Jane Austen passes through Deptford & Blackheath

I love the notion that as the main road between London, Kent and the Channel, what is now the A2 has been travelled by so many historical personages and movements - everyone from royals to revolting peasants have passed along the Old Kent Road, New Cross Road, Deptford and up to Blackheath and beyond. So I am pleased to be able to add the novelist Jane Austen to the list confirmed to have passed through.

On June 15 1808, Austen wrote a letter to her sister Cassandra describing her journey from London to visit her brother's family at Godmersham Park - located between Canterbury and Ashford in Kent:

'My dear Cassandra,—Where shall I begin? Which of all my important nothings shall I tell you first? At half after seven yesterday morning Henry saw us into our own carriage, and we drove away from the Bath Hotel; which, by the by, had been found most uncomfortable quarters,—very dirty, very noisy, and very ill-provided. James began his journey by the coach at five. Our first eight miles were hot; Deptford Hill brought to my mind our hot journey into Kent fourteen years ago; but after Blackheath we suffered nothing, and as the day advanced it grew quite cool. At Dartford, which we reached within the two hours and three-quarters, we went to the Bull, the same inn at which we breakfasted in that said journey, and on the present occasion had about the same bad butter.

At half-past ten we were again off, and, travelling on without any adventure reached Sittingbourne by three. Daniel was watching for us at the door of the George, and I was acknowledged very kindly by Mr. and Mrs. Marshall, to the latter of whom I devoted my conversation, while Mary went out to buy some gloves. A few minutes, of course, did for Sittingbourne; and so off we drove, drove, drove, and by six o'clock were at Godmersham'

The Bath Hotel in London was situated on Piccadilly on the site of what is now the Ritz.  Plainly travelling by horse-drawn coach was a slow business, with the journey from here to Godmersham taking some ten and half hours - though this did include stops at the Bull Inn in Dartford and the George Inn in Sittingbourne, both of which are still standing if you want to recreate this journey!  The house at Godmersham Park is still there too - and it features along with Austen on the ten pound note.

Another letter from 1796 mentions a plan to visit Greenwich.  Her brother Francis Austen was in the Royal Navy and rose to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, so no doubt was familiar with Deptford and Greenwich.

Another South London location is mentioned in a letter from 1811: 'who should I meet but Mr. Moore,  just come from Beckenham. I believe he would have passed me if I had not made him stop, but we were delighted to meet. I soon found, however, that he had nothing new to tell me, and then I let him go.'  There was a strong connection between parts of Austen's family and Beckenham. Her dad's cousin Frances Motley Austen (1747-1815) was born in Beckenham, with his mother Ann Motley and grandfather Thomas Motley - a prominent landowner in Beckenham.  So it seems likely that Jane Austen was in touch with relatives in Beckenham, though it is not known if she ever visited there. 

Source: The Letters of Jane Austen. 

Thanks to JaneAustenCork for mentioning this journey on twitter

Marvin Gaye in Deptford at Cheeks nightclub

This picture has been doing the rounds on facebook, pinterest etc. and has caused some excitement as it purports to show soul legend Marvin Gaye dancing in Deptford - the caption actually says 'Marvin Gaye - Cheeks Club - Deptford -1980' with the photographer given as Richard Young.

This seems too good to be true - is it for real? The photographer Richard Young is well known for celebrity/society nightclubbing shots, and definitely photographed Marvin Gaye in London (his website includes a 1981 shot of Gaye at Stringfellows). The origin of the image circulating online with the Deptford caption seems to be a Sunday Times article on Young from October 2014 - the online edition doesn't include the Marvin Gaye photo, but I gather it was included as extra content on the tablet edition.  So there doesn't seem to be any reason to doubt the caption, which would have been based on the photograph's metadata as supplied to the paper.  The context of the article was that Young had just published a collection of his photographs in a book, Nightclubbing, which is available  from the Richard Young Gallery. Not sure if the book includes the Deptford photo, but I am hoping that the fact that I am advertising it and only using the image for non-commercial local history interest will reassure the gallery - but of course will take it down if requested.

©  Richard Young Gallery

It is well documented that Marvin Gaye did live in London for a while in 1980/81, in a bit of a bad way with cocaine addiction, before moving to Belgium. So that makes the Deptford visit plausible.

