The Downham Estate is a London County Council cottage estate in Downham, south east London. It is mainly in the London Borough of Lewisham and partly in the London Borough of Bromley.
The Downham Estate provides an example of the programme of building council housing occurring in Britain between the First and Second World Wars. The estate was constructed between 1924 and 1930 to plans by the LCC architect George Topham Forrest.[1] One of the first houses to be completed was ceremonially opened in 1927 by King George V.[2]
Among other similar developments around London (for example Becontree), it was developed to help alleviate the chronic shortage of housing in London, partly brought about by the complete cessation of building during World War I. It was intended to show what could be achieved by public-sector house-building: particularly in order to provide better housing for those who had lived in the slums of the city. The building of the Estate attracted subsidies from central government and was constructed under the auspices of the London County Council.
The estate covered an area of 522 acres (2.1 km2), of which 461 acres (1.9 km2) were in the Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham, (from 1965 the London Borough of Lewisham) and 61 acres (0.2 km2) in the Municipal Borough of Bromley (from 1965 the London Borough of Bromley); altogether it covered a distance of 1.25 miles (2 km). The land had previously been mainly rural although around Grove Park railway station in the east of the area there had been some development; between Lewisham and Bromley was virtually the end of London at that time. 5659 houses were constructed of varying sizes; and there were also 408 flats (apartments) in blocks up to four storeys in height.
Downham Estate, under construction in 1926
Downham was named in honour of Lord Downham, who was chairman of the London County Council during 1919–20. The first tenants of the estate were mainly former residents of inner city areas, such as Rotherhithe and the accommodation was spacious and luxurious compared with their former dwellings.
LCC Cottage estates 1918–1939
Estate name
Area
No of dwellings
Population 1938
Population density
Pre-1914
Norbury
11
218
867
19.8 per acre (49/ha)
Old Oak
32
736
3519
23 per acre (57/ha)
Totterdown Fields
39
1262
—
32.4 per acre (80/ha)
Tower Gardens White Hart Lane
98
783
5936
8 per acre (20/ha)
1919–1923
Becontree
2770
25769[a]
115652
9.3 per acre (23/ha)
Bellingham
252
2673
12004
10.6 per acre (26/ha)
Castelnau
51
644
2851
12.6 per acre (31/ha)
Dover House Estate Roehampton Estate
147
1212
5383
8.2 per acre (20/ha)
1924–1933
Downham
600
7096
30032
11.8 per acre (29/ha)
Mottingham
202
2337
9009
11.6 per acre (29/ha)
St Helier
825
9068
39877
11 per acre (27/ha)
Watling
386
4034
19110
10.5 per acre (26/ha)
Wormholt
68
783
4078
11.5 per acre (28/ha)
1934–1939
Chingford[b]
217
1540
—
7.1 per acre (18/ha)
Hanwell (Ealing)
140
1587
6732
11.3 per acre (28/ha)
Headstone Lane
142
n.a
5000
Kenmore Park
58
654
2078
11.3 per acre (28/ha)
Thornhill (Royal Borough of Greenwich)
21
380
1598
18.1 per acre (45/ha)
Whitefoot Lane (Downham)
49
n.a
n.a.
^Source says 2589 – transcription error
^Part of a larger PRC estate around Huntsman Road
Source:
Yelling, J. A. (1995). "Banishing London's slums: The interwar cottage estates" (PDF). Transactions. 46. London and Middlesex Archeological Society: 167–173. Retrieved 19 December 2016. Quotes: Rubinstein, 1991, Just like the country.
^"History of Downham - www.goodshepherdindownham.co.uk". www.goodshepherdindownham.co.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
^"The Downham Estate, Lewisham: 'the joy of having your own patch'". Municipal Dreams. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
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