Southwark, directly south of the river Thames, stretches from Dulwich up to Borough, Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, taking in Peckham and Camberwell along the way.
The name dates back to the 9th century, but Southwark was first settled in the Roman period.
Important landmarks such as Tower Bridge, Millenium Bridge, London Bridge, the Shard, the Tate Modern, the Globe and the Imperial War Museum are all contained within the borough.
Visitors to London a century ago would have found plenty of attractions to keep them occupied. From the British Museum to Westminster Abbey, the 1900 publication ‘Baedeker’s Guide: London and its environs’ provides a wonderful overview for railway travellers of all that London has to offer. In addition […]
While tourists dominate at the weekend in Greenwich, during the week there is an influx of students. That’s because since 1998, the University of Greenwich and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance have occupied the buildings that for more than a century were home to the Royal […]
Maritime and Greenwich are two words that often go hand in hand. And given the area’s sea-faring past it’s not hard to see why. Within reach of Greenwich, dockyards were created more than 500 years ago that quite literally built the modern Navy. This was also where for […]
Next to a Pret A Manager store in amongst Borough’s maze of narrow streets there’s an important preserved historical site that helps us remember the time when a major part of Southwark was ruled by a single powerful landowner, the Bishop of Winchester. Most of the Winchester Palace […]
Turn into Redcross Way, only a few minutes’ walk from Borough High Street, and it’s hard to miss the colourful display of ribbons tied onto tall, sturdy gates blocking access to an overgrown and derelict site. But this isn’t just any old patch of waste ground, far from […]
If you want to understand why the hustle and bustle returned to Bankside after it was abandoned whenRoman Britain fizzled out then Borough High Street is as good as any place to start. Here a thorough-fare on the main road from the Kent coast to London was becoming […]
In contrast to the ugly concentre monstrosity that spans the Thames today, the London Bridge of medieval times was an awe-inspiring stone structure which attracted visitors from all over Europe. Taking over 30 years to complete, and claiming the lives of an estimated 150 workmen during its construction, […]
In the shadow of the Shard at the southern end of London Bridge, there’s a curious looking grey spike sculpture jutting up in the sky. Skater boarders use the pedestal for performing tricks, while most people probably simply walk past it. But this feature has a great deal […]
While I was walking down Borough High Street earlier in the week, a tourist clutching a map of the capital asked me if London Bridge station was far away. The Tube entrance was only a few metres from where we were standing and the mainline platforms were a […]
With gleaming waterfront apartments around London Bridge on the market today for sums that only those on bankers salaries could afford, it is hard to imagine upmarket parts of south London like Borough and Shad Thames tarred by heavy industry and nothing short a miserable place to live. […]
Past In The Present 