Deptford Green, leading from the parish church to the Thames, was the centre of the original fishing village. The eighteenth century houses on the left were a rebuilding of a terrace that existed by 1623. St Nicholas's Church, seen in the background, was enlarged in 1697 in an attempt to keep pace with the growing population of the town, but the relief was temporary, and in 1717 work began on the much larger 'new church' of St Paul's. The building between the green and St Nicholas was Dr Breton's School, which was built in 1707 with funds left by a former vicar. It was Deptford's second charity school.
