Lewisham is a borough in South London, England, located 5.9 miles south of Charing Cross. Liofshema was founded by the Jutish settler Leof during the 6th century AD, and it was located at the confluence of the old rivers Quaggy and Ravensbourne. King Alfred the Great was Lord of the Manor of Lewisham during the 9th century, and Lewisham later became the site of a Roman Catholic priory. Lewisham was a village until the coming of the North Kent line to Dartford in 1849 encouraged commuter housing in Lewisham, and Lewisham was administratively part of Kent until 1889, after which it became a metropolitan borough of Greater London. The town center was struck by a V-1 flying bomb in 1944, resulting in over 300 casualties (including 51 dead) and the devastation of the high street. The high street was restored in the mid-1950s, and Lewisham became home to a prestigious cricket club. In May 1977, the arrest of 21 Black residents of Lewisham in connection with a series of muggings led to heightened racial tensions which were exacerbated by the National Front's agitation, and, in August, the "Battle of Lewisham" saw 500 NF supporters clash with 4,000 anti-racists and anti-fascists. By 2019, the Borough of Lewisham had a population of 305,842 residents, of whom 53.6% were white (41.5% British, 10.1% other, and 2.8% Irish), 27.2% were Black (11.6% African and 11.2% Caribbean), 9.3% were Asian (2.2% Chinese, 1.7% Indian, .6% Pakistani, and .5% Bangladeshi), 7.4% were mixed (3.1% mixed Caribbean), and 2.6% other (.5% Arab). Starting in 1971, Lewisham's borough council was always dominated by the Labour Party.
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