Haycrafts of Deptford

Dona Haycraft has written to us saying..

I am starting to research family history connected with the Haycrafts in Deptford (ironmongers). My interest started with the Haycraft halfpenny 1795 of which I have a couple and portraits of Joseph and Sarah Haycraft Deptford website Bonhams - the paintings did not sell to my relief!).

http://www.abccoinsandtokens.com/DH.Kent.013.004.html
http://tinyurl.com/34dsp55

I wonder if there is any reference of where John Haycraft had a dock allegedly in Rotherhithe and whether there is any trace of where Thomas (he of the halfpenny) had his business in Deptford's Broadway or whether it was flattened in the bombing of the Broadway in WW2.

The GIHS Webmaster says: According to the Bonhams site, the Haycrafts were a family of shipbuilders, prior to 1700 in Torbay, then subsequently in Rotherhithe and Deptford, Joseph was part of the family business, by then a company of ironmongers fitting out ships in the Viturlline Yard in Deptford. In 1795 his brother, Thomas Haycraft famously coined his own token, the 'Haycraft Halfpenny' which bears the legend 'Payable at Tho's Haycraft's, Deptford'.

I clearly must come to Deptford. Any suggestions of the best places to start? The links between Lewisham/Deptford/Greenwich are confusing to someone in Suffolk!

best wishes, Dona Haycraft
email: dona@donahaycraftphotography.co.uk
Tel: 01379 668669