Willow Walk

[larmat]

My Grandmother Ada Borrett b 1896 lived at 35 Willow Walk Lewisham. Daughter of Willliam George Borrett and Elizabeth Jones Oliver Borrett,
I tried to find it during a recent visit but it is gone.
Does anyone have the history of this street and know when and how it ceased to exist. I assume it was the war bombing.

If anyone has pictures of the street, home or residents - anything - I would be greatful!
Thank you

[Chris Doran]

From maps and directories to hand, it was there until at least 1972, renamed Milford Road some time between WW1 and WW2. By 1981, Winslade Way Shopping Precinct had been built over it.

[larmat]

I just want to say THANK YOU CHRIS for the valuable information! It gives me some clarification and direction about my grandparents and their ancestors. I do have to take the time to digest and learn from your help!
I just returned from London with my 93 year mother and haven't had much time to do anything but work (for a living) and catch up.
Your input is very important to me. I will post very shortly in detail. In short, I hope I have the right Willow Walk but I am very glad to have found this site while I was in London. My Borrett relatives are from Catford, Lewisham, Deptford, Blackheath, and many more in the area.
Congratulations to all in celebrating this wonderful and deeply historical part of London.
I thank you all for keeping your (our) history alive!
Cheers all!
Shirley Farrar(er)(ow) (Paternal) Borrett/Barrett (Maternal)
shirley.farrar@rogers.com
ps: I wll be back in the spring on my own!

[maureen barrett]

Hello there
I have just seen the posting on Willow Walk.I used to cut through Willow Walk on my way to the local Grammar School each day, and my brother later worked for The Express Dairy there.
Willow Walk some times called Willow Way by us, was a curved road cutting through between Kirkdale and Dartmouth Road.it came out alongside the police station and opposite the school on one end, and half way between the woodman Pub and Wells Park Road intersection with Sydenham Park Road.
Next time I'm in Sydenham i will check it out.I cant beleive that it too has gone!
Maureen Barrett(nee Myles)

[Chris Doran]

Maureen's Willow Way in Sydenham is still there according to the map (and called Way, not Walk). But from the family's entry on the 1901 census which I see larmat has already seen and annotated on Ancestry, Ada was indeed at the one I described in Catford.

Next time I'm at Lewisham Local Studies, I'll see if they have anything. But it won't be in the immediate future unless enough other inquiries come up, and they don't have a very large photo collection, so no promises. larmat could try e-mailing them.

[larmat]

Maureen's Willow Way in Sydenham is still there according to the map (and called Way, not Walk). But from the family's entry on the 1901 census which I see larmat has already seen and annotated on Ancestry, Ada was indeed at the one I described in Catford.
Next time I'm at Lewisham Local Studies, I'll see if they have anything. But it won't be in the immediate future unless enough other inquiries come up, and they don't have a very large photo collection, so no promises. larmat could try e-mailing them.

Thanks all!
Hi Chris.
I believe you are right! We were very close when we were there. I had all the godfrey maps but 129 which, as it turns out, may not be the one I needed. I did call the Lewisham Archives in advance of trekking down there a second time from North London with a 93 year old. They actually told me they had little that could help me unitil I determined exactly where it was. I was hoping they could help me with that.
I need to go there next trip on foot and on my own with better coordinates and lots of time. I am hoping to do that early 2012.
I think it is also gone as you mentioned to me but I still would like to go there and see where she may have been born. It could have been Essex Place as well and I found that location. I also found the location where Atlas Street was - near Blissett and Priory.

1901 Census show them at 35 Willow Walk, Lewisham
Sub District Lewisham,
Enumeration District 34,
Ecclesiatical District: St Laurence

(John Caleb Borrett) 8 mos in 1901 is recorded as being born in Catford.
Alll the others were listed as being born Greenwich Kent
Hence the confusion and I know the divisions changed over time.

1881 & 1891 Census has the family at 20 Essex Place - renamed Harwich Place (No longer there)
Sub District: Lee
Enumeration District: 5
Ecclesiastical District: (1891) The Ascension (1881) St Mary

Prior Census's have them at 3 Atlas Street (No longer there) also listed as Lewisham/ Blackheath.
Thanks all for all your help! I am hoping that someone will have pictures the area and the street.
I can be reached at shirley.farrar@rogers.com
Many thanks!
Shirley

[larmat]

I hope I can help you with your Canadian (Ontario) (Quebec) (PEI) and other provinces.
I am happy to do any of the Toronto and Niagara museums and archives and, of course, the Archives of Ontario which they have, sadly, moved to the suburbs and a very inconvenient location.
Cemetary lookups?
I am active in the Ontario Genealogical Society.
Cheers all!

[DrCaffeine]

My great grandfather, Henry Miller (1842-1908) was a Victorian photographer. He lived for some time in WIllow Walk, Sydenham and had a studio there. Has anyone encountered any of his work from the 1860s-80s? He was also a naturalist. He later lived in Belvedere Road, Penge.