PLACE NAME
Grove Hill House, which gives its name to this street, was an 18thCentury mansion built by the Quaker physician and philanthropist Dr John Coakley Lettsom, who lived in it until 1810. The name reflects the estate’s proximity to The Grove, which appears on John Rocque’s 1741 map of Camberwell as an area east of modern Camberwell Grove, at that time a private, tree-lined avenue. After Lettsom sold his mansion, famous for its gardens, hothouses and orchards, the land was quickly converted to streets and terraces sparking a major phase redevelopment in the area, during which time this street would have been laid out. The house itself however survived for some sixty years after that. Before Lettsom’s time, this land was part of the ancient manor of Camberwell which is mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 as belonging to Haimo.
