New Cross

History

The area was originally known as Hatcham (the name persists in the title of the Anglican parishes of St. James, Hatcham along with its school, and All Saints, Hatcham Park). The earliest reference to Hatcham is the Domesday Book of 1086 as Hacheham. It was held by the Bishop of Lisieux from the Bishop of Bayeux. According to the entry in the Domesday Book Hatcham's assets were: 3 hides; 3 ploughs, 6 acres (24,000 m²) of meadow, woodland worth 3 hog and rendered £2.

Hatcham tithes were paid to Bermondsey Abbey from 1173 until the dissolution of the monasteries. A series of individuals then held land locally before the manor was bought in the 17th century by the Haberdashers' Company, a wealthy livery company that was instrumental in the area's development in the 19th century. Telegraph Hill was for many years covered by market gardens also owned by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers. Until the creation of the London County Council in 1889, the area was a part of the counties of Kent and Surrey.

New Cross is believed to have taken its name from a coaching house originally known as the Golden Cross, which stood close to the current New Cross House pub. The diarist John Evelyn, who lived in Deptford, wrote in 1675 that he met a friend at 'New Crosse' in his coach before travelling down through Kent and on to France.

In the later 19th century, the area became known as the New Cross Tangle on account of its numerous railway lines, workshops and two stations — both originally called New Cross (one was later renamed New Cross Gate).

Hatcham Iron Works in Pomeroy Street was an important steam locomotive factory, the scene of a bitter confrontation in 1865 between its manager, George England, and the workers. The Strike Committee met at the Crown and Anchor pub in New Cross Road, now the site of Hong Kong City Chinese restaurant. George England’s house, Hatcham Lodge, is now 56 Kender Street.

New Cross bus garage was formerly the largest tram depot in London, opening in 1906. During the 1926 General Strike in support of the miners, strikebreakers were brought in to drive trams from the depot. On 7 May, police baton charges were launched to clear a crowd of 2-3,000 pickets blockading the entrance (reported as "Rowdyism in New Cross" by the Kentish Mercury).

The last London tram, in July 1952, ran from Woolwich to New Cross. It was driven through enormous crowds, finally arriving at its destination in the early hours of 6 July.

On 25 November 1944 a V-2 rocket exploded at the Woolworths store in New Cross Road (on the site later occupied by an Iceland supermarket), 168 people were killed, and 121 were seriously injured. It was London's most devastating V-bombing of the entire war. On Wednesday 25 November 2009 a new commemorative plaque was unveiled on the site by the Mayor of Lewisham, marking the 65th anniversary of the explosion.

In August 1977 the area saw the so-called Battle of Lewisham, during which the far right British National Front were beaten off by militant anti-fascists and local people.

On 18 January 1981 13 young black people were killed in the New Cross Fire at a party at 439 New Cross Road. Suspicions that the fire was caused by a racist attack, and apparent official indifference to the deaths, led to the largest ever political mobilisation of black people seen in Britain.

Music

During the 1980s, the Goldsmiths Tavern hosted alternative cabaret nights, organised by Nikky Smedley. Playing host to fledgling acts including The Cholmondeleys, Julian Clary and Vic Reeves. Goldsmiths' Students' Union also had a reputation for putting on established and up and coming bands of the era including The B-52's, The Pogues, The Monochrome Set, Simply Red, Wet Wet Wet and Wild Willy Barrett.. The Irish owners of the Harp Club let The Flim Flam run a regular Friday night club there. The Flim Flam, with their wide music interest, recruited two DJs from Goldsmiths (Allison Webster and Mimi Kerns) to put on a punk and indie night on Saturdays A Million Rubber Bands (later "Totally Wired"). This venue later became The Venue.

In the 1990s New Cross club, The Venue was central to the Indie Rock and Brit Pop scenes and played host to gigs by many of their finest purveyors including Oasis, Radiohead, Pulp, Squeeze, Suede, Levellers, Cast, Shed Seven, Sleeper, Cornershop, Bluetones, PJ Harvey, Catherine Wheel, Belly, Ocean Colour Scene, Lush, Chumbawamba, Ash, Mudhoney, and Hole. Urban music magazine, Touch, and The Platform Magazine, an Islamic Hip-Hop journal are based in New Cross.

New Cross was noted as the birthplace of New Rave, and is fast gaining ground with London's fashion and music journalists, some even coming to regard it as South London's answer to Shoreditch in the wake of its commercialisation. The New Rave scene began with a tightly connected movement of artists, DJ’s, bands and squatters called !WOWOW! who have staged parties since 2003 in New Cross. New Rave champions Klaxons spent their formative years in New Cross and released their début single, Gravity's Rainbow, in April 2006 on Angular Recording Corporation, a label set up by two ex-Goldsmiths students. The area supports a fledgling student opera company, Opera Gold, run by Goldsmiths, University of London.

Sport

Millwall Football Club, founded by mainly Scottish workers at J.T. Morton, a cannery and food processing plant in Millwall on the Isle of Dogs in 1885, was based at The Den in Cold Blow Lane from 1910 to 1993. The ground attracted crowds of more than 45,000 at its peak, but by the 1980s was notorious for the club's repeated incidents of football hooliganism. Millwall moved a short distance to a new stadium, The New Den, situated off Ilderton Road and just within Bermondsey, at the start of the 1993–94 season. The club remains within the New Cross electoral ward.

Speedway racing was staged at the New Cross Speedway and Greyhound Stadium, situated at the end of Hornshay Street, off Ilderton Road. The venue became home to the New Cross Rangers in 1934 when the Crystal Palace promotion moved en bloc. The track, reputed to be one of the shortest and known as "The Frying Pan Bowl", operated until 1939 and re-opened in 1946 running until the early 1950s. The track re-opened for a short spell 1959 - 1961 and closed its doors to the sport for the last time mid season 1963. The stadium was also the scene of the UK's first stock car race at Easter 1954, with 26,000 in the crowd and thousands more locked outside. The site of the Stadium is now an open space, Bridge House Meadows. The 1949 speedway film Once a Jolly Swagman, starring Dirk Bogarde, was filmed at New Cross.

Dance

For many years New Cross was home to the Laban Centre, now Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance which was based at Laurie Grove producing choreographers such as