And what of Cheeks? This was a nightclub at 18 Deptford Broadway that opened in 1980 (the following advert for bar staff at 'South London's newest club' is from The Stage, 21 August 1980).  I believe that the recently departed Harry Haward, sometime gangster associate and later pensioners rights campaigner, was involved in running the club.

Another article in The Stage apologised for suggesting that the club was 'failing as a disco to attract sufficient custom' and stated that it was 'licensed for 550 people'. As mentioned here before, posters for the opening night of Cheeks can be seen briefly in the 1980 film 'Babylon' 

Later the club was renamed Champs - this advert is from the Illustrated London News 1 June 1988 and is for 'Planet Rok Brutal Rave' there on Thursday night promising 'flare grooves':

Later still it changed names to Futures, where Dave Courtney was once involved in a Monday night acid house night called 'Crazy Mondays'.

So yes, Cheeks nightclub was going in Deptford in 1980/81, and Marvin Gaye was living in London in that period. Then there's also the supporting evidence that he had been spotted in Deptford another time-  Tom Fawcett, editor of Artrocker,  tweeted in 2014:  'I met Marvin Gaye once, in a pub in Deptford High St. He was there to see a band I was playing trombone for. Very odd'.

So lets's say its true, would be good though to have some eye wtiness confirmation. Mind you, somebody else claimed on facebook that Diana Ross also once visited Cheeks and (less surprizingly) Adam Ant. Tell us more!

Update 8 December 2016:

Interesting detail in comment posted by Mark Cathcart. He notes that Greg Edwards is mentioned in one of the Cheeks articles - presumably the DJ of Capital Radio Soul Spectrum fame. According to Mark 'Greg's day job was the distributor of Philadelphia Records in the UK(I think) he almost certainly would have had contact with Marvin'.

Actually, Greg also worked for CBS who Marvin Gaye was signed to at this time. So there's a possible explanation for Marvin being in Deptford - maybe Greg, who he would probably have met through the record company wsa DJing and in any event seems to have had some link to Cheeks.

Roadblocks in Deptford and Drakefell

I haven't had much luck getting around in the last couple of days. Tonight I had to take a long diversion trying to get from New Cross to Shooters Hill because the A2 was taped off at the junction of Deptford Broadway and Deptford High Street following a traffic incident involving a police car and a van. I was there at 9 pm and it was still closed several hours after the crash.

Last night Drakefell Road was blocked for several hours at junction with Pepys Road/Avingnon Road SE4 after this lorry jackknifed, shedding part of its load. A crane had to be brought in to clear it.

photo from @citizensanchez

Music Monday: Rhiannon the Nightmare

Rhiannon the Nightmare's 'country punk  blues' are an established feature of the New Cross music scene as befits an outfit 'Raised in the deep south east by the New Cross delta on canned lager, chewing tobacco and heartache'.

They've recently recorded a song celebrating Little Nan's Bar at the Bunker Club (46 Deptford Broadway),with a video shot of course in said bar.

Little Nan's Bar in the video (Rhiannon in the centre)

Next Saturday 15 February they are playing a Rocklands Valentine's weekend 'mini fest' at the New Cross Inn, with the full line up:

Rhiannon The Nightmare "New Cross meets Nashville" (Pulse Arts). Meets PJ Harvey. https://www.facebook.com/rhiannonthenightmaremusic CuT : Space punk with fantastic psychadelic pop sensibilities.http://www.cut.uk.com/ Mourning Birds: Medway mad way gutter punk blues. https://facebook.com/mourningbirds Richey Ostrowski, the front man/guitarist of 16 Hole Boots, compared to a young Julian Cope. Post punk newer wave in the gutter – but with eyes fixed firmly on the kerb. http://16holeboots.bandcamp.com/ The Freewheelin' Troubadour: ArtBeat poet and all round inspirational motivator. Hear. Believe. https://facebook.com/thefreewheelintroubadour Jean Genie's Massive Hugs - Gorgeously crafted songs fuse folky pop n bluesy rock. The Panda Power queen is is always a blossoming star turn whatever she turns her multi talents turn to. https://facebook.com/jeangeniesmassivehugs Aeromancy Experimental adventures in alt rock. A new EP is in the wings! @AeromancyBand https://www.facebook.com/Aeromancy.UK 5pm start, £3 after 7pm or Free Entry NUS/NHS/OK badge. After party bar til 2am. 20% off drinks Noon-8pm!