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The purpose of any bridge is the connection of two objects,

and the thinking behind the first bridge in London to be

built for more than a century was to bring together old

and new, North and South, art and commerce, and the

two great London landmarks of St Paul's Cathedral in

the City and Bankside’s Tate Modern.

Walk This Way will guide you around the history and

architecture of these two areas that are now linked by

the Millennium Bridge.

See www.southbanklondon.com for a more detailed profile of the buildings and streets featured in Walk This Way – Millennium Bridge.

At a brisk pace, the Walk This Way Millennium Bridge route will take at least 90 minutes, although it is recommended that you allow more time to stop and sightsee at various points along the route.

St Paul’s Cathedral toBankside and Borough

Walk This WayMillenniumBridge

architecture + history at your feet www.southbanklondon.com

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The Millennium Bridge is a350m pedestrian link over theThames – the first completelynew central London rivercrossing for over a hundredyears. Conceived as a marriageof art, design and technology,the winning design was chosenfrom more than 200 proposalsin a design competitionorganised by the RoyalInstitute of British Architectsand the Financial Times.

There were three maincontributors to the bridge’screation: the architects Fosterand Partners, the engineeringfirm of Arup; and the sculptorSir Anthony Caro. TheMillennium Bridge Trust wasestablished to steer the projectthrough in association withSouthwark and theCorporation of London.

The bridge was required tobe high enough to allow shipsto pass underneath it, yet lowenough not to interrupt viewsof St Paul’s. The designsolution was an innovative andcomplex structure to achieve asimple form: a streamlined,shallow suspension bridge, 4mwide, with cables that runalongside the deck, rather thanabove, absorbing 2000 tons of

force through cables that areanchored deep in largeconcrete slabs embedded oneither side of the river. During its opening weekend inJune 2000, it becameapparent that the structurewas swaying beneath the feetof the first 150,000 people touse the bridge and thecrossing was closed toinvestigate the ‘wobble’. Theproblem was caused bypedestrians unconsciouslyadjusting their pace to walk instep with minute vibrationsgiven off by a footbridge whenit is being used by a largenumber of people. When thenumber of pedestrians reachesa critical amount, the structurewill suddenly, and withoutwarning, begin to sway.

The bridge was fitted with apassive dampening system,like car shock absorbers, toallow smooth passage acrossthe river without affecting thestunning visual image of thebridge. Popular with residentsand visitors alike, theMillennium Bridge is nowunder the care of theCorporation of London throughthe Bridge House Estates Trust.

Millennium Bridge

‘Everything is visible, nothing is hidden. Beautiful to look at and look out from, it is an architectural achievement, an engineering triumph.’

Deyan Sudjic, Blade of Light

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Key1 St. Paul’s Cathedral2 Blitz Memorial3 St Nicholas Cole Abbey4 College of Arms5 Guild Church of St Benet6 City of London School7 Tate Modern 8 Bankside Gallery9 Hopton’s Almshouses10 Kirkaldy’s Testing Works11 Union Street12 Jerwood Space13 Copperfield Street14 Borough Welsh

Congregational Chapel15 Southwark Playhouse

16 Southwark Street17 Cardinal’s Wharf18 Shakespeare’s Globe & Exhibition19 Wherryman’s Seat20 Bear Gardens & Hope Theatre21 Rose Theatre site22 Anchor Pub23 Vinopolis24 Clink Prison25 Winchester Palace26 The Golden Hinde &

St Mary Overie Wharf27 Southwark Cathedral28 Borough Market29 Hop Exchange30 St Saviour’s Southwark War Memorial31 Talbot Yard32 The George Inn

TransportGeneral travel information can be obtained on Transport for London’s 24-hour number: 020 7222 1234, www.tfl.gov.uk

Underground StationsSt Paul’s CentralBlackfriars District, Circle, Thameslink & National RailCannon Street District, Circle & National Rail Southwark Jubilee* London Bridge Northern, Jubilee*, Thameslink & National Rail* the above station exits are wheelchair accessible.

RV1 Bus ServiceRiverside 1 is a bus service linking Covent Garden, South Bank,Waterloo, Bankside, London Bridge and Tower Gateway, providing a cost-effective, easily recognisable link to over thirty of London'sattractions.

Route AccessibilityThere is a slope leading down to the Bankside Gallery at the western most point of the route, before it turns south to point 8.

