The Tarn

The Tarn is a small public park, which takes its name from its notable lake (tarn being an old term for a lake), which is fed by a small stream that runs into the River Quaggy and at times now also by run-off water from the A20. It is a surviving fragment of the C17th landscape of Eltham Lodge and in the north-west corner near the entrance is a brick ice-well with a domed roof dating from c.1760 that once supplied ice to the Lodge. The parkland formerly belonged to Eltham Palace (q.v.), which was built as a royal retreat after Eltham manor was taken into the Crown's possession in 1305. It was the birthplace of Edward II in 1316 when the estate included the moated manor house, a dovecote, deer park and a windmill. The estate was added to by subsequent monarchs and by Edward IV's reign it incorporated three parks, Great Park, Middle Park and Horn Park, amounting to 1300 acres. During the Civil War the majority of the land was purchased in 1649 by Colonel Nathaniel Rich, who demolished most of the buildings; the deer were slaughtered and the parks stripped of trees.

Following the Restoration it was incorporated in the new landscape of Eltham Lodge that was established after Sir John Shaw took over the lease of the Palace estate from the Crown in 1663. Eltham Lodge was built for Shaw in 1664, and like most of the surviving parkland is now within the Royal Blackheath Golf Course (q.v.). The lake was previously known as Starbucks Pond, probably after a family known to have lived in the area from the C16th to the late C17th, although the name for the lake persisted until 1903 when it appears as Eltham Tarn. At No. 133 Court Road is a cottage called 'Tarn Lodge', which was built for the keeper of the Tarn between 1900-10 to replace an earlier Keeper's House shown on the 1839 Tithe Map. The Tarn appears to have been leased from the Crown and from 1914-29 lease-holders were members of a family called Rocke. In 1933 the lake had become overgrown and stagnant.

In 1935 a remnant of woodland with the lake was acquired by the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich for a public park and the mid-C20th municipal layout included paths and shelters around the lake, which has two islands and a bridge. Tall trees block out the noise of Court Road traffic. A bird sanctuary was created on the north eastern side with a nature and butterfly garden at the western end of the park used for schools nature study. A Heritage Lottery Fund grant was awarded for restoration works in 2001. The Friends of The Tarn was set up in February 2008 and holds regular volunteer days; a new Butterfly Garden has been created on a neglected area where a wildflower meadow has been planted, with bird nesting boxes, a wildlife stack and bee homes.