London
Town Guide


Peckham District

SE15

Peckham is the district of south-east London between Camberwell and New Cross. The name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon for "village among the hills".

Like many of the outer districts of London, Peckham was a rural district until the 19th century. Its main industry was agriculture and the area was populated by small farms and homesteads.

These were interspersed by several large mansions housing some of London's wealthy middle class residents. During this period Peckham was particularly closely associated with education for there were several schools and academies in the district.

Peckham then began to be transformed into a London suburb in the early 19th century. The Canal reached the district in 1801 and housing soon followed. Nevertheless this development largely centred around the canal area.

It wasn't until the railway reached Peckham in the 1860s that large-scale development reached the district. But once the railway had arrived the rural parts of Peckham soon disappeared under housing and industrial developments.

In the 1960s and 1970s Peckham was re-developed into massive housing estates. As a result Peckham is now a typically working-class residential suburb, most famous for being home to TV's Del Boy and Rodney from "Only Fools and Horses".


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