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Blackheath
Feb. 12th, 2022 09:23 amWe were in Greenwich- paying Mike and Su a visit in their new home- and I got to do what I've been wanting to do for ages and take a stroll on the huge common at Blackheath.
Someone told us the other day that the reason the common has never been built over is because of the plague pits. I don't doubt the existence of plague pits in the area but suspect the common's survival as open ground has more to do with wealthy 19th and 20th century century villa owners wanting to preserve their village green.
In the middle ages Blackheath served as a rallying point and camping ground for a succession of peasant revolts- Wat Tyler's, Jack Cade's et al- and in more recent times was notorious for highwaymen and the gibbets set up to exhibit dead ones and deter their living compadres. It's a storied patch of ground, black in name and- for much of its history, black in nature.
The trees in the photograph are the trees of Greenwich Park and the towers are at Canary Wharf on the far side of the river.
Someone told us the other day that the reason the common has never been built over is because of the plague pits. I don't doubt the existence of plague pits in the area but suspect the common's survival as open ground has more to do with wealthy 19th and 20th century century villa owners wanting to preserve their village green.
In the middle ages Blackheath served as a rallying point and camping ground for a succession of peasant revolts- Wat Tyler's, Jack Cade's et al- and in more recent times was notorious for highwaymen and the gibbets set up to exhibit dead ones and deter their living compadres. It's a storied patch of ground, black in name and- for much of its history, black in nature.
The trees in the photograph are the trees of Greenwich Park and the towers are at Canary Wharf on the far side of the river.
