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Ladywell
Ladywell Fields
LadywellLocation within Greater London
Population	14,515 (2011 Census. Ward)
OS grid reference	TQ37777459
London borough	Lewisham
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	SE13,SE4
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
UK Parliament	Lewisham Deptford
London Assembly	Greenwich and Lewisham
List of places UK England London 51°27′11″N 0°01′01″W / 51.453°N 0.017°W / 51.453; -0.017

Ladywell is a locale in Lewisham in South East London, England, and a ward in the London Borough of Lewisham between Brockley, Crofton Park and Lewisham proper. It has ample green space including Ladywell Fields and Hilly Fields which borders Brockley. Ladywell Village, the main shopping area along Ladywell Road, was given a facelift in 2013 with £800,000 of Transport for London funding. The pavements were widened, short stay bays created to help local businesses and shoppers, and trees were added. Ladywell Village has a range of retail outlets including a number of cafes, a patisserie and a delicatessen.

History

The name Ladywell was in use by the 15th century, and maps dating to this period show the site of the original Lady well, in front of the area later to be occupied by the Freemason's Arms and now marked by a plaque.

The well was probably a holy well dedicated to Virgin Mary and was 1.8 m to 2 m (six to seven feet) deep and surrounded by an iron railing. It was in use until the 1850s, when it was covered over as part of the construction of the railway. The coping stones of this well were later uncovered during work to underpin the railway bridge, and rescued by a signalman. In 1896 they were incorporated as part of the fountain that stood in the grounds of the Ladywell Public Baths, a local landmark built in red brick in 1884.

Another well is located nearby at what is now 148 Ladywell Road. This was a mineral spring, the waters of which local people drank for medicinal purposes.

Until the second half of the eighteenth century there were few dwellings in Ladywell, the most notable being 'The Bridge House Farm' and Ladywell House. Ladywell House was the vicarage built in 1693 for Dean George Stanhope, the vicar of Lewisham and Deptford. Stanhope was a friend of the writer Jonathan Swift, Swift visited Ladywell House in 1711. The house was extended in 1881 and 1895, and is now used by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

The opening of Ladywell Station in 1857 brought expansion to the area. Church Grove and the terraces to either side of it in Ladywell Road were built in the following year, which also saw the opening of Ladywell Cemetery, Railway Terrace, Prospect Place, and Mercy Terrace. The public park Ladywell Fields opened in the 1890s. Hilly Fields park opened on 16 May 1896 after campaigning by one of the Founders of the National Trust,Octavia Hill.

Conservation area

Designated in 2010, the area consists mainly of late Victorian suburban residential development which was built by the local developer Samuel J. Jerrard. In the conservation area, external changes to elevations visible from public viewpoints require planning permission. These include:

• Changes to windows, doors, chimneys and other material alterations.
• Alterations to the roof of a house.
• The addition of a porch. This would include infilling an open porch.
• Construction of any building within the grounds of a house where this would be visible from any public viewpoint.
• Putting down a hard surface, for example a drive, or replacing an existing drive.
• New boundary treatments like gates, walls and fences and the demolition of the original.
• The painting of the exterior of a dwelling house or building within the grounds of the building.

Through the 1880s and 1890s Jerrard built up long stretches of Vicars Hill and the newly laid out streets Algernon Road, Algiers Road, Ermine and Embleton Road, taking advantage of the topography and the good transport links to London.

His houses are generously sized and are stylistically distinctive as a group. Many of his other houses in the area are protected within the Brockley conservation area.

Jerrard’s development in Ladywell survives nearly complete, including its rich architectural detailing. It constitutes the core of the conservation area, supplemented by some later infill development of the late 19th and early 20th century that completed his streets.

The conservation area also encompasses the commercial core of Ladywell along Ladywell Road, known as Ladywell Village, which contains some of the oldest houses and pubs of the area and Edwardian shops that were constructed at the turn of the century in response to the rapidly increasing community around them.

The Council recommends a number of improvements that could be made to the benefit of both the character of the area as well as the value of individuals’ properties:

• reinstatement of painted timber windows to the original design. These will in most, but not all cases be vertical sliding sash windows
• reinstatement of original style doors, such as the Victorian glass and timber panelled doors that can be found on most of the Jerrard properties,
• the removal of later porch additions,
• removal of render or pebbledash where not part of the original design,
• reinstatement of terracotta chimney pots, chimney stacks or ridge tiles where missing,
• reinstatement of slate roofs,
• repair or reinstatement of any other architectural detail where lost,
• front garden improvements such as the reinstatement of stock brick walls with stone copings; planting of shrubs, lawns and hedging to hide wheelie bins, and the repair or reinstatement of York stone or tile paths,
• re‐siting of satellite dishes to inconspicuous locations such as the rear garden,
• reinstatement of traditional shopfronts and removal of internally illuminated signs.

