GREENWICH Blackheath Lewisham Deptford New Cross Rotherhithe, Sheet 18 from Bacon’s Large Scale Atlas of London (1934), is a masterclass in interwar urban cartography and a compelling portrait of southeast London at a moment of transition. Bacon’s authoritative hand captures the sweep of the Thames and the dense weave of neighborhoods across SE3, SE4, SE7, SE8, SE10, SE13, SE14, SE15, and SE16, with the clarity and color-coding that defined the firm’s London atlases. This is a city map of consequence: it shows how riverside industry, new housing estates, and venerable town centers cohered into a living metropolis. The enumerated SE postal districts give structure to the sprawl, while the precisely drawn street plan reveals the everyday routes—commercial, domestic, and maritime—that underpinned the area’s social and economic life in 1934.

The map’s riverine drama is irresistible. From Rotherhithe’s working quays along Rotherhithe Street to Deptford’s historic maritime frontage at Watergate Street and St. Margaret’s Street, the Thames is presented as engine and stage. Greenwich’s gracious curve is anchored by the Royal Naval College and the foot tunnel, while the East Greenwich riverfront—linked by Woolwich Road—shows the heavy industry that powered the capital. Across the inlets, the Surrey Commercial Docks and the Rotherhithe Tunnel articulate a freighted landscape of movement. The layering of shipyards, granaries, gasworks, and wharves, set beside terraced streets and parishes, makes this an unusually vivid city map: it conveys both the scale of London’s port economy and its proximity to everyday life.

Inland, Bacon charts the green lungs and rising suburbs with equal finesse. Blackheath Common spreads like a great heathery plateau, edged by Blackheath Park, The Hill, and Kidbrooke Park Road; Greenwich Park rises toward the Observatory, a landmark boldly set within its avenues. The River Ravensbourne is traced from Lewisham—where Lewisham High Street and Loampit Hill converge—down to Deptford Creek at Greenwich, while the Quaggy’s meanders shape quieter residential pockets. Parks such as Southwark Park, Deptford Park, Hilly Fields, and Telegraph Hill Park appear as carefully preserved civic spaces amid Brockley’s terraces and New Cross’s academic quarter around Goldsmiths. Streets like Brockley Road, Pepys Road, and St. John’s Road stitch these neighborhoods into coherent districts, offering a rare, textured reading of social topography.

The sheet excels at showing connectivity—how London worked. Major arteries such as Old Kent Road and New Cross Road align with tram corridors and arterial schemes, while rail infrastructure of the Southern Railway is minutely depicted: New Cross and New Cross Gate, Brockley, St Johns, Deptford, Greenwich, and Lewisham stations, with viaducts stepping over Deptford Creek. Deptford High Street and Greenwich High Road, etched as commercial spines, reveal market life and services at the heart of older town centers. The enumerated SE districts, introduced in the early 20th century, are crisply labeled, aiding orientation across parish lines and new estates. It is a metropolitan diagram you can read at the scale of a wharf, a platform, or a park gate.

Behind this clarity stands George W. Bacon & Co., whose interwar atlases set the standard for dependable, eminently readable city mapping. Bacon’s Large Scale Atlas of London balanced visual elegance with granular utility—color-coded neighborhoods, distinct typography, and scrupulous delineation of streets, railways, and open spaces. This sheet exemplifies that ethos: it captures the seam where riverine industry met modern suburb and where historic towns—Greenwich, Deptford, Lewisham—retained identity amid 1930s growth. For historians, urbanists, and anyone tracing family or street histories, the presence of thoroughfares such as Greenwich High Road, Deptford High Street, Woolwich Road, and New Cross Road provides fixed points in time—an authoritative, richly legible map of a city becoming itself.

Streets and roads on this map

• Abbey Street
• Blackheath Park
• Brockley Road
• Deptford High Street
• Eliot Bank
• Fleet Street Hill
• Greenwich High Road
• Hall Road
• Kidbrooke Park Road
• Lewisham High Street
• Loampit Hill
• New Cross Road
• Old Kent Road
• Pepys Road
• Rotherhithe Street
• St. John's Road
• St. Margaret's Street
• The Hill
• The Strand
• Trenchard Street
• Turnham Road
• Watergate Street
• Whitefoot Lane
• Woolwich Road
• Yardley Street

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Thames River and associated waterfront areas
• Blackheath common
• Public parks and open spaces
• Enumerated postal districts (SE notation)
• Various landmarks and residential areas in each district

Historical and design context

• Publication Details: Sheet 18 from Bacon’s Large Scale Atlas of London (1934) by George W. Bacon & Co.
• Creation Date: 1934
• Mapmaker/Publisher: George W. Bacon & Co., noted for their authoritative mapping of London during the interwar period.
• Themes: Focuses on urban layout, neighborhood connections, and Thames-side zones, emphasizing the development patterns of early 1930s southeast London.
• Covered Areas: Districts include SE3 Blackheath, SE4 Brockley, SE7 Charlton, SE8 Deptford, SE10 Greenwich, SE13 Lewisham, SE14 New Cross, SE15 Peckham, and SE16 Rotherhithe.
• Design Style: Features a detailed street layout typical of interwar cartography, including colorful labeling and a clear depiction of neighborhoods.
• Historical Significance: Provides insight into the urban development and infrastructure of southeastern London during the 1930s, representing the social and economic landscape of the time.

Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.

This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 18x24in (45x60cm) version of this map.

The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.

If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.

Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.

This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.

This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.