Saxon Catford

Catford probably meant 'ford near which wild cats were seen'.

Medieval Catford

1254 Mention of Catford.

1311 Mention of Cateforde.

Tudor Catford

15?? Queen Elizabeth said to have stayed at Place House on Catford Hill.

Stuart Catford

Catford a small scattered hamlet, wooded and waterlogged with some farming.

Georgian Catford

1800 Topographical Map Of The Country Twenty Miles Round London (south-east)                 

1830s Georgian development around Ravensbourne Park (only Nos 3-7, 11-15 and 60-62 remain).

Victorian Catford

1857 Catford Bridge railway station opened on the Mid Kent railway line.

1860s Stanford’s Map of London & Suburbs (Catford section). Map has much local detail.

1870s Brownhill Road (now part of the South Circular) built after the removal of Priory Farm. 1905 photo:

1875 Lewisham Town Hall built. Designed by George Elkington (demolished 1968).

Late C19 Streets built radiating from Rushey Green.

1886 Catford Cycling Club established.

1892 Catford railway station opened by London, Dover and Chatham Railway.

1897 Black Horse pub rebuilt at 167 Rushey Green.

1890s Forster family, Lewisham's largest landowners, began to develop their farmland in the south of Catford.

Edwardian Catford

1908 Bartholomew's Handy Reference Atlas Of London & Suburbs (Catford section). Much local detail shown.                            

1910 Tinted postcard of Rushey Green

1911 Lewisham Hippodrome opened at 133-5 Rushey Green. Designed by Frank Matcham (1854-1920). (more info)

1913 Queens Hall (later Gaumont) opened at 141-145 Rushey Green (more info).
Central Hall Picture House opened at 1 Bromley Road (more info).

1914 Rushey Green

Southend Hall leased by Henry William Forster (1866-1936) to the Britannia Film Company.

Interwar Catford

1922 Bellingham Open Air Baths opened near Bellingham Station.

Forster Memorial Park bequethed by Henry William Forster, MP in memory of his sons who died in WW1. Located between Bellingham Road and Whitefoot Lane.

1923 London County Council' built the Bellingham Estate. The estate was funded by the Addison scheme, which subsidised 'homes for heroes' after World War One.

1929 Bellingham Estate extended on Brookhowse Road.

1932 New Town hall Hall opened with concert hall (now Broadway Theatre) on Rushey Green. Architects: Bradshaw, Gass & Hope.
Central Hall Picture House, 1 Bromley Road renamed Plaza (more info).

1933 Catford Greyhound Stadium opened on Adenmore Road.

1937 Southend Hall demolished so that Whitefoot Lane could be widened and straightened.
Plaza cinema at 1 Bromley Road now an ABC (more info).

WW2 Catford

1943 Sandhurst Road school attacked by German plane - 38 children & six teachers killed. 

Postwar Catford

1945-1946 The Excalibur Estate constructed (189 prefabs) on part of Forster Memorial Park by German and Italian prisoners of war to alleviate housing shortage after the war. Expected to stand for ten years but in fact lasted until early C21.

194? Peter Pans Pool Playground opened on the junction of Bromley Road and Beckenham Hill Road.  The children's amusement park is now a superstore) with lake intact.

c1950 Greyhound Stadium.

1952 Hippodrome re-opened by Hyam’s brothers as Eros Cinema (more info)

1960 Photos of Catford
Gaumont and Eros (formerly Lewisham Hippodrome) cinemas demolished (more info)..

1962 Eros House office block opened at at the junction of Rushey Green and Brownhill Road. Designed by Owen Luder (1928-2021) with Rodney Gordon (1933-2008).

1968 Old Vestry demolished next to Lewisham Town hall.

??

Church of St Lawrence demolished.

New Church of St Lawrence opened at 37 Bromley Road. Designed by Ralph Covell (1911–1988).

1974 Catford Shopping Centre built by Owen Luder.

2003 Catford Greyhound Stadium closed down.

2015 Demolition of prefabs on Excalibur Estate began film.

Book List:

Discover Sydenham and Catford - Darrell Spurgeon (1999 Greenwich Guide Books)