The reclaimed marshes between Deptford and Rotherhithe remained very lonely until the second half of the nineteenth century.

One of the few settlements was at Midway Place, where the Rev. Thomas Beck built this house for himself in 1788, and lived there until his death in 1844.

In 1790 he built an independent chapel in the garden, more for a Rotherhithe than a Deptford congregation, and a few cottages began to cluster around.

The big house did not long survive Thomas Beck, and the Old Manor House pub in Bush Road is the sole reminder of its existence on the spot.

Print of a watercolour by an unknown artist, c.1840