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Blackheath in Kent County England History and GeographyBLACKHEATH, a village situated within the parishes of GREENWICH, LEWISHAM, and LEE, in the hundred of BLACKHEATH, lathe of SUTTON at HONE, county of KENT, 5 miles (S.E.) from London, on the road to Dover. This place, which takes its name either from the colour of the soil, or from the bleakness of its situation, prior to the erection of the numerous villas with which it abounds, was the scene of many important political transactions. In 1011, the Danes having landed at Greenwich, encamped on the heath, and among other barbarities, put to death Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had refused to sanction their extortions, and who was afterwards canonized. In the reign of Richard II., the insurgents under Wat Tyler, amounting to one hundred thousand men, took up their station here, whence they marched to London. In 1400, Henry IV. held an interview at this place with the Emperor of Constantinople, who came to solicit aid against Bajazet, Emperor of the Turks; and in 1415, the lord mayor and aldermen of London, in their robes of state, attended by four hundred of the principal citizens, clothed in scarlet, came hither in procession to meet Henry V., on his triumphant return after the battle of Agincourt. In 1451, Henry VI. met many of the followers of Jack Cade, who submitted to his authority, and on their knees implored and obtained his pardon; and here, the following year, that monarch assembled his forces to oppose Richard, Duke of York, who aspired to the throne. In 1497, the Cornish rebels, headed by Lord Audley, who had advanced into Kent, encamped near Eltham, and awaited the approach of Henry VII., on whose arrival a battle ensued, on the 22d of July, in which the insurgents were defeated, and their leader, together with two of his associates who had excited the rebellion, taken and executed. In 1519, Campejo, the Pope's legate, was received here in great state by the Duke of Norfolk, with a numerous retinue of bishops, knights, and gentlemen, who conducted him to a magnificent tent of cloth of gold, whence, after having arrayed himself in his cardinal's robes, he proceeded to London; and, at this place, in 1540, Henry VIII. appointed an interview with Anne of Cleves, previously to their marriage, which was celebrated with great pomp in the chapel at Greenwich. Blackheath is pleasantly situated on an elevated spot, commanding diversified and extensive views of the surrounding country, which is richly cultivated, and abounds with fine scenery, in which Greenwich. Hospital, the park, and the river Thames, are prominent objects. There are many elegant villas, among which the Paragon, a beautiful range of building, is eminently conspicuous: on the west, and within the park, is the residence of the Princess Sophia of Gloucester, formerly occupied by the Duchess of Brunswick: the mansion in which the Princess of Wales resided has been lately taken down; and the seat of Sir Gregory Page, the noblest ornament of the heath, was rased to the ground in 1787, by the different purchasers, to whom it was sold in lots by public auction; its site, now called Park-road, is occupied by handsome cottages. There are two episcopal chapels, one on that part of the heath which is in the parish of Lewisham, and the other at Kidbrook, an extra-parochial district on the north side of the heath, built by Dr. Greenlaw. The free grammar-school, for thirty-one boys of Lewisham and the adjoining parishes, and for the sons of all the clergy in the hundred of Blackheath, was founded by the Rev. Abraham Colfe, vicar of Lewisham, who erected the premises in 1652, and at his death, in 1656, bequeathed the greater part of his estate in land, and £1100 in money, in trust to the Leather-sellers' Company, for its endowment, and for other charitable uses. The income is £342. 15. 6 per annum: the master, who is allowed to take twenty-six boarders, receives about £40 per annum, and resides in the house free of rent; the instruction of the free scholars is now confined to English and writing. There were seven exhibitions, of £10 cach per annum, to either of the Universities; but from a failure in the funds appropriated to that use, they have been for some years discontinued. A British school for boys, and several small schools, are also supported by the liberal benevolence of the resident gentry. Morden College, a noble institution for the support of decayed merchants in the decline of life, was founded by Sir John Morden, Bart., an opulent Turkey merchant, in 1695, who endowed it with the manor of Old Court, producing £1600 per annum: the establishment consists of thirty brethren, a chaplain, and a treasurer; and the management is vested in seven trustees, who must be either Turkey merchants, or Directors of the East India Company. The premises, which occupy a spacious quadrangle, are handsomely built of brick, with quoins and cornices of stone, and are surrounded with a piazza: over the entrance are statues of the founder and his lady, whose portraits are in the hall; and in the chapel are the arms of Sir John, who was interred there in 1708. At the distance of two or three hundred yards north of Blackheath-hill, a cavern, containing several apartments, was discovered in 1780: it is supposed to have been formed as a place of security during the Saxon and Danish contests, but every attempt to explore it has been frustrated, from the falling in of the earth, and nothing has yet been found to illustrate its history. The Watling-street, or Roman road from London to Dover, which passed over the heath, may still be traced; and in 1710, several Roman urns were dug up, two of which were of fine red clay, one of a spherical, and the other of a cylindrical form: the former, about two feet in diameter, contained ashes, and was rudely inscribed, near the mouth, with the words 'Marcus Aurelius IIII;' the latter, eighteen inches in height, contained ashes and some coins, on which, though much obliterated, the names of the emperors Claudius and Gallienus were legible. In 1803, several urns were also discovered in the gardens of the Earl of Dartmouth, about a foot below the surface of the ground, which were presented by his lordship to the British Museum. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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