Lewisham is an area within the London Borough of Lewisham in south-east London. It is a major transport hub, lying on the A20 road towards Dover and at the start of A21 to Hastings, with its own bus station, mainline railway station and the southern terminus of the Docklands Light Railway.
In the mid-fifteenth century the then vicar of Lewisham, Abraham Colfe, built a grammar school, primary school and six almshouses for the inhabitants.
The village of Lewisham was originally centred further south around the parish church of St Mary, towards the present site of University Hospital Lewisham . The centre migrated north with the coming of the North Kent railway line to Dartford in 1849, encouraging commuter housing.
Lewisham's High Street is particularly long and wide for a London suburb. The town centre was bombed in 1944, commemorated by a plaque outside the Lewisham Shopping Centre (opened in 1977). This area at the north end of the High Street was pedestrianised in 1994. It is home to a daily street market and a local landmark, the Clock Tower, completed in 1900 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
The police station, which was opened in 2004 to replace the station in Ladywell , is reputedly one of the largest in Europe.
Notable former inhabitants:
Other places named Lewisham
