Though close neighbours, Deptford and Greenwich were as different economically (the one an industrial Naval town, the other a fashionable place of residence trading on its royal associations) as they were physically being divided by Deptford Creek.

The creek was not crossed by a permanent structure until 1815.

The railway bridge was built in 1836 when London's first railway linked London Bridge and Greenwich. Neither bridge had a significant effect on either town's development.