Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for PECKHAM

PECKHAM, a metropolitan suburb, a sub-district, and several chapelries, in Camberwell parish and district, Surrey. The suburb lies on the Surrey canal and the South London railway, near the Croydon and the Metropolitan Extension railways, 3 miles S S E of St. Paul's; has two stations on the South London railway, and several post-offices‡ and postal pillar-boxes under London S E: was once a mere hamlet; is now mainly urban, withnumerous good streets; includes the divisions called Peckham-New-Town and Peckham-Rye; and contains the Nunhead cemetery, the Royal Naval school, built in 1835, for 200 sons of officers, and the Licensed Victuallers asylum, built in 1827, at a cost of £25,000, having accommodation for 126 inmates, and standing on a plot of 6 acres. Nell Gwynne occupied a house whichstood near the canal basin; and the Duke of York, brother of Charles II., had a house in High-street. Peckham House is an asylum for pauper lunatics of London city, and, at the census of 1861, had 280 inmates; but does not stand within Peckham proper. Acres of the suburb or the sub-district, 1, 146. Real property, in 1860, £115, 489; of which £16, 337 were in the canal and £18, 512 in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 19, 444: in 1861, 28, 135. Houses, 4, 948.

Four chapelries, with the date when they were constituted, and with their pop. in 1861, are Christchurch Old Kent road, 1838, 8, 176; St. Mary Magdalene, 1842, 8, 154; Camden, 1844, 5, 1 70; and St. Andrew, 1866, 6, 120. Other chapelries are St. Jude, St. Michael-Nunhead, and Peckham; but the first is annexed to St. Mary Magdalene, and the other two have no definedlimits. The livings of all are p. curacies in the diocese of Winchester. Value of Christchurch and St. Mary-with, St. Jude, each £300; of Camden, £900; of St. Andrew, £200; of the other two, not reported. Patrons of Christchurch, Hyndman's Trustees; of Camden, Trustees; of St. Andrew, the Incumbent of Camden; of Peckham, the Proprietors; of the other two, not reported. Christchurch was rebuilt on a new site, the site of " Dick Turpin's house, " in 1867, at a cost of about £5,000; is in modern pointed style, akin to the French Gothic of the13th and 14th centuries; has an E porch and a bell-turret; and contains 1, 200 sittings. Another new church was built in 1865; is in the early English style; and contains 900 sittings. An Independent chapel was built in 1865, at a cost of nearly £5,000; is in the decorated English style, of Kentish rag with Bath stone dressings; and has a tower and thin spire, 120 feet high. A Wesleyan chapel, in Queen's-road, was built in the same year, at a cost of about £7,000; is in the early decorated English style, of Kentish rag with Bath stone dressings; and is an oblong of 81 feet by 44, with an apse. A Roman Catholic church, in Lower Park-road, was built in 1866; and consists of nave, aisles, chancel, and two chapels. There are other places of worship, a Birkbeck school, other public schools, and a Roman Catholic convent.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a metropolitan suburb, a sub-district, and several chapelries"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Camberwell Vest/AP/CP       Camberwell RegD/PLPar       Surrey AncC
Place: Peckham

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.