Why Deptford Pink?

Why Deptford Pink?

It was never here!

The plant now known as Deptford Pink is not the plant that gave Creekside its logo.

In fact, it isn't even the plant that was originally called Deptford Pink. 

The story begins in the late sixteenth century, when herbalist John Gerard found a wild pink flower growing in the fields beside Deptford. In his Herbal, published in 1597, he described it as growing in "the great field next to Deptford" on the route from Rotherhithe to Greenwich. He named it Deptford Pink after the place where he found it.

"There is a wild creeping Pink which groweth in our pastures near about London, and in other places, but especially in the great field next to Deptford, by the path side as you go from Redriffe to Greenwich..."

But the flower Gerard described was not the plant we know today as Deptford Pink. It was a different species, which is called Maiden Pink. 

So what happened?

In 1633, Gerard's Herbal was revised and expanded by botanist Thomas Johnson. During the revision, the illustrations of Maiden Pink and Deptford Pink became mixed up. Over time, the mistake stuck. The name "Deptford Pink" gradually became attached to the wrong flower and has remained so ever since. The plant Gerard found beside Deptford is now known as Maiden Pink.

It's a fascinating piece of history, but for us it means something more.

The fields Gerard described are long gone. The meadows, hedgerows and marshland around Deptford Creek have been transformed over centuries of development and industry. Many species that once lived here have disappeared from the local landscape.

The story of Deptford Pink is a reminder that we only know about the flower Gerard found because he noticed it, recorded it and wrote down where it grew. How many other plants and animals that once lived in Deptford have vanished without being noticed or recorded?

Our logo represents a plant that was never here, but it also reminds us of the many species that were here but there is no record of.

For many years, Creekside's logo showed a Deptford Pink flower with a stem shaped like Deptford Creek. The current logo keeps the flower but simplifies the design.

More than four centuries after Gerard walked through the fields beside Deptford, the flower remains a symbol of the wildlife we've lost and the wildlife we're still fighting to protect.

A plant that was never here.

And a symbol for all the species that were.