From 2006 to 2010, I was a councillor for Lee Green ward in the London Borough of Lewisham. During that time, I blogged regularly and in 2009 I won the Tim Garden Award for the Best Blog by a Liberal Democrat Holding Public Office. My blog posts from my term of office are archived here in case they prove of use to former constituents, or to those who share my annoyance with faulty street furniture
We’re planning to head into town tomorrow to visit some of the central London venues, but today we headed to Lee High Road to take a look at Boones Chapel and the Merchant Taylors’ Almshouses.
As you might be aware, Boones Chapel has been undergoing restoration, and was actually only re-opened on Thursday having been closed since 1945! The chapel was built in 1682. It’s thought Sir Christopher Wren was comissioned to build the chapel and the almshouses, with the work probably carried out by his assistant Robert Hooke. I missed the official re-opening as work took me to Birmingham this week, but it was great to visit today and see the fantastic restoration and the small garden outside that’s been planted by local schoolchildren.
While at Boones Chapel, you can also take a look at the Merchant Taylors’ Almshouses – as the photo shows, an oasis of peace just off Lee High Road.
Also open around Lee Green are the Ice House at Manor House Gardens, and the tower at Meridian South, the old Hither Green Hospital site. Helpfully, former councillor Andrew Brown has picked out all the Lewisham venues.
Also available at Boones Chapel was a leaflet promoting the new Lee Heritage Trail. Unfortunately I can’t find a link online, but it’s a really interesting trail running from St Margarets Church via the Almshouse and Boones Chapel to the Manor House Gardens Ice House – well worth doing.
