"For some years past the town of Greenwich, although the
central one of the three which constitutes this great Borough, has been steadily
sinking into a state of decay. The depression
has, at length, become so manifest, in the form of empty houses and diminished trade
that everybody who has an interest of any kind in the place is anxiously
enquiring whether something cannot be done towards a recovery of its lost position
and a restoration of its former prosperity. Deptford, which ten or twelve years ago used to excite the sympathy
of the people of Greenwich by its impoverished state, its heavy taxes, its silent wharves
and its deserted streets, is now thronged with a bustling, cheerful, thriving population
while poor Greenwich half the day long is
as stirless in its scenes as Salisbury plain.
The silence in it is only broken at intervals by the sepulchral sound of
the wheels of an empty omnibus wending its solitary way to Deptford and the Kent
Road to pick up a few passengers for the West end. Even
if you see some active pedestrian approaching the public baths for having nothing
else to do, his melancholy countenance renders it doubtful whether he is about to
enter for the purposes of ablution or to drown himself, in consequence
of the dullness that reigns in the town.
Woolwich, it seems, is equally prosperous with Deptford and from a like cause-
the activity in its government establishments. Scarcely a house in either town is
empty; while on many streets in East Greenwich there are more houses to be let than
there are houses occupied.
Drawing thanks to Chris Grabham
For an explanation see http://greenwichpeninsulahistory.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/632/
No comments:
Post a Comment