Bellingham Green and the Bellingham Estate

The Bellingham Estate is a large LCC housing estate built for railway workers on former farmland between railway lines, on land that was still rural until the 1920s. In medieval times this was part of the Manor of Bellingham, and was once near the hamlet of Southend. Among farms on the manorial estate were Bellingham Farm and White House Farm; the LCC purchased Bellingham Farm and part of White House Farm in 1920 and the estate was largely completed by 1923, laid out on cottage-style principles on a semi-formal plan with Bellingham Green as a central open space onto which 6 tree-lined roads converge. The LCC's objective was to provide good quality housing for its residents, particularly those in impoverished areas in the borough, such as Deptford and Bermondsey. Other landscaping on the estate includes avenues of trees, grassed areas or greens, allotments and two playing fields. 

St Dunstan's Church on Bellingham Green was built in 1925, designed by Sir Charles Nicholson, although never fully completed; The United Reform Church was built on the opposite side of Bellingham Green. The names of some of the roads on the Estate recall the former mills on the River Ravensbourne, such as Knapmill, Grangemill, Fordmill. The streets beyond Southend Lane were not completed until 1936, and Bellingham Farm House was not demolished until the 1930s; the original scheme of over 2,000 houses has since been expanded. The Green formerly had a sculpture, 'Sunstone' by Hamish Horsley, which was commissioned in 1985 by Lewisham Council through Public Art Development Trust, but is no longer in place. Sunstone was an abstract seven-piece sculpture, comprising a central shaft from which radiated six variously-shaped elements, mounted on a base area of granite setts and concrete slabs set into the surrounding pathway. The surfaces of all seven upright elements were carved with rays and whorls, and one of the radiating elements had a dish-shaped depression pierced with a small hole. The central shaft was originally topped with a sphere.

In 2001 Bellingham Green was renovated after years of neglect. It was re-opened by Dave Sullivan, the Mayor of Lewisham, with Father Paul Butler blessing the new park, described in Lewisham Council documents as 'transformed and [. . . ] a beacon for effective regeneration and consultation'. The new layout included new play facilities, seating, landscaping with rocks, shrubs, and pergolas near the south entrance. A circular area with grass in the centre surrounded by stone globes may be the former site of Hamish Horsley's sculpture, which was much vandalised from the time of its commission and was removed in 2001 when the park was redeveloped. Bellingham Green was again refurbished in 2003. On the wider estate, some of the roadside trees have been removed to provide parking spaces, but many of the small greens and grassed areas off the main streets remain, and both playing fields are still in use.