Accessibility InformationThe following attractions can be contacted on these numbers:St Paul’s Cathedral 020 7246 8348Bankside Gallery 020 7928 7521Tate Modern 020 7401 5120The Globe 020 7902 1409Southwark Cathedral 020 7367 6722Vinopolis 0870 241 4040Borough Market 020 7407 1002

St Nicholas Cole Abbey

First recorded in 1144, the church of StNicholas was never actually an abbey (‘coleabbey’ probably derives from ‘coldharbour’,a medieval shelter for travellers). Destroyedin the Great Fire, it was the first church tobe rebuilt by Wren: a square stone buildingwith arched windows, its conical spiredecorated with an iron balcony and railings.Gutted by WWII fire bombs, it was restoredin 1962, and some of the original aspectshave survived since the Renaissance: thebrickwork of the west wall, the woodeninteriors and the royal coat of arms overthe south door. It is currently occupied bythe Free Church of Scotland.

College of Arms

Coats of arms (the symbols that identifyprominent families) have been recordedand regulated by heralds since the MiddleAges. Granted a charter in 1484, the royalheralds used Derby Palace as their collegefrom 1555. Only the college records weresaved from the Great Fire and areplacement was built by the ‘KingsBricklayer’: three blocks set around anquadrangle, with the river face open (ironand gilded gates were added to the southside in 1956). All three blocks are uniform:three storeys of plain brick with theexternal stone gallery added in 1776,replacing a more elaborate pedimentwhich had fallen out of architecturalfavour. The repository of all the coats ofarms in the United Kingdom, the college isstill the functioning headquarters of theroyal heralds, responsible for granting theright to arms and ceremonial duties, suchthe State Opening of Parliament.

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St Paul’s Cathedral

This landmark cathedral overlooks the Square Mile,

the city within a city that is the site of London’s earliest

settlements. From its earliest incarnations, St Paul’s has

dominated its surroundings and the massive cathedral

complex of the Middle Ages incorporated schools, markets,

ball games, beer stalls and horses. A road ran through the

cathedral which, known as Paul’s Walk, acted as a

thoroughfare for traders to bring their goods north from

Carter Lane and the river wharves. When the City was

obliterated in the Great Fire of 1666, it was Christopher

Wren, soon to become Surveyor General of the King's

Works, who was responsible for rebuilding London. Not

only did Wren recreate the cathedral, he also designed

fifty-two of the eighty-seven resurrected churches, many of

which surround St Paul’s. The cultural significance of the

Cathedral has increased over the centuries, from the final

resting place of national heroes such as Nelson, Wellington

and Wren himself, to a place of jubilee celebrations and

royal weddings. St. Paul’s became an inspiration during the

bombing raids of the Second World War. At a time when

over a third of the Square Mile, including most of the

surrounding buildings, was reduced to rubble, the

cathedral escaped major damage, its survival becoming a

symbol for British endurance.

St Paul’s Cathedral

The site of pagan temples from the time of Roman Britain, the first Christian churchwas built in 604AD by Ethelbert, King of Kent. This burnt down in 675ADand its replacement was ransacked by the Vikings in 962AD. The third St Paul’s,built after a fire in 1087, was a stonecathedral of gothic style and giganticproportions. 585ft long with a 450ft spire,it took over two hundred years tocomplete and was the largest building inEngland, far bigger than the presentcathedral. In serious disrepair by theseventeenth century, the building was all-but destroyed by the Great Fire, due to itswooden roof. Work began on the thirty-sixyear process of rebuilding in 1675 byyoung architect Christopher Wren. The firstproposal was rejected (the original modelcan be viewed inside) and a second designhad to be agreed with the conservativeclergy. Despite the compromise, Wren’screation is spectacular and the massivedome, constructed from 50,000 tons ofPortland Stone and rising 360ft, is secondonly in size to St Peter’s in Rome.

‘Blitz’ Memorial

Dubbed ‘The Heroes with Grimey Faces’ byWinston Churchill, this bronze sculpture ofthree firemen (a sub-officer and twobranch-men) is a memorial to the men andwomen who died in the line of duty duringthe Second World War. Placed in the Cityof London, which was devastated byincendiaries and high-explosives, over athousand names are recorded on theoctagonal base.

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Christopher Wren1675–1711

John W Mills1991

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Christopher Wren1671–77

Morris Emmett1670–77

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Guild Church of St Benet

Another Great Fire casualty to be rebuiltby Wren, the original St Benet’s dates fromaround 1111. Wren’s replacement is asimple cube of dark red and bluebrickwork, with golden garlands above thearched windows and the royal arms ofCharles II above the tower door. The toweritself shares the same chequered brickdesign and is capped by a lead dome. Thefinal resting place of architect Inigo Jones,St Benet now functions as the Welshchurch of the City.

