The working dockyard town next door to Greenwich: a council street market with fish and fabric stalls, dockyard officers' Georgian houses, a Baroque masterpiece, Marlowe's churchyard, then over the creek to Greenwich.
Best time: Wednesday, Friday or Saturday morning, when the High Street market runs
The route, stop by stop
- 1Deptford Market Yard (by Deptford station)
Start by the station, in the converted railway arches. 5 min.
- 2Deptford High Street market
Council-run market on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 09:00-17:30 (street closed to traffic): fresh fish, fruit and veg, fabric, household goods; Douglas Way is the bric-a-brac and second-hand side. 40 min.
- 3Albury Street
Early-18th-century street built for officers and senior staff of Deptford Dockyard; ten Grade II* houses. 10 min.
- 4St Paul's, Deptford
Thomas Archer's Baroque church, 1712-1730, 'one of the most moving C18 churches in London' (Buildings of England). In the 1970s its crypt was a reggae club. 15 min.
- 5St Nicholas Church, Deptford
Deptford's original parish church, current brick building 1697; Christopher Marlowe lies in an unmarked grave in the churchyard. Look for the 'Valley of Dry Bones' carving from the old charnel house. 15 min.
- 6Cutty Sark (Greenwich)
Cross Deptford Creek, where the Ravensbourne meets the Thames, into Greenwich; link up with the Greenwich foot-tunnel walk here. 5 min.
More walks in London
- South Bank: Westminster to Tower Bridge
- City of London: St Paul's to the Tower via hidden corners
- Regent's Canal: Little Venice to King's Cross
- East End: Spitalfields, Brick Lane and Columbia Road
- Hampstead Heath: Parliament Hill to Kenwood
- Greenwich: foot tunnel to the Meridian
- Royal Westminster: Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace
- Legal London: Gray's Inn to Fleet Street
- Brixton to Herne Hill: markets, archives and the lido
- Bermondsey: Bermondsey Street to the Beer Mile
- Walthamstow: the market, the village and William Morris