Hi Everyone, @josh_frost89 here for today’s # #LowTideLockdown exploring the rich and complex maritime history of #Deptford. We’ll be taking a virtual walk along the foreshore from Watergate Street up to St George’s Stairs.

Deptford’s maritime and shipbuilding history goes back to the formation by Henry VIII of a dockyard here is 1513, a year after the one at Woolwich. The dockyard was built in the area around Deptford Strand and can be seen in this map owned John Evelyn from 1623 #LockdownLowTide

Our walk begins at Watergate Street stairs, with the wall of the Dockyard on one side and the Master Shipwright’s House beyond. Amongst the many shipwrights who worked here were the Pett family. Four of them were Master Shipwrights between 1550 and 1668.

As we descend the steps we can see the remains of the river stairs here. Among the notable travellers who may have arrived here was Samuel Pepys, whose work at the Navy Office brought him to Deptford on official business many times. #LockdownLowTide

The most notable foreshore features on this stretch of foreshore are the remains of two timber slipways, down which the yard launched its ships. Fieldwork by the #FROG have shown these to be made of reused ship’s timbers. #LockdownLowTide

A good indication of how this would have looked comes from the artist John Cleverly the Elder, who also worked as a carpenter at Deptford. This painting from 1755 shows the Master Shipwright’s House and the Tudor Great Storehouse. #LockdownLowTide

Many noted ships were constructed at Deptford, with three serving at Trafalgar, two for the Royal Navy and one with the French. Ships used by Cook, Bligh and Vancouver were all refitted for exploration at Deptford. #LockdownLowTide

Our colleagues at @MOLArchaeology have excavated the landward side, finding the remains of the Storehouse, basins and slipways that follow the line of those on the foreshore. The excavation also found the remains of John Evelyn’s home Sayes Court #LockdownLowTide

Sayes Court was used by Peter the Great when he visited Britain to learn about shipbuilding, he famously trashed the house and knocked a hole in the wall to better access the dockyard. His visit is remembered by a statue by Deptford Creek and a street name. #LockdownLowTide

As ships grew in size and materials change, Deptford declined. The last ship was launched in the 1860s and the dockyard was closed in 1869. It became the Foreign Cattle Market and animal bones are still a common find on the foreshore here. #LockdownLowTide

Just to the north of the dockyard is the Victualling Yard, which had a presence in Deptford as early as the 1660s. The surviving buildings date from the 1770s and by the 1780s Deptford was the centre of the Navy’s victualling operations from the 1780s. #LockdownLowTide

The Navy remained at the site until 1961, ending over 400 years of naval presence in Deptford. Today the buildings are flats. The Drake Stairs are a central feature of the foreshore here, @artfletch produced this wonderful 3D model of the stairs. https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/drakes-steps-6f20ca3ead094e75ae059781d220ba03

Our last stop takes us past the Victualling Yard to the private shipyard at Grove Street. Sandwiched between the Greenland Dock and the Victualling Yard it was in a prime spot to take on both civilian and military work. #LockdownLowTide

Private yards dotted the river from Rotherhithe to Blackwall and the smae families operated networks of yards. Gorve Street was owned by the Barnard family in partnership with members of the Dudman family. The yard is marked Mr Dudman's Yard in this 1827 map #LockdownLowTide

A fragment of slipway, also built of reused ship's timbers survives on the foreshore here. Next to it is the culvert of the Earl's Sluice. Our plan was to record it this week as part of our scheduled fieldwork season. #LowTideLockdown