[3] The Domesday Book of 1086 describes Lee as a small area of cultivation set in extensive woodland.

This hamlet was then largely surrounded by fields, with the Wricklemarsh estate of Sir Gregory Page to the north, and a manor house (Lee Place)[5] to the north-west, with St Margaret's Church just beyond.

Lee Green Farm occupied the south-east quadrant from the 1660s (roughly on the site of the present Leegate shopping centre).

The present building is thought to have replaced the original cottage a few years after 1896 – the date of the rebuilding of the Old Tiger's Head.

At that time the green was the centre of village life with cricket matches, bare knuckle boxing and other entertainments.

In the 1850s further housebuilding prompted the installation of proper sewers and the Lee Green horse pond was filled in.

In the same year Charles Henry Reed, a linen draper, moves into 1 Orchard Terrace and established a department store.

In the early 1960s the south-east quadrant, including Carston Mews, was demolished to make way for Leegate shopping centre.

These connect it with areas including Blackheath, Bromley, Catford, Chislehurst, Crystal Palace, Eltham, Grove Park, Kidbrooke, Lewisham, New Cross, Petts Wood, Plumstead, Sidcup, Sydenham & Woolwich.