On Saturday I had to go to Eltham, to the building society to try to pay in our surprise cheque-not possible as it is issued in joint names-need to sort out tomorrow!I managed to find my way round the back streets to the M and S carpark-thus avoiding the queues in the High Street. M and S full but found a place in the carpark next door. Rushed to the bank, then had a most enjoyable and leisurely browse around a set of unfamiliar charity shops, and found a few great things. ( I can't help it!)
When I came back to the carpark I took a photo of this lovely building behind its sharp and unfriendly fence.
Tonight I googled 'Neo classical building M and S carpark and found this article first.
"With such a mighty residence it isn't surprising that Eltham was associated with families close to the crown. Trot back past McDonald's and walk north downhill along the Well Hall Road. Along the way divert up the footpath beside the police station and enjoy the astonishing 18th-century neo- classical orangery at the back of the Marks and Spencer car park. These days the only remnant of a once-imposing house, it resides under corrugated iron, festooned with sweet wrappers."
So, it is an orangery. I have not been able to find the name of the house it went with, but did find this very interesting article about historical Eltham. It was a popular place with the Royal family for a long time, a place to stay on the way to London from France, until the time of Henry the Eigth who preferred Greenwich, and took a lot of the timber from two of the Royal parks-Horn Park and Middle Park (both now local primary schools) for ship building.
In one of the as yet unexplored google leads there is named a 'Fairy House'. I want to know what that was.
I wonder what will happen to the orangery. It looks very solid at the back and front. I wonder too who owns it.
If I had taken more notice of the street names I would have seen that the road was called Orangery Lane, which would have given me a bit of a clue in my search!
