Found a real treat ın The Bookshop on the Heath. It’s a reprint of an older guide called The Borough Pocket Guide. Page 30 of Neil Rhind’s “Blackheath Village and Environs
” history book says that the original was printed in 1909, but this is a later reprint. It must have been reprinted before 1990, as the London telephone number on the inlay slip begins with “01-“.
Anyway, it’s great. I’ve scanned it, and converted it to a PDF file. I’m unsure of the copyright, but will of course delete it if asked to – although it seems that this kind of obscure ephemera is what the internet was made for!
There’s a fold out map 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 file).
I’ve only just got the scanner (birthday present!), and the PDF file is all over the place – I can’t work out how to split the pages and number them correctly, but it’s still readable.
Have a look at page 9, at the top edge of the Aylett
Bros advert, no PC there !!
Sorry should read Page 8 !!!!
If you flick between two windows, one showing this map and the other showing Google aerial pictures, it is remarkable how little has changed.
Except for today, of course, when the footpaths magically turned beige! I always knew there were fairies on the Heath :]