the history of matham grove

[ann bailey]

i was born in 1964 and i was brought home from hospital to number 3 matham grove i was raised by my grandparents and we lived there till i was 14. when i was about 8 i started exploring the house and at the top of the stairs near the attic there was a closet we had filled it with junk but when i looked closer it had little stickers on each shelf saying 'boys white vests' and 'boys white pants' hmmm i was intrigued on further inspection i noticed that in the hallway by the front door and on the landing at the bottom of the last set of stairs there was like a hard board seperating number 1 from number 3. now i was told by the old lady who lived downstairs fom us that the two houses had been conjoined and it was a boys home run by nuns please if anyone could tell me if the story is true i've always wondered Ann Bailey was Rodriguez

[GSJ57]

I looked up the census returns for you - in 1891 it was a single family home. In 1901 it was a Camberwell Board of Guardians Home. There were 11 children, boys and girls, and one foster mother. In 1911 there were 24 children, boys and girls, and two foster mothers. The age range of the children were from 5 - 14.

In 1911 there was no number 1 - they were listed as 3 and 3.

Hope this helps!

Edited for clarity

[Chener Books]

Matham Grove was part of the "Bailey Estate". The freehold of the land was owned by E.Bailey of Lordship Lane.

The estate comprised of:

The South side of East Dulwich Grove between Tell Grove and Lordship Lane

The East leg of Tell Grove

Matham Grove

Ashbourne Grove

Both sides of Melbourne Grove between Ashbourne Grove and Chesterfield Grove

Chestefield Grove

Bassano Street

Blackwater Street

The North side of Melbourne Grove between Blackwater Street and Lordship Lane

The West side of Lordship Lane between East Dulwich Grove and Melbourne Grove

Bailey's houses were built between 1873 and 1885 and were built to rent out to the respectable working class. By 1885 a seven room house was rented out at ?30 per year.

John K

[ianr]

It appears to have been what was known as a 'Scattered Home', a Poor Law provision. The London Metropolitan Archives in Clerkenwell have some Camberwell Board of Guardians records, some specific to Matham Grove. If you go here, enter as a guest, and then search on Matham, you can see catalogue entries for the admission and discharge register. There appears to have been a home in Melbourne Grove too, which might have been the predecessor of the Matham Grove one. London County Council would have assumed responsibility when the Local Government Act 1929 abolished the poor law unions. The LMA also has many LCC records.

[ann bailey]

thank you so much for your rapid reply to my querie, your answer has cleared up the mystery. Thanks once again Ann Bailey

[2Sheds]

Hi Ann

I've been into both 1 and 3 Matham Grove and seen that door between the two houses. Like you, I immediately wanted to know why it was there :-) It was boarded over and plastered many years ago when the house was refurbished as two flats.

Look here for a little more information :- http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Camberwell/Camberwell.shtml

You'll need to scroll down to the 3rd picture from the bottom to see another pair of 'joined' houses in the street.

[ann bailey]

oh my god that pic in 1899 is my street not a lot has changed from the outside of the houses i was allowed in most of the houses as a child but i never went in 9 or 11 so i never knew there was another house like mine absolutly fascinating, thank you so much for guiding me to this website. Ann