Description

The area Up to 20 million visitors a year, from all over the world, explore the streets and buildings that form historical Maritime Greenwich. The UNESCO-protected World Heritage Site includes such landmarks as Inigo Jones’s The Queen’s House, the Old Royal Naval College – originally the Royal Hospital for Seamen, designed by Sir Christopher Wren - and Greenwich Park, where the descendants of the deer introduced by King Henry VIII can still be seen today. You need only divert from the high street, however, along the cobbles of St Alfege’s Passage - and beside the Grade I listed church where Henry VIII was baptised - to enter a peaceful residential enclave that feels a million miles from the tourist trail, yet also has history at every turn. Some buildings in this part of the West Greenwich Conservation Area – including 1 Churchfields – retain their old signage that hints at the places that fed and watered locals in centuries past. As the Royal Borough of Greenwich states in its Local Heritage List, Churchfields “forms an essential part of the fabric of old Greenwich”. This is very much a house that sits at the heart of modern Greenwich too. Within a short walk are the town centre’s many shops, restaurants, cafes and pubs (the nearest is also one of the most historic - The Mitre, which began life as a coffee shop in the 1700s), along with a Picturehouse cinema, Greenwich Theatre and Greenwich Market. Living here in central Greenwich also means you benefit from two of the most requested features among house-hunters in London: to be near the river or a park. It’s ‘and’, nor ‘or’, here, as you are just moments away from the Thames, presided over by the majestic Cutty Sark ship, and Greenwich Park’s 183 acres of greenery lie on the doorstep. The vendors says: “We’ll really miss the location. There’s a real sense of community here. All our neighbours are very friendly – a mixture of young families and older couples - and St Alfege’s Church, which holds regular concerts and coffee mornings, is very much part of the community.” The house Amid the low-rise terraces of historical – and some more modern – houses in this cluster of streets just off Greenwich High Road, you can’t help but notice 1 Churchfields. You’ll spot the odd passerby stopping to take a photo every now and again too. This four-storey, detached house – which stands on the corner of Churchfields, a narrow, one-way street that few cars drive down – is distinctive for its statuesque shape, rising two storeys above most of the houses that surround it. You will also spot the lettering on its handsome red-brick and white render façade: The Earl Grey 1913, which tells of year in which the building, which had been an ale house since 1851, was rebuilt. The current owners have done some digging and discovered that the owner in 1888, a Mr Henry Hawthorn, had two convictions. For what, it’s not clear, but bear in mind this was Victorian England when people drank beer instead of water because it was less likely to make you seriously ill. The property’s original bright red front door from those times remains, with its Victorian ironwork on the glass panes, and the wide front living room window is where thirsty customers would have pitched up at the hatch with their tankards. The bottle green tiles on the front of the house are also Victorian. When the current owners moved in a decade ago and refurbished the house, they tracked down a specialist to repair the tiles so that the façade retained its original look. After that, the building became a wine merchant, an off-licence and the office for the adjacent metalwork factory before the previous owners converted it into a residential property in the 1990s. Step inside Through the red front door, you come to the spacious living room that looks on to the street at one end and the back garden at the other. There are high ceilings throughout the house, which lends every room a feel of light and space. The house has the cosiness of a cottage – especially in the living room, with its log-burning stove - but the sense of volume in every room means it would be a generous-sized family house perfectly suited to a couple with growing or older children. Passing through an arch, you enter the white-tiled kitchen, with space for a table and chairs for breakfast - or you could take your coffee outdoors into the back yard, which catches the sun for most of the day. On the first floor are two bedrooms, including the main bedroom at the front of the house, with white shutters, fitted wardrobes and a high ceiling. Next door is the second double bedroom, and a bathroom with a shower. Two further double bedrooms and a newly-renovated shower room await upstairs - and there’s an unmodernised loft space above. It’s below ground, though, that a surprise awaits: the old ale house cellar, which the current owners have fully converted into a habitable space with an ensuite toilet room. The vendor says: “When we moved here, the cellar still had the old beer hatch to the pavement so it was open to the elements. The cellar was full of nuts and bolts too, from the time when there was a factory next door. Now it is fully tanked, you could use the cellar as a home office or even a fifth bedroom - and you can still climb up on to the street, through a new, insulated hatch, should you wish.” Transport Access to public transport is one of the great assets of living here in the centre of Greenwich. From the house, it’s a five-minute walk to the Cutty Sark DLR station or to Greenwich railway station, with fast, direct connections to London Bridge and Cannon Street. There are also many bus routes that run along nearby Greenwich High Road, and regular River Bus services from Greenwich Pier, eight minutes’ walk from this property. Leisure time in Greenwich Next to St Alfege’s Church, you’ll stumble across one of London’s hidden parks - St Alfege’s Park, where children play, locals sit in quiet contemplating, but most people never know exists. But when you want green expanses and city-wide views, it’s hard to beat Greenwich Park. Home to the Royal Observatory and National Maritime Museum, several cafes, one of the best children’s playgrounds in South-East London, it’s a place to relax, exercise and soak up the scenery all year round. There is a huge array of leisure amenities on tap too, whether you enjoy concerts or comedy, you want gyms, museums, sushi-making or sailing schools. Schools Within a short walk of Churchfields are two primary schools rated Good by Ofsted: James Wolfe and St Alfege with St Peter’s Church of England. The nearest all-through school is St Mary Magdalene C of E School on Greenwich Peninsula, and private schools including Pointers, Blackheath Prep and Blackheath High are within around 1.5 miles.