Location | England LB Lewisham Lewisham (SE13) |
Lee High Road (adjacent to Halley Gardens) | |
Distance (S) from Greenwich | |
OS map details | OS Explorer: 161 or 162 |
OS grid ref | TQ 38920.75204 (538920,175204) |
WGS84 lat/long | 51.458774, -0.001802 |
Type | Pavement (slab) |
Marking date | 1984 |
Access | Unrestricted |
One of a pair – the other is in Bromley Hill at the southern end of the borough. The accompanying slab is a reminder of the racial tensions that erupted in Lewisham in the 1970s, culminating in the Battle of Lewisham on 13 August 1977 and the New Cross arson attack on 18 January 1981 in which 13 young black people died. 1984 was subsequently declared Anti-Racist Year by The Greater London Council (GLC), under its then leader Ken Livingstone.
Although the International Meridian Conference had taken place in October 1884, June 26 was the designated day for the national celebrations of the ‘Meridian’s centenary’ in 1984. The borough of Lewisham however chose to wait until its anti racist week in November to unveil this marker.