Deptford Dockyard

Deptford Dockyard was an important naval dockyard and base at Deptford on the River Thames, in what is now the London Borough of Lewisham, operated by the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It built and maintained warships for 350 years, and many significant events and ships have been associated with it.

Founded by Henry VIII in 1513, the dockyard was the most significant royal dockyard of the Tudor period and remained one of the principal naval yards for three hundred years. Important new technological and organisational developments were trialled here, and Deptford came to be associated with the great mariners of the time, including Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh. The yard expanded rapidly throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, encompassing a large area and serving for a time as the headquarters of naval administration, and became the Victualling Board's main depot. Tsar Peter the Great visited the yard officially incognito in 1698 to learn shipbuilding techniques. Reaching its zenith in the eighteenth century, it built and refitted exploration ships used by Cook, Vancouver and Bligh, and warships which fought under Nelson.

Deptford

Coordinates: 51°28′41″N 0°01′35″W / 51.4780°N 0.0265°W / 51.4780; -0.0265

Deptford (/ˈdɛtfəd/) is an area of South-East London, England, located mainly within the London Borough of Lewisham and partly within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

From the mid-16th to the late 19th century, Deptford was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first Royal Navy Dockyard. The area declined as the Royal Navy moved out and commercial docks shut; the last dock, Convoys Wharf, closed in 2000.

Historically a part of Kent, Deptford became a Metropolitan Borough in 1900. This became part of Inner London in 1965, within the newly created county of Greater London.

History

Deptford began life as a ford of the Ravensbourne (near what is now Deptford Bridge DLR station) along the route of the Celtic trackway which was later paved by the Romans and developed into the medieval Watling Street. The modern name is a corruption of "deep ford". Deptford was part of the pilgrimage route from London to Canterbury used by the pilgrims in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and is mentioned in the Prologue to the "Reeve's Tale". The ford developed into first a wooden then a stone bridge, and in 1497 saw the Battle of Deptford Bridge, in which rebels from Cornwall, led by Michael An Gof, marched on London protesting against punitive taxes, but were soundly beaten by the King's forces.

Deptford Township, New Jersey

Deptford Township is a township in Gloucester County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 30,561, reflecting an increase of 3,798 (+14.2%) from the 26,763 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 2,626 (+10.9%) from the 24,137 counted in the 1990 Census.

Deptford was first formed on June 1, 1695, at which time it was known as Bethlehem. It was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798. Over the centuries, portions of the township were taken to create Washington Township (February 17, 1836), Woodbury Borough (March 27, 1854; now Woodbury City), West Deptford Township (March 1, 1871), Wenonah (March 10, 1883), Westville (April 7, 1914) and Woodbury Heights (April 6, 1915).

Deptford is a suburb of Philadelphia, located on the eastern side of the Walt Whitman Bridge, one conduit which joins southern New Jersey with Philadelphia. It is located 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Philadelphia and 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Atlantic City.

Deptford (UK Parliament constituency)

Deptford was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Deptford district of South London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election, when it was largely replaced by the new constituency of Lewisham Deptford.

Boundaries

1918-1974: The Metropolitan Borough of Deptford.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Election in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Election in the 1940s

Election in the 1930s

Election in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1880s

References