Coldharbour Lane

Too modern to be the thoroughfare in the Matthew Fisher song?

Desolation Row, Crucifiction Lane, Memorial Drive ... and Matthew Fisher's Cold Harbour Lane (see here for a South London explanation, and here for a map: zoom in on 'A'). But there's also a transpontine thoroughfare of (approximately) the same name at Rainham, Essex, and it looks a pretty barren place, as our correspondent Brad Shaw's photographs show. See a map here (zoom in on 'A') : but did this place exist in the 1970s, when the song in question was written? BtP has not checked.

Coldharbour Lane

Seven reasons to visit The Lane

Show me a sign

Some long road that goes nowhere?

But how far can one go?

Is this the Cold Harbour, and do ships come home to die?

A wading figure ... or a Wicker Man?

Thanks, Brad

Words from Fisher solo-albums | Liner-note about I'll Be There