Lewisham Heritage

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Lewisham Heritage

Lewisham Heritage is the official archive for the London Borough of Lewisham. Lewisham Heritage is part of Lewisham Council and its library service.

Lewisham Heritage (formerly the Lewisham Local History & Archives) is the place to find out about Lewisham's History.

27/07/2026

This large volume by Dr T Sriskandarajah gives an insight into the development and construction of the Sri Sivan Temple located on Clarendon Rise, Lewisham.

Extract from Chapter Two: Initiation of a Place of Workshop for Lord Siva in Lewisham, London.

"(Hindus), particularly Sri-Lankans started to travel to the United Kingdom in search of higher education and professional employment in significant numbers during the 1960s and 70s. It is worth noting that most of the Sri-Lankans who came for higher education in engineering and science to UK first arrived in Lewisham, London.

The South East London Technical College was a reputable institution in the 1970s/80s and was able to provide admissions for Sri-Lankans in engineering and science courses. Many Tamils who migrated earlier settled in Lewisham and surrounding areas and were able to help newly arriving Sri-Lankans. In the 1980's/90's a large number of displaced Tamils came to the United Kingdom and a fair proportion of those people settled in Lewisham and surrounding areas.

Most of the Sri-Lankan population in Lewisham and surrounding areas were Tamil and Saivite (Hindu) i.e. followed the Saiva tradition of religious worship. Once the people had settled, they commenced looking for a place of worship to fulfil their religious and cultural needs. As there were no temples available in Lewisham and the surrounding areas, Saivites started to travel to Wimbledon Shree Ghanapathy Temple, Archway and East Ham Murugan Temples in North London and East London respectively.

Sri-Lankan Tamils who came to South-East London [... ] were keen to create a local place of worship for the Hindu community [...]. In the summer of 1993 I came to know that a group of nine Saivites in Lewisham and surrounding areas had united in establishing a place of worship for Lord Siva and Parvathy Amman in Lewisham within the next few months..."

View the volume by appointment at our Catford Library Reading Room. Use the links in our bio to book an appointment or get in touch.

23/07/2026

Kamal Chunchie (1886-1953) was a pastor and anti-racist community activist known for supporting the marginalised people of London’s East End. For a period from 1933, Chunchie lived and worked from his home on Marischal Road, Lewisham, as this rate book entry shows.

Read more from English Heritage below:

Kamal Chunchie was born in Kandy, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), on 4 June 1886. He made his way to England in 1916, joining the British Army. He served […] until August 1919, when he chose to remain in London. By this time, he had converted from Islam to Christianity. He became a speaker, preacher, and pastor, but was never ordained.

From 1922 Chunchie undertook much of his missionary and outreach work from Poplar, at a branch of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS). Chunchie had special responsibility for missionary work among Black and Asian sailors of the dockland area. He used his fluency in Tamil, Sinhalese, Malay and English to share the gospel and to offer practical help to those in need.

In 1922 Chunchie set up the Coloured Men’s Wesleyan Methodist Church in a rented hall in Canning Town. […] He advocated a ‘recreative institute’ for those effectively excluded by racism from existing spaces. When his relationship with the Seamen’s Mission became strained, he transferred to the East London Mission and in 1925 the WMMS approved plans for a permanent religious and social centre.

The Coloured Men’s Institute (CMI) opened in Canning Town in 1926 with Chunchie as pastor and warden. It offered a church, social centre, [and more]; the Chunchie family lived on the top floor.

In August 1932, Chunchie and the WMMS parted ways. He was determined to continue his work in the East End and between 1933 and his death in 1953, he worked independently to create a new Coloured Men’s Institute. Based at the Chunchies’ home in Lewisham, the new CMI’s work included providing bed and breakfast to stranded seamen, Christmas dinners and gifts to hundreds of families, [and more]. During the Second World War, Chunchie also volunteered as a firefighter in Lewisham.

