Rebels from Cornwall, led by Michael An Gof (also known was Michael Joseph; An Gof is Cornish for blacksmith) and Thomas Flamank (a Bodmin landowner's son), had marched to London to protest about the unfair taxation of Cornwall (the money was being raised in order to finance an invasion of Scotland). En route, they gathered support from the yeomen of Plymouth and forces led by James Touchet, Lord Audley in Somerset.
After fighting a minor battle near Guildford, Surrey, they were hopeful of gaining further support from people in Kent (the focus of Jack Cade's rebellion of 1450), but despite rallying at Cade's meeting place at nearby Blackheath were disappointed.
As a result, the Cornish rebels were soundly beaten by King Henry VII's forces led by Lord Daubeney. Much of the battle took place on the eastern side of the Ravensbourne, on the hillside up to the plateau of Blackheath - as a result, it is sometimes called the 'Battle of Blackheath'. Figures from the battle vary though they generally place the losses of Daubeney's forces within single figures next to over 1000 Cornishmen.
The three leaders (An Gof, Flamank and Audley) were all executed, on 24 June 1497. An Gof and Flamank suffered the traitor's fate of being hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, while Audley was beheaded on Tower Hill. Their heads were displayed on pike-staffs on London Bridge.
Deptford, originally part of historic Kent, became the Metropolitan Borough of Deptford, but was later absorbed into Lewisham.
Deptford was the location of the foreign cattle markets - the notorious "gutting sheds" in which girls and women worked in squalor gutting animals until the early part of the 20th century.
George Julian Harney, (1817-1897), radical Chartist, was born in Deptford, the son of George Harney, a sailor.
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