Blackheath, United Kingdom

In local government, Blackheath never saw independence; at first split between the Lewisham, Lee, Charlton and Greenwich vestries or civil parish councils and Kidbrooke liberty, which assembled into Greenwich, Plumstead (in final years called Lee) and Lewisham Districts, then re-assembled with others into Greenwich and Lewisham metropolitan boroughs in 1900.

An urban myth is Blackheath could derive from the 1665 Plague or the Black Death of the mid-14th century. A local burial pit is nonetheless likely during the Black Death, given the established village and safe harbour (hithe) status of Greenwich. At those times the high death rate meant that a guaranteed churchyard burial became impractical.

A key Celtic trackway (becoming a Roman road and later Watling Street) scaled the rise that is shared with Greenwich Park and a peak 1 mile (1.6 km) east-by-southeast, Shooters Hill. In the west this traversed the mouth of Deptford Creek (the River Ravensbourne), a corruption or throwback to earlier pronunciation of deep ford. Other finds can be linked to passing trade connected with royal palaces. In 1710, several Roman urns were dug up, two of which were of fine red clay, one of a spherical, and the other of a cylindrical, form; and in 1803, several more were discovered in the gardens of the Earl of Dartmouth and given to the British Museum.

Certain monarchs passed through and their senior courtiers kept residences here and in Greenwich. Before the Tudor-built Greenwich Palace and Stuart-built Queen's House, one of the most frequently used was Eltham Palace about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the southeast of the ridge, under the late Plantagenets, before cessation as a royal residence in the 16th century.

On the north side of the heath, Ranger's House, a medium-sized red brick Georgian mansion in the Palladian style, backs directly onto Greenwich Park. Associated with the Ranger of Greenwich Park, a royal appointment, the house was the Ranger's official residence for most of the 19th century. Neighbouring Montagu House, demolished in 1815, was a royal residence of Caroline of Brunswick. Since 2002, Ranger's House has housed the Wernher Collection of art.

The Pagoda is a notably exquisite home, built in 1760 by Sir William Chambers in the style of a traditional Chinese pagoda. It was later leased to the Prince Regent, principally used as a summer home by Caroline of Brunswick.

Blackheath was a rallying point for Wat Tyler's Peasants' Revolt of 1381, and for Jack Cade's Kentish rebellion in 1450, both recalled by road names on the west side of the heath. After camping at Blackheath, Cornish rebels were defeated at the foot of the west slope in the Battle of Deptford Bridge, sometimes called the Battle of Blackheath, on 17 June 1497.

In 1400, Henry IV of England met here with Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos who toured western royalty to seek support to oppose Bayezid I (Bajazet), the Ottoman Sultan. In 1415, the lord mayor and aldermen of London, in their robes of state, attended by 400 of the principal citizens, clothed in scarlet, came hither in procession to meet Henry V of England on his triumphant return from the Battle of Agincourt.

Blackheath was, along with Hounslow Heath, a common assembly point for army forces, such as in 1673 when the Blackheath Army was assembled under Marshal Schomberg to serve in the Third Anglo-Dutch War. In 1709–10, army tents were set up on Blackheath to house a large part of the 15,000 or so German refugees from the Palatinate and other regions who fled to England, most of whom subsequently settled in America or Ireland.

With Watling Street carrying stagecoaches across the heath, en route to north Kent and the Channel ports, it was also a notorious haunt of highwaymen during the 17th and 18th centuries. As reported in Edward Walford's Old and New London (1878), "In past times it was planted with gibbets, on which the bleaching bones of men who had dared to ask for some extension of liberty, or who doubted the infallibility of kings, were left year after year to dangle in the wind." In 1909 Blackheath had a local branch of the London Society for Women's Suffrage.

The Vanbrugh Pits, known locally as the Dips, are on the north-east of the heath. A former gravel workings site, it has long been reclaimed by nature and form a feature in its near-flat expanse; particularly attractive in spring when its gorse blossoms brightly.