Herbert Wood Ltd – Coffee Roaster & Tea Merchant’s factory, Brockley Cross. Partially demolished and replaced by the Tea Factory development.
On Tuesday April 20 2021, for our regular Open Meeeting we were very fortunate to be able to host ‘Made in Lewisham (or very near)’ – a talk by the esteemed industrial archaeologist and local resident Prof David Perrett.
Owing to its proximity to Deptford and the River Thames, throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Lewisham had a thriving industrial base. Sadly now almost entirely gone, this included heavy industrial manufacturers of warships, ship propellers and railway locomotives; lighter industrial manufacturers of instruments and cameras, and the wide range of food- and drink-related businesses that formed a vital part of a rapidly growing suburb of London. Vestiges of this heritage remain in the form of street names and a handful of original buildings.
David has kindly allowed us to host a PDF (56 pages) of his presentation. Although it lacks much of the detail of his discussion, it does include many fascinating images and provides a great overview and introduction to this often-overlooked facet of our local history.
David Perrett is currently Chair of the Association for Industrial Archaeology (AIA).