City of London School

This independent school is the legacy of John Carpenter, a fifteenth century Town Clerk of London. On his death in1442, Carpenter left property whoseincome was to be used to the benefit oflocal children. For the next four hundredyears, ‘Carpenter’s children’ wereeducated, housed, clothed and fed by theproceeds of this bequest. In 1834 theproperty had become so valuable that theCity of London decided to furtherCarpenter’s aims by building a school fromthe proceeds. After an Act of Parliament,the school opened in 1837 on the site ofHoney Lane Market, Cheapside. Expansioncaused the school to move to premises onthe Victoria Embankment in 1882 (whichstill stand today) and finally to a purpose-built building in 1986. The current five-storey brick building occupies the samesite as Baynard’s Castle, former residenceof Henry VII and one of the two Londoncastles built by William the Conqueror (the other being the Tower of London).

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Christopher Wren1677–83

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Tom Meddings1986

BanksideDeriving its name from one of the medieval causeways

built to hold back the Thames, the early history of

Bankside owes much to its riverside location. Beyond

the jurisdiction of the City of London, but only a short

ferry-ride away, Bankside became home to a number of

boisterous establishments that could not be located within

the City bounds as they were considered too cheap,

too unsavoury or were simply illegal. The main

entertainments that drew crowds to Bankside were

the ‘stewhouses’ (brothels), animal-baiting pits and

public theatres, sometimes all at once, as prostitutes would

trawl the playhouses, which doubled as bear-baiting

arenas. The Rose, the Swan, the Globe and the Hope were

the four Bankside playhouses of the Tudor era, and some

of the first ever in London (the very first theatre was in

Shoreditch and was dismantled to built the original

Globe playhouse). The theatres were forced out of business

and out of existence in the seventeenth century by the

Puritans, who considered that Bankside was ‘Better termed

a foule dene then a faire garden,’ and it was only in the

late twentieth century that they were rediscovered.

Tate Modern

Now one of the world’s most popular artgalleries, the building was originallyBankside Power Station, which operatedfrom 1952 to 1981. A monolithicconstruction of four million bricks and a325ft chimney, the Tate Gallery acquiredthe option on the site and, in 1995 begana process of demolition, preparation andconversion to transform the building intothe new home for its collection of modernart. To provide natural light, the ‘lightbeam’was constructed: a two-storey glass roof ontop of the gallery, housing a restaurantthat overlooks the river.

Bankside Gallery

One of the first cultural organisations tomove to the area, the Bankside Gallery isthe home to the Royal Watercolour Societyand the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. The Gallery runs a varied andaccessible programme of exhibitionsfeaturing watercolours and prints bymembers of these two prestigioussocieties, offering visitors the opportunityto purchase these works at affordableprices. The Old Water-Colour Society,founded in 1804, was the first institutionto specialise in that medium, inspiringother groups worldwide. Granted a RoyalCharter in 1881, from the beginning of thetwentieth century, the re-titled RoyalWatercolour Society shared premises withthe Society of Painter-Etchers, founded in1880 to recognise printmaking as acreative art. Also recipients of a RoyalCharter, the Etchers evolved with newtechnology to become the Royal Society ofPainter-Printmakers by 1989.

Giles Gilbert Scott 1947–63Converted: Jacques Herzog andPierre de Meuron1995–2000

1980

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Church. The church was built in 1879–80by G.G. Scott jnr (son of George Gilbert,architect of the Albert Memorial, andfather of Giles Gilbert, who designedWaterloo Bridge). The ‘Middle Scott’ wasalso a gifted architect and the gothic styleof All Hallows represented some of hisfinest work. Near-destroyed in the Blitz, ared-brick building in 1957 incorporatedthe church’s surviving fragments, while thechurchyard was converted into a garden.

Borough Welsh Congregational Chapel

The building on the bend of SouthwarkBridge Road was designed by a notedchapel architect, Revd Thomas of Swansea,in his own semi-classical ‘Landore’ style.

Southwark Playhouse

Beginning in the nineteenth century as atea and coffee warehouse, the buildingbecame an engineering workshop and aFilipino church before its presentincarnation as a studio theatre. Situated ina Victorian courtyard, the Playhouse hasbeen nominated three times for the Peter Brook Empty Space award.

Southwark Street

The Anglo-Saxon Suthringageweork(‘southern fortifications’), refers to thearea’s original role as a defendedbridgehead. Laid down in the nineteenthcentury, Southwark Street was the first inLondon to contain a special duct for water,gas and telegraph services down thecentre. It also contains some of the mostconsistent stretches of High Victorianarchitecture in the city.

