Deptford, Kent : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Deptford. You may be able to find further references to Deptford in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Deptford parliamentary borough Bartholomew
DEPTFORD a town and two parishes which are also sub-districts Imperial
Deptford St Nicholas parish Bartholomew
Deptford St Paul parish Bartholomew

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Deptford within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Daniel Defoe Letter 5 (London), Part 1: Overview and Suburbs 14
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 3: Hampshire and Surrey 6
Daniel Defoe Letter 5 (London), Part 2: The City 3
William Camden Kent 2
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 1: Kent Coast and Maidstone 2
Daniel Defoe Preface to Second Volume 2
John Wesley 1785-90: Collects Money for the Poor; Visits House of Lords; Reasons for his Long Life 2
Charles Wesley Sept. 7 - Dec. 31, 1740: First visit to South Wales 1
Charles Wesley May 17 - Aug. 28, 1743: Bristol to Newcastle, then Cornwall 1
Charles Wesley Jan. 1 - Aug. 31, 1746: Bristol and Cornwall 1
Charles Wesley 1749: Marriage to Sally Gwynne 1
Charles Wesley 1750: Bristol and London 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 1, Part 2: Harwich and Suffolk 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 2: Canterbury and Sussex 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 6, Part 1: Middlesex, Hertford and Buckinghamshire 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 6, Part 3: Worcester, Hereford and Wales 1
Daniel Defoe Appendix to the second volume 1
John Wesley 1739: Field-Preaching; "All the World my Parish"; Whitefield; Wales 1
John Wesley 1760-2: Letter to an Editor; Impositions and Declarations; Speaking Statue; Pentecost 1
John Wesley 1765-8: Justice for Methodists; Methodist Character; Instructions to Parents 1
John Wesley 1771-3: Windsor Park; Wesley as Art Critic; Glasgow and Perth; Preaches to 30,000 People 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Greenwich 33 3
Hatcham 0 2
Millwall 0 1
New Cross 0 2
the Isle of Dogs 0 3
Nunhead 0 2
South Bermondsey 0 1
Lewisham 12 2
Ladywell 0 2
Blackheath 10 2
Brockley 0 2
Westcombe Park 0 2
Rotherhithe 12 2
Peckham 5 2
Poplar 5 3
Kidbrooke 0 2
Hither Green 0 1
Honor Oak 0 3
Lee 0 2
Wapping 16 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Deptford. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
DEPE FORD William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
DEPTFORD John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
DEPTFORD ST NICHOLAS John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
DEPTFORD ST PAUL John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
WEST GREENWICH William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.