Sayes Court

Coordinates: 51°29′06″N 0°01′44″W / 51.484941°N 0.028790°W / 51.484941; -0.028790

Located in Deptford, in the London Borough of Lewisham on the Thames Path and in the former parish of St Nicholas, Sayes Court once attracted throngs to visit its celebrated garden created by the seventeenth century diarist John Evelyn. Now completely buried beneath Convoys Wharf and the rundown and vandalised Sayes Court Park, the area shows little sign of its former glory, despite having been a key factor in the creation of the National Trust.

History

The Earliest Information

The Manor of Deptford, also known as West Greenwich was bestowed upon Gilbert de Magminot or Maminot by William the Conqueror and this is where he held the head of the barony of Maminot. In 1814 John Lyon wrote that Maminot built a castle, or castellated mansion, for himself at Deptford. Lyon noted that all traces had by then long since been buried in their ruins, but from the remains of some ancient foundations which had been discovered, the site was probably on the brow of Broomfield, near the Mast Dock and adjacent to Sayes Court.