Local Politics

Ladywell is a ward of Lewisham Council, represented by three councillors who are elected every four years.

Gallery

• The Victorian-era Ladywell Water Tower located in Dressington Avenue, Ladywell. It is now a private home
• Ladywell Coroner's Office
• Plaque showing the site of the original well from which Ladywell takes its name. The building that the plaque is attached to is Lister House, located next to Ladywell railway station.
• Site of mineral spring at 148 Ladywell Road, Ladywell. This is not the site of the well from which Ladywell takes its name
• Derelict building previously containing a Victorian-era public baths in Ladywell. During World War II the tower of the building was used to watch for German bombers incoming from the south towards central London. It is going to be converted into private homes
• Former Metropolitan Police Station in Ladywell. It was once the depot for motorcycles of the traffic police. It has now been converted into private homes
• The 17th century Ladywell House which is now owned by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
• St Mary's Lewisham Parish Church in Ladywell
• Ladywell railway station

Notable people

• Birthplace of Rolling Stones' bassist Bill Wyman.
• Burial place of Ernest Dowson poet and decadent buried at Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries
• Henry Williamson, author most notably of Tarka the Otter brought up in Ladywell. No 21 Eastern Road has a blue plaque to commemorate that he lived there
• Yung Filly, YouTuber, brought up in Ladywell

Local societies

There are two local societies. The Ladywell Village Improvement Group and the Ladywell Society

Transport

Ladywell station itself is on Southeastern's Hayes Line with direct trains to Elmers End, Hayes, London Bridge, Cannon Street, Waterloo East and Charing Cross.

It has been proposed to extend the Bakerloo line to Ladywell

Other close stations:

• Lewisham
• Crofton Park
• Brockley

Nearest places

v t e Districts close to Ladywell
Brockley Lewisham Lewisham, Blackheath Crofton Park Ladywell Lee Honor Oak Catford Hither Green

References

1. "Lewisham Ward population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
2. Bradford, Charles Angell, The Lady Well, Lewisham (1896)
   • (2011 reprint) British Library, Historical Print Editions, ISBN 9781241317676
3. A Ladywell Walk london-footprints.co.uk
4. George Stanhope, and Moll Stanhope Archived 30 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine Jonathan Swift's 1710-1713 London letter-journal. Swiftiana
5. Journal to Stella, Letter 26 Chelsea, 30 June 1711, point 14.
6. "HISTORY OF HILYFIELDS - www.hilly.org.uk". www.hilly.org.uk.
7. "Bakerloo line extension - Have your say". Transport for London. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2015.

• Foord, Alfred Stanley (1910), Springs, streams and spas of London: history and association. T. Fisher Unwin.

External links

• Friends of Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries
• Ladywell Photographs

v t e London Borough of Lewisham
Districts	Bell Green Bellingham Blackheath Brockley Catford Chinbrook Crofton Park Crystal Palace Deptford Downham Forest Hill Grove Park Hither Green Honor Oak Ladywell Lee Lewisham Lower Sydenham Mottingham New Cross Perry Vale Southend St Johns Sydenham Sydenham Hill Upper Sydenham Telegraph Hill
Attractions	Albany Theatre Broadway Theatre Brockley Jack Theatre The Den (Millwall Football Club) Deptford Market Horniman Museum Lewisham Shopping Centre Rivoli Ballroom St Paul's, Deptford Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
Parks and open spaces	Beckenham Place Park Blythe Hill Fields Bridgehouse Meadows Brookmill Park Brookmill Road Local Nature Reserve Burnt Ash Pond Chinbrook Meadows Dacres Wood Deptford Park Downham Fields Downham Woodland Walk Folkestone Gardens Fordham Park Forster Memorial Park Grove Park Nature Reserve Hilly Fields Park Ladywell Fields Lewisham Park Manor House Gardens Mayow Park Mountsfield Park New Cross Gate Cutting Northbrook Park Pepys Park Sayes Court Sue Godfrey Nature Park Sydenham Wells Park
Constituencies	Lewisham West and Penge Lewisham East Lewisham Deptford
Rail stations	Beckenham Hill Bellingham Blackheath Brockley Catford Catford Bridge Crofton Park Deptford Deptford Bridge Elveson Road Forest Hill Grove Park Hither Green Honor Oak Park Ladywell Lewisham Lee Lower Sydenham New Cross New Cross Gate St Johns Sydenham
Other topics	Council Grade I and II* listed buildings People Public art Schools
Category Commons

• Areas of London
• Districts of the London Borough of Lewisham