When at my parents for lunch last Friday we got talking about family events. One of which was my baptism and mum told me that I was baptised at St Mark’s Church in Castillon Road, Catford SE6 on the North Downham Estate. This is just a few yards from Dad’s parents home in the 1930s to 1950s. I’d not known this church and so decided to go and have a look as its only a couple of miles from where I live now. I am glad I did.
The church sits on the very edge of the Downham Estate on the junction of Castillon and Baudwin Roads. Its construction is amazing and like no other church I have seen; prefabricated blocks and a simple Nissen hut type roof. One website (link) states that it was built in the late 1960s but this is incorrect as my dad remembers the church in the very late 1940s and I was Baptised in it on June 2nd 1958.
Church records show baptisms from 1948 and another site (link) suggest its construction was to meet the needs of an influx on new tenants in the area in 1944 and 45 and this led to an amazing personal discovery – more to come.
anomiepete 