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Black and White photograph showing rear view of John Evelyn School

Black and White photograph showing rear view of John Evelyn School, from Evelyn Street

Black and White Photograph of Kane Memorial Hall

There was little need for state education in Forest Hill during the 19th century, when the numerous private schools catered for the middle classes and the church schools for the working classes. However, the many smaller houses built south of Stanstead Road in the 1890s, of which these in Elsinore Road are typical, overstreched the churches. The London County Council stepped in with the Kilmorie Road School, built in 1903. It was damaged during World War II, but has been restored.

The last substantial part of Forest Hill to be built was the area between Stanstead Road and Perry Hill, which was the furthest from the station. Kilmorie Road, seen here, dates from the 1890s, when modest terraces had become the standard, rather than the detached and semi-detached houses of Forest Hill's more oppulent days. The view is towards Stanstead Road.

Black and white Photograph of Knapton & Sons, oil and colour specialists, no. 401, High Street. Shop exterior shows a profusion of wares. A commercial handcart is standing at the kerb and a request car stop sign is displayed on a lampost. 1912

Knapton & Sons, Perry Hill c.1912

The Ladywell Baths were built in 1884 in deep red brick, with their own well (not far from the original Lady Well). The Coroner's Court (far left) was built 10 years later in 1894 also from red brick. Both buildings were needed to serve the expanding population. The baths closed in 1965 when the Leisure Centre opened; the tower has lost its cap (in 1907-8) and the building's future is uncertain.

The photograph shows Ladywell Bridge, which crosses the Ravensbourne river and the railway, before it was widened in 1937 - 1938. The first road bridge over the river was built in 1830 and extended to cover the railway in 1856. Before 1830 there was a footbridge only, and vehicles forded the Ravensbourne. The houses on the right were built in 1858, the year after the opening of Ladywell Station.

Black and White postcard showing the view of Lewisham Hospital from Ladywell Fields

Ladywell Fields, formerly called (and still well known locally as) Ladywell Recreation Ground, was purchased for a public open space in 1889, to serve the growing population of Lewisham and Catford. The land had been water meadows, and much work on flood prevention had to be done before the park could be opened to the public. Six of these rustic bridges were built across the Ravensbourne to link the two sides of the park.

Black and White photo of the opening of Ladywell Lodge by the Prince of Wales, 1900