Coldharbour Estate

The Coldharbour Estate is a housing estate in South East London, England, located in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is situated 8.6mi east south-east of Charing Cross.The Coldharbour Estate was originally developed in 1947 on the site of Coldharbour Farm, between the towns of Mottingham and Chislehurst, by the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich. It was created in a garden suburb style in order to house borough residents made homeless by The Blitz. The first house to be built, on Wynford Way, was opened by Aneurin Bevan, the Minister for Health, in 1947. The estate was due to be officially opened by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in May 1952, but that part of her tour was cancelled. When she finally arrived to "commemorate the completion of the Coldharbour Housing Estate" on 9 May 1957, the Kentish Independent''s headline the following day was "Five Year Wait For Royal Visit But It Was Well Worth It".Coldharbour Farm and subsequently the Coldharbour Estate were a civil parish of Kent until 1889 when it became part of the County of London and from 1900 formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich. The metropolitan borough was abolished in 1965 and Coldharbour then became part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich.