The home of philanthropist John Thackeray. It was built in the gothic style with extensive gardens. The site of the house is now occupied by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, at 428 Lewisham High Street. The house was a short distance to the north of the almshouses, as can be seen on this 1863 map and this 1893 map.
A stream which used to ran along the front of the house (and also along the length of the high street) was unintentionally drained when a sewer was built. Possibly that explains why all the buildings on the west side of this road are set back behind a green space with trees (if only more London streets had this feature!)
The grounds of Lewisham Priory occupied the area south of the hospital, between Lewisham High Street and Blagdon Road. The location of the medieval Lewisham Priory is unknown but may have been here.
There is a photo of part of the house on page 33 of the interactive flip book on St Mary's Church Lewisham's website.
At our Picture source this 1819 printed image is captioned: "View of the residence of John Thackeray. Notes: This house was possibly on the site of the medieval Lewisham Priory; certainly a 17th mansion of that name was built on what became Lewisham High Street. The house stood on the west side of the street, just north of where John Thackeray (the house's owner at the time of this print) endowed what are now known as Thackeray's Almshouses (1840, a Grade II listed building). The house was demolished in 1932. Please note, this is not the same house as seen in RIBA68864." We have to say that the image shown under that ref. no. does bear a striking resemblance to this one. It apparently shows The Priory, Bedford Hill, Balham, from Tooting Common. A small section of that house still remains and can be seen in Google Street View 3D. But we digress.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
