We have an old map of Blackheath, from 1895, (probably bought from the wonderful bookshop on the edge of the common), which clearly shows a pond, adjacent to Pond Road, in the bottom right corner. When I looked on Google Maps, I noticed that it has disappeared. Does anyone know when and why? Click the maps to enlarge.
The pondless Google Maps version is here (link to actual map here)
And here’s an overlay of both maps together
Update:
The Bugle finally managed to wander up Pond Road today, after voting, to take a look at the absence of pond, and a few pics. After walking past lots of very big houses, eventually I found this:
Look at the way the trees appear to have sunk into the ground. A dead giveaway.
And:
Note the curve of the path – running in a big circle around the green. I wonder what it used to be used for? I could imagine people bringing their livestock to drink from the pond, as I guess the area would have been more agricultural back then.
Licensed under a 
6 Comments
August 4, 2008 at 12:06 am
[...] do like a vintage map or two, as you may remember. I’ve just found two amazing sites full of lovely antique London maps… You can almost [...]
January 21, 2009 at 1:29 pm
This area next to Pond Road , used to be marshland in the 1950’s, and the area between Paragon Place and Pond Road was woodland.
June 8, 2009 at 12:32 am
[...] in the middle by G.W.Bacon and Co Ltd, 127 Strand, London, and you’ll be happy to see that The Mysterious Pond is still present at this time (see image above, or page 14 of the PDF [...]
June 19, 2009 at 2:21 pm
My friend Paul Gross (b. Greenwich 1937) remembers the pond when he was a schoolboy, so that would be about 1947-8, he tells me that he and his friends used to muck about in and around it on the way to school – I expect it was filled in when the nearby council housing was built.
June 21, 2009 at 6:43 am
[...] saw your comment about the Mysterious Pond – apologies if you know all this already, but if not I might be able to shed some light on [...]
June 22, 2009 at 9:03 am
I remember the Pond being there, after the war and in the earl fifties, but it seemed if my memory is correct, to be a rather marshy area, it smelt very marshy.
On the other side of the road opposite the Pond site, this was all woodland area right up to Paragon Place.
I believe that this was all destroyed to make way for a housing estate in the fifties
Bob Land