1) Photo © Eastside Community Heritage
2) LEW MBL3/31/1 © Lewisham Heritage

16/07/2026

This week marks 60 years since the opening of the Pepys Estate, designed by architect Edward (Ted) Hollamby, and officially opened by Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Louis Mountbatten on 13 July 1966.

This pictured brochure from the GLC (352.75 DEP) includes a history of the site, photography, facts and figures concerning rents, dwellings, and inhabitants, notes on rehabilitation, and plans for future extension. The brochure is available to view by appointment at our Catford Library Reading Room.

In 1974, members of the newly formed Pepys Estate Community Association made films interviewing people about issues on the estate – repairs and maintenance, social and community facilities, childcare, places for young parents to meet & give each other support, local betting shop application, and the upcoming Pepys Palaver fair. These films can be viewed via the online London Community Video Archive (see last slide).

This week sees the Pepys Estate community celebrating 60 years with a music and raffle event at 2000 Community Action Centre, Grove Street on Friday 17 July 2-6pm, and a participatory exhibition at the Pepys Community Hub, Foreshore, opening Saturday 18 July and running until 18 November.

Slide 1) Pepys Estate: A GLC Housing Project (352.75 DEP) Front cover and page showing a model of the estate.

2) Pepys Estate: A GLC Housing Project (352.75 DEP) Photography of the original first floor walkways and Riverside Youth Club.

3) Pepys Estate tower block (LEW PH93/17839)

4) Pepys Estate tower block from river (LEW PH93/17838)

5) Extract from Pepys Estate - Organising (1974) Available to view in full website.

07/07/2026

Book your place for our next free Lewisham Heritage talk at The Catford House, Tuesday 11 August, 7-8pm.

Grab a drink at the bar and learn about the Lewisham based 20th century activist and writer who co-founded the Woodcraft Folk youth movement, helped organise striking workers in Lewisham and Deptford in the 1926 General Strike, and much more.

Leslie Paul: The Dedicated Life

Who was Leslie Paul? In his eighty years, he led many lives. Best known as the co-founder of outdoor youth group, the Woodcraft Folk, in 1925, as a young man he was a pagan poet and pacifist at the centre of progressive causes. By the coming of the Second World War, he shifted political and philosophical direction, taking up arms and finding god. In his third act, he became a senior leader in the Anglican Church. Throughout, he was a prolific author across a wide range of genres from nature writing and memoir to novels and criticism.

Professor Annebella Pollen takes a deep dive into the archives to follow the changing directions of Lewisham's self-styled Angry Young Man.

Annebella Pollen is Professor of Visual and Material Culture at University of Brighton. She is the author of six books of art and design history and has researched and published on British woodcraft culture for more than a decade. This includes her 2015 book and Whitechapel Gallery exhibition, The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift, and chapters in A People's History of Woodcraft Folk (2016), Q***r as Camp (2019) and Span the World with Friendship: Progressive Education, Internationalism and the Woodcraft Folk (2025).

Slide 1) Event flyer featuring crop of photo of Leslie Paul as a young man in camp (c) The Woodcraft Folk.
Slide 2) Angry Young Man by Leslie Paul
Slide 3) Chapter Six of Angry Young Man: The Dedicated Life, in which Paul recounts the failure of the 1926 General Strike.
Slide 4) Leslie Paul as a young man in camp (c) The Woodcraft Folk.

Food and drink available from The Catford House bar. Fully accessible venue.

Spaces are limited, reserve your spot via the booking link in the comments.

06/06/2026

Research Cafe: Refugee Week
Goldsmiths Library x Lewisham Libraries
Deptford Lounge, Wednesday 17 June, 12-1pm

A chance for students, staff, and the public to share and discuss research topics of interest. All welcome.
Presentations, a Q&A, plus free tea and coffee.

Click the link in the comments for information on the speakers and topics included in the upcoming Research Café, programmed to mark Refugee Week.

Relaxed event, free to attend. Book your place via the link in the comments.

