Books about the Lewisham area.

There are many useful books about local history for this area. Unfortunately they are not all in print. Some can be purchased from local bookshops and a selection is available from the Society's bookstall at our monthly meetings.

Lewisham Local History Society monthly talks are held at St Dunstan's Jubilee Pavilion, Canadian Avenue, SE6 4SW). Tea/coffee/refreshments are available from 7:30pm onwards, and the Talk starts at 7:45pm (unless otherwise stated in 'Talks, Walks &c'). Visitors welcome - donation of minimum £1 invited. Free off-street parking near the Pavilion. Near bus-stops of several routes. Within walking distance of Catford and Catford Bridge train stations. Details of the new Venue (and Map) are shown in 'Talks, Walks &c' on this website.

A number of the authors mentioned below, such as John Coulter, Neil Rhind and John King, have had a close relationship with the Lewisham Local History Society for many years.

This List was last updated in 2021 and will be brought up to date soon.


From the Domesday Book to Doodlebugs: History of New Cross - 2018
Raymond Thatcher.
Available from the Telegraph Hill Society.

Lewisham History and Guide - 1994 Alan Sutton Publishing.
John Coulter

Around Lewisham and Deptford - 2005 Alan Sutton Publishing.
John Coulter

A Century of Lewisham. Events People and Places over the 20th century, 1999 Alan Sutton Publishing
John Coulter

Images of London - Lewisham 1995
John Coulter and Brian Olley

A Century of Lewisham Society
John Coulter

Lewisham and Deptford.
John Coulter





Blackheath Village & Environs vol.1 - 1976 - Bookshop on the Heath
Neil Rhind

Blackheath Village & Environs vol.2 - 1983
Neil Rhind

Blackheath Village & Environs vol.3 - 2021 NEW!

Neil Rhind

The Heath 1987, revised 2002
Neil Rhind

The Paragon and South Row - 2012
Neil Rhind

The Streets of London
Neil Rhind

The Booth Notebooks
Neil Rhind



Grove Park. Its History Revisited - 2011 - Lewisham Local History Society
John King

Lewisham's got History - Martyn Barr (2010 Out of the Box Publishing)
Martyn Barr

A History of the The Lewisham Silk Mills - 1979
Sylvia Macartney & John West

Read about Lewisham
Joan Read

Lewisham Local History Notebook
Joan Read

Longest Journey, A History of black Lewisham - 1995
Deptford Forum Publishing
Joan Anim-Addo

Turning the Tide. The History of Everyday Deptford - 1993
Deptford Forum Publishing
Jess Steele

A Working Class War - a Tale of 2 families.
Deptford Forum Publishing
ed. Jess Steele; interviews by Joy Vaughan & Rib Davis.

Rations and Rubble. Remembering Woolworths - The New Cross V2 Disaster.
Deptford Forum Publishing
Jess Steele - 1994



Up the Creek - 200 years of Deptford's People's History recorded on camera 1980
tba

Discover Sydenham & Catford - 1999
Darrell Spurgeon

Malory School the First Decade
Diana Beamish

Which Railway? - Edith Nesbit Society
Edith Nesbit Society

The Children can't wait (The Macmillan sisters)
The Macmillan sisters

John Penn & Sons of Greenwich
Richard Hartree

Silvertown: the Great Explosion
Lewis Blake



The Short Life of a Restricted London Hospital
Harold Hart

Millennium Stone Circle on Hilly Fields
Brockley Circle

Forest Hill - (1979)
Doris E Pullen

Hatcham and Telegraph Hill 1982
Raymond Thatcher

Bromley in the Front Line
Lewis Blake