Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in the modern borough of Lewisham (London, England). From the 16th to late 19th centuries, it was the site of the Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Dockyards and a major shipbuilding dock.

In London Labour and the London Poor edition: 

Phase 1

Of the Mud-Larks. (Volume 2): "But there are, in addition to the mud-larks employed in the neighbourhood of what may be called the pool, many others who work down the river at various places as far as Blackwall, on the one side, and at Deptford, Greenwich, and Woolwich, on the other. These frequent the neighbourhoods of the various "yards" along shore, where vessels are being built; and whence, at certain times, chips, small pieces of wood, bits of iron, and copper nails, are washed out into the river."

Phase 2

Of the Street-Buyers of Rags, Broken Metal, Bottles, Glass, and Bones. (Volume 2)

Of the Dredgers, or River Finders. (Volume 2)