Deptford
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham.
It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Dockyards. This was a major shipbuilding dock and attracted Peter the Great to come and study shipbuilding. Deptford and the docks are associated with the knighting of Sir Francis Drake by Queen Elizabeth I aboard the Golden Hind, the legend of Sir Walter Raleigh laying down his cape for Elizabeth, Captain James Cook's third voyage aboard HMS Resolution, and the mysterious apparent murder of Christopher Marlowe in a house along Deptford Strand.
Getting around Deptford the local way
- Go nextPopularly known as the Garden of England due to its green landscape, the county includes a number of attractions that could be included on day trips outside of the capital.
- Go nextFrom the Greenwich Peninsula, take the IFS Cloud Cable Car (formerly Emirates Air Line) – the UK's first urban cable car.
From Wikivoyage: London/Greenwich, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Doyle of London (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.