Blackheath, London

Blackheath is a place in London, England, divided between the London Borough of Lewisham and the London Borough of Greenwich (the borough boundary runs across the middle of the heath, with the Village in Lewisham and the Blackheath Standard area and Westcombe Park in Greenwich), whose name derives from the dark colour of the soil, and not, as was popularly believed for many years, from the burial of victims of the Black Death on the heath in the 14th century.

Settled by Romans as a stopping point on Watling Street, Blackheath was also a rallying point for Wat Tyler's Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Cornish rebels were defeated at the Battle of Blackheath Field in 1497.

Blackheath is perhaps most famous as the home of the Blackheath Football Club, founded in 1858, which was the first Rugby club in the world without restricted membership. With neighbouring Greenwich Park, it is also well known as the start point of the London Marathon, has strong associations with the campaign for womens' suffrage - the suffragette movement - and the heath frequently hosts kite-flying competitions.

Famous residents

• James Callaghan, British Prime Minister 1976-1979, lived at Blackheath in the 1950s and 1960s, and his daughter Margaret went to Blackheath High School.
• Astronomer Royal Sir Frank Watson Dyson lived at 6 Vanbrugh Hill, SE3 between 1894 and 1906.
• James Glaisher (1809-1903), who pioneered modern weather forecasting techniques, lived in Dartmouth Row.
• Jools Holland, TV personality and musician lives in Westcombe Park.
• Sir James Clark Ross, who in 1831 located the magnetic north-pole, and whom after the Ross Island and Ross sea are named, lived on Eliot Place.
• Montague John Druitt, for many years a popular suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders, lived in Blackheath during the 1880s.
• Terry Waite, humanitarian and hostage in Lebanon (1987-1991), lived in Blackheath.
• Sir Alfred Yarrow, shipbuilder, lived at Woodlands, Mycenae Road, Westcombe Park from 1896 (this was a house built for merchant John Julius Angerstein whose art collection formed the basis of the National Gallery, London in 1824).

Transport

Nearest places:

• Greenwich
• Kidbrooke
• Deptford
• Lee
• Shooter's Hill
• Catford
• Crofton
• Brockley

Nearest railway stations:

• Blackheath
• Greenwich
• Lee
• Lewisham
• Maze Hill
• Westcombe Park