Welcome to the  Brockley Society

Local history

Please scroll down for local history and memories from our local residents

 

Archive Footage of London

As part of their range of DVDs using archive cine film, Totally Archive has just released a film entitled “London In The 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s” It is a mixture of professional and amateur, black/white and colour footage of the period and lasts for approximately an hour.
Scenes include Croydon Airport, London Zoo and docks, wartime bomb damage, victory celebrations, shots of the West End and many other shots.
More details can be seen on www.totallyarchive.co.uk where you can access clips that have been uploaded to YouTube
The DVDs use totally archive film and are not padded out with contemporary footage or still photos/postcards etc. and cost £12.99p including P+P.
For more information  call Mick Hymans on 01323 641 604 or email him at hymans@btinternet.com.
 

Brockley – 1000 years of history.

By Des Kirkland

Very little is known of mediaeval Brockley. There has been occupation of the area by the Anglo-Saxons since about 952AD and was known by them as ‘Brocele’. The name comes from Old English and may have meant OBroca's Wood or Grove. This is due to the fact that the area was mainly woodland and the only large clearing was the area surrounding the brook, the perfect location to found a settlement. In addition to the brook a well was later dug in what is now Mantle Road and most likely sited underneath or adjacent to John Stainer School.

Click here for full article
 

Personal reminiscences: A Small Boy in Brockley

By David Lefever

 

I lived in 67 Sprules Road from when I was born in 1943 until 1954 when my parents moved to Biggin Hill. My Mother and Father bought the house before the war; unusual for a working class couple from Peckham. I have been looking through my Fathers old letters and I believe it would have cost them around £500. My Aunt Daisy and Uncle Fred Wilson lived in the upper part of the house. When my parents moved, they bought it and continued to live there until the late 1960's. They then followed my Father to Norfolk.

Click here for full article

 

Personal reminiscences: Boyhood Memories of Hilly Fields Crescent

by David Rayner

 

Although I was born in Romford, in December 1945, my first permanent home was No. 2, Hilly Fields Crescent. The house, which belonged to my grandmother, was badly damaged by a V1 which exploded nearby in July 1944. Once repaired it provided a home for my parents and myself upstairs, my Uncle and Aunt downstairs on one side of the hall, and my grandmother had the two rooms on the other side.

Click here for full article.

 

 

David and his mother, 1948 and David and his sister Penny, 1953

 

If you're interested in local history across the UK, you might want to look at www.britishlocalhistory.co.uk.

 

Some of Brockley's famous residents, past and present

 

Danny Baker (Broadcaster)

Patrick Baladi (Actor)

Rosie Barnes (Former Lib Dem Greenwich MP)

Michael Bray (Film Director)

June Brown (Actress- ‘Dot Cotton’ Eastenders)

Alan Brownjohn (Poet & Novelist)

Biddi Bunzl (Artist/Painter)

Kate Bush (Singer/Song-writer)

John Cale (Singer- Velvet Underground)

James Callaghan (Labour Prime Minister)

Francis Chappell (Founder of Chappell’s undertakers)

Lorraine Chase (Singer/Actress)

Sir James Clark-Ross (Polar explorer)

"Big" Jim Connell (Socialist)

Emily Davidson (Suffragette-died at Epsom racecourse)

Ernest Dowson (Poet)

Alfred "Titch" Freeman (Cricketer)

Gabrielle (Singer/Song-writer)

Sir Isaac Hayward (Politician)

Matt Hales (Singer- Aqualung)

Glenda Jackson MP (Politician & Actress)

David Jones (Painter & Poet)

Mathew Kelly (Actor)

Lillie Langtrey (Actress/mistress of Edward VII)

Marie Lloyd (Music Hall Star)

David Lodge (Writer)

Spike Milligan (Comedian & Writer)

Gary Oldman (Actor)

Mica Paris (Singer/Song-writer)

Sybil Pheonix MBE (community worker)

Tim Roth (Actor)

Peter Searles (Actor/Storyteller)

Leo Stevenson (Artist/Sculpture)

Doris Stokes (Medium)

Chris Tarrant (Broadcaster)

Bobby Valentino (Singer/Songwriter- The Bluebells)

Max Wall (Comedian)

Edgar Wallace (Writer)

Sir Barnes Wallis (Inventor of the Bouncing Bomb)

Tim Wanstall (singer- Athlete)

Ian Wright (Footballer)

Henry Williamson (Writer)