Exploring Deptford's Maritime Heritage
Contributing partners:
Arthouse Ventures
Bernadette Russell
City Girl in Nature
Creek Link
Creekside Discovery Centre
Lewisham Local History Centre
MoS&F London
National Maritime Museum
Thames Sailing Barge Will
Funded by:
‘Revealing the Creek’, was a community heritage project, produced for Lewisham Borough of Culture 2022, by Raybel Charters, Arthouse Ventures and the National Maritime Museum.
Assembling a talented group of local young people, emerging actors, musicians and dancers we set out to creatively explore the Deptford of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries - a time when the shipyards on and around Deptford Creek were integral to the emergence of England’s colonial trading network.
Focusing on the festival themes of climate change, sustainability and linking Deptford to the world, we wanted to create a new performance piece about the meaning of that heritage today.
The project culminated in an immersive theatre piece – ‘The Creek’ – designed around the spaces of the Cutty Sark clipper ship - a vessel from the days when the sail power was being usurped by the industrial might of steam.
A final celebration event took place at the Master Shipwright’s House – the last remaining building from Deptford’s historic Royal Dock.