02/06/2026

On Saturday 13 June at 12:30pm - as part of Lewisham Libraries' day-long event Raises Voices - join us for a Q&A with F***y Chiarello, writer, musician, and author of the ever-expanding compendium Basta Now: Women, Trans & Non-Binary in Experimental Music. In this extensive artist index, Chiarello documents and gives voice to artists who have historically been marginalised within experimental and avant-garde music scenes, challenging dominant narratives and rethinking who gets heard.

Chiarello will discuss the making of Basta Now, her approach to storytelling, and the political importance of documenting alternative musical histories. The event will explore experimental music as a site of resistance, collaboration, and possibility, as well as the intersections of gender, creativity, and cultural access.

This Q&A offers an opportunity to reflect on listening practices, visibility, and the need for inclusive archives of sound and practice.

Book via the link in the comments.

01/06/2026

On Sunday 31 May at The Bear Church in Deptford, the Heritage Lottery funded project Educating Deptford unveiled a Lewisham Council Maroon Plaque, celebrating the history of the Deptford Ragged School and it's later iterations, The Princess Louise Institute and Shaftesbury Christian Centre.

The Deptford Ragged School was founded in 1844, twenty-seven years before the State began providing education for all children. It was started in a loft over a cowshed by eight Christian men and women as a Day School and Sunday School.

Between 1844 and 2022, the educational institute grew, adapted, changed names and buildings several times, whilst the core values and aims of the Deptford based organisation remained consistent.

In 1953 the former Ragged School became part of the Shaftesbury Christian Society, and in 2007, the Society merged with The Bear Church, an independent church which began in an old public house on Deptford High Street in 1990. Today, The Bear Church and its charitable arm The Deptford Ragged Trust have redeveloped the school's Frankham Street site so that it can serve Deptford with events space, affordable rented housing for 18 to 30-year-olds, a cafe, a museum archive, and a new home for the Church.

The Lewisham Maroon Plaque installed on the Church facade serves to acknowledge this continuation of charity, support, and education through time, and to highlight a powerful part of our shared social and community history here in the borough.

Educating Deptford’s unveiling curtain included painted handprints by children from the current Bear Cubs toddler group, reflecting the Deptford Ragged School's historical engagement with the children of Deptford.

On Saturday 13 June The Bear Church will host a Community Heritage Festival, in celebration of the Educating Deptford project.

Slide 1) The Deptford Ragged School Maroon Plaque
2) The Bear Cubs curtain covering the plaque
3) Project manager Dr John Price giving a speech at the unveiling
4) Dr Katharine Alston and members of the Bear Cubs group unveiling the plaque
5) The plaque unveiled
6) Material from the Deptford Ragged School Archive
7) Flyer for Community Heritage Festival

20/05/2026

Some examples of work from our collage and zine-making session at Deptford Lounge today.

Participants worked with copies of imagery and text from Arts Network's and Lewisham Heritage's respective archives to create new work in the spirit of Creativity and Wellbeing Week.

Thanks to all who took part!

19/05/2026

Our Local Legacies:
Collage and Zine-Making Workshop

Wednesday 20 May, 11:30am - 1:30pm
Deptford Lounge, 9 Giffin Street, SE8 4RJ

Celebrate Creativity and Wellbeing Week and explore Lewisham’s arts and community histories through collage and zine-making at a free, relaxed workshop.

This year, Lewisham based charity Arts Network celebrate 30 years of reframing mental health and championing wellbeing through creativity in the borough. Join us to explore Arts Network's anniversary exhibition in Deptford Lounge and enjoy a creative session using Arts Network's and Lewisham's archives as source material.

[A zine (short for magazine or fanzine) is a handmade pamphlet that covers niche, personal, or unconventional topics].

Materials and refreshments will be provided. Free, booking required.

Images show a preview of some of the source material ready for tomorrow's collaging and zine-making.

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https://lewisham.gov.uk/inmyarea/history

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