 It was said to have been set up by the father of a Mary Metcalf who was the landowner on the Greenwich side of the Creek. He had entered into an agreement with the landowner on the other side and then handed it to ‘watermen’ for management. It was called Greenwich Sunday Ferry – not all watermen’s stairs were licenced for use on a Sunday and by calling it Sunday meant that it ran on that day too. The ferry ran slightly down-creek of the current bridge going from the Hoy Inn stairs to a set of stairs on the Greenwich bank almost opposite.
The ferry was still in use in 1804 when Elizabeth Pearson recorded in her diary “Mother, Clara and I to Greenwich, at 4 o’clock Bromley Stage to Deptford. Walked thence to the Creek and ferried over to our house”. ‘Our house’ was Ravensbourne House in what is now the area of the Tarves Estate.
When the bridge was eventually built disputes arose with the watermen and over any rights held by Miss Mecalf – who was by then ‘lunatic’ and represented by a ‘committee’. They made the case that she was entitled to some money from the tolls levied at the new bridge and a writ of mandamus was issued. This was an instruction to a public body to undertake a certain action or task. Following a vast amount of legal argument Miss Metcalf’s Committee lost.
In the late 1790s a company was floated to build a bridge over the Creek on the alignment of what is now Creek Road. This was to raise £25,000 in 500 shares at £50 each. In July 1803 an Act was agreed by Parliament “for building a bridge over the River Ravensbourne at or near its mouth or outlet into the River Thames in the County of Kent and for making and maintaining proper approaches thereto’. This was initially to be a tolled timber footbridge and work began to be done on acquiring the necessary raw materials. I assume also that the new Company purchased land alongside the approaches to the new bridge.
In October 1805 at ‘2 o’clock in the afternoon’ the Committee of Proprietors of the Bridge held a ceremony to open the bridge. The event took place before a ‘great concourse of spectators’.
In 1815 a more permanent structure was built, which would carry vehicles and thus replaced the footbridge. It was 25 feet 6 inches between the parapets at the ends and narrowed toads the centre to 15 feet, which included a 7-foot carriageway. It was still not adequate for the traffic it had to carry and in, 1881; the carriageway was widened to 16 feet with 5-foot wide footpaths. However it could only carry vehicles of less than 8 tons. This must have been a lifting bridge although descriptions of this seem to be hard to find. A print of 1841 shows its approach from Deptford which is modest enough with small plain parapets and a little tollhouse o the south of the road from Deptford.
An incident of 1861 might be mentioned in respect of the tolls. This concerned the 8th Kent (Blackheath) Artillery Volunteers, (dare I suggest that rather than the real army they were gents in smart uniforms out for a ‘field day’).. They turned up at the bridge and said they were the military and thus exempt from paying tolls. They were later charged with ‘evading the toll payable by foot passengers .. and also with assaulting the collector’ . The collector had asked how many were there – and was told 15. He opened the gate and the Captain yelled ‘Charge’ and they all galloped though the gate followed by about 300 ‘followers of the camp’- the Sergeant yelling at them ‘Now, quick double march, one, two” The collector approached the Captain whose busby then fell off and as a result the Sergeant knocked the collector to the ground, holding his drawn sword to his neck. (Jury reported by then to be falling off their benches laughing). The band which accompanied the soldiers was playing “See the Conquering Hero Comes’. The ensuing case concerned whether or not volunteer soldiers counted as soldiers in cases – like the bridge – where the military were exempt from tolls. The assault charge was not proceeded with.
The tolls were eventually abolished when the bridge was acquired by the Metropolitan Board of Works in March 1880. In 1909 the London County Council built an electric tramway using a conduit system along Creek Road and thus needed to widen the bridge. Work began in 1910 and completed in 1913. It was 45 foot wide between the parapets and had a 33-foot carriageway. There was an opening span of 60 feet and a fixed span on the east side of 27 feet 2 inches.
On the 8th September, 1940, the bridge was severely damaged by enemy bombing. The eastern bascule moved bodily laterally and forward. The river pier was badly shattered, the eastern abutment damaged, and there was a hole in the deck of the fixed span. The two leaves of the bridge were fastened together and it became a fixed structure. This meant it could be used by road traffic but the creek could not be used by vessels with masts. Shipping interests pressed for an opening span but it remained a fixed structure. However The London County Council was under a statutory obligation to maintain it as an opening bridge and eventually work began on a new bridge
Before demolition of the old bridge began was commenced a temporary bridge, was built upstream of the old bridge
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The new bridge was founded on reinforced concrete piles driven into a dense stratum of Thanet Sand. The moving parts consist of three main steel girders carrying the deck. The abutments are in mass concrete, brick faced, with brick pilasters and stone and rest on steel quadrants which roll on tracks. The bridge is electrically operated, and I have always understood that it is operated by staff from the team at the Blackwall tunnel.
In April 1954 an opening ceremony was opeomed Mr. Hugh Molson, Parliamentary Secretary, at the Ministry of Transport (he was a Tory and a friend of Evelyn Waugh who saw him a a figure of ‘louche daring’). He cut a ribbon at the approach to the bridge, and then, accompanied by London County Council and local officials, walked to the control room to inspect the machinery. Within three minutes of the two leaves were raised in order to allow the passage through the Creek of the firefloat Massey Shaw. This led to the local paper headlining ‘A VETERAN OF DUNKIRK TAKES PART IN THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE NEW BRIDGE AT DEPTFORD CREEK.’ Firefloat Massey Shaw, as I am sure everyone knows is still around, albeit now owned by a charity and until recenty led the flotilla of small boat across the channel
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