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On the 6th June, 1886, the deputation appointed by the Greenwich District Board
attended the Metropolitan Board of Works, and presented a Memorial urging the Board
to widen Blackhorse Bridge, and its approaches, the deputation appointed by the Vestry
at the same time attended and presented a Memorial to the Board as follows.
To the Honourable the Metropolitan Board of Works.—
The memorial of the Vestry of the Parish of Rotherhithe, in the County of Surrey,
under their Common Seal.
Sheweth—
That in the month of October, 1885, a Memorial, numerously signed by ratepayers
of this Parish, was presented by your Memorialists, praying that immediate steps be
taken for effecting a much needed improvement at the "Royal Oak corner, in the
Deptford Lower-ioad, by setting back the "Royal Oak" public-house, and two or three
of the adjoining houses there, and such Memorial was forwarded to your Honourable
Board, on the 9th October, 1885.
That your Honourable Board having taken such Memorial into consideration and
viewed the locus in quo, came to the conclusion that, although the setting back of the
buildings referred to would doubtless be an improvement, the advantages of it would be
purely local, and should be undertaken by the Vestry, and not by your Honourable
Board, at the cost of the Metropolis at large.
That your Memorialists desire to call the attention of your Honourable Board,
especially to the fact that the Deptford Lower-road, as the main highway from London
to the Metropolitan Meat Market at Deptford, and the Surrey Commercial Docks, and
other extensive premises, to and from which a vast stream of tratfic is constantly
flowing, amounting, as appeals by a return your Memorialists have had taken, to
upwards of 3,000 vehicles per day, comprising vehicles ot all descriptions, but more
particularly heavy timber carriages, meat vans, and tramcais.
That owing to the sharp curve and the difficulty the traffic has at times of clearing
the corner, serious accidents are occurring there every day, through horses falling, &c.
That the above facts in the opinion of your Memorialists are conclusive as to the
benefits which will result to the public at large by the suggested alteration being carried
out ; the traffic along th s roadway not being of a local character at all, but forming
some of the most important traffic of the whole of London.
That in order to complete the Improvement contemplated by the Street Improvement
Acts, 1877 and 1882, and to render the same perfect, and also to open a direct
communication between London Bridge and Woolwich, it is necessary that the roadway
at the "Royal Oak" as well as at the Blackhorse Bridge, Deptford, should be widened,
the latter being a most inconvenient and dangerous place, and quite unsuited to the
needs or the present day.