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Hopton’s Almshouses

In 1752, twenty-six almshouses wereopened for the purpose of providingshelter for poor men of the local parish.Two-storey cottages of red brick with stonequoins on the corners, the buildings arearranged around three sides of a squarecourtyard. The principal block is apedimented committee room which bearsa foundation tablet crediting itsbenefactor, Charles Hopton, a fishmerchant who died in 1731, leaving alegacy which enabled the houses to bebuilt. Damaged in the Second World War,twenty cottages were rebuilt andmodernised in 1988.

Kirkaldy’s Testing and Experimenting Works

Purpose-built as the testing works forDavid Kirkaldy, this four-storey building isof multi-coloured stock brick, banded withyellow brick and stucco dressings. Theeclectic, round-arched nineteenth centuryGerman style of Romanesque architectureis known as rundbogenstil. Kirkaldy was instrumental in the evolution ofengineering and pioneered thestandardised, scientific testing of materialsincluding those by Krupp, Germany andWestanfors and Fagersta, Sweden. Run asa family business for a century, thebuilding finally closed in 1974, becominga museum nine years later. The maintesting machine (built in 1864-66 byGreenwood and Batley) is preserved inworking order on the ground floor. Theentrance to the building on the extremeright bears Kirkaldy’s motto on thepediment: ‘Facts Not Opinions’.

Thomas Ellis & William Cooley1746–49

T R Smith1872–74

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Revd. Thomas Thomas1872–73

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Joseph Bazalgette1862

Union Street

Originally Charlotte Street, this road wasrenamed after the St Saviours UnionWorkhouse, located to the south-west. The workhouse dates from 1834, and waspaid for by uniting the poor law revenuesfrom the parishes of St Saviours andChristchurch, hence its name.

Jerwood Space

The Jerwood Space is housed in theOrange Street School, which later becamethe John Harvard School. Harvard was aresident of seventeenth century Southwark,before he emigrated and became the firstbenefactor of the Massachusetts universitywhich now bears his name. The schoolbuildings were acquired and refurbishedby the Jerwood Foundation to provide asuite of affordable rehearsal spaces forprofessional theatre and dance companies,as well as a café and contemporary artgallery to be enjoyed by the generalpublic. The year-round programme in thegallery features the art schemes andawards of the Jerwood Foundation andthe café has recently extended to provideopen-air dining.

Copperfield Street

Formerly Orange Street, the road is one ofthe many in Bankside named after theliterary characters of Southwark residentCharles Dickens (Pickwick Street, QuilpStreet and Little Dorrit Court amongthem). The south side of the streetcontains the Winchester Cottages, a smallrow of Victorian homes. Opposite thecottages are the gardens of All Hallows

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London Board School1892Converted: Paxton Locher1998

Cluttons 1893–95

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Rose Theatre site

The first of Bankside’s theatres was builtfor Philip Henslowe on the grounds of arose garden. An open-air construction oftimber, plaster and thatch, The Rose wasprolific with plays by Marlowe, Jonson,Webster and Shakespeare’s early work.Facing competition from The Swan (1595)and The Globe (1599) The Rose fell intodisuse and was demolished in 1606. The theatre remained lost until 1989,when an exploratory dig on a building siterevealed its remains. Spared destructionby a public campaign, the remains werere-opened in 1999 as a historicalexhibition, conducting tours of theexcavation site until it can be restored.

Anchor Pub

Samuel Peyps watched the destruction ofLondon by the Great Fire of 1666 fromthe safety of ‘a little alehouse onBankside’. This was the Anchor Pub,taphouse of the Anchor Brewery (see nextentry) and named after the shippinginterests of its then-owner, Josiah Child.Burnt down in 1676, the present-dayreplacement is a mix of the survivingfeatures (oak beams and brick fireplacesdate from the late-eighteenth century).Ownership passed in 1758 to Henry andHester Thrale (Thrale Street is to the south),good friends of Dr. Samuel Johnson and acopy of the great lexicographer’sdictionary is displayed within.

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Fifteenth Century

Peter Streete1613–14

the exploration of Shakespeare inperformance. Shakespeare’s GlobeExhibition, housed in the vast Under Globebeneath the Theatre, provides anintroduction to the theatre ofShakespeare’s time and the London inwhich he lived and worked. The annualGlobe Theatre Season, which runs fromMay to September, features productions ofthe works of Shakespeare, hiscontemporaries and of modern authors.

Wherryman’s Seat

The stone seat on the corner of theRiverside House offices is thought to bethe last of the wherrymen perches thatonce lined the Thames shore. These seatswere resting places for the Thamesboatmen, who waited to ferry Banksidetheatregoers home in their passengerboats, or ‘wherries’, to the cries of‘Eastward ho!’ or ‘Westward ho!’.

Bear Gardens & Hope Theatre

The practice of bear-baiting, along withbull-baiting, dog-fighting and cock-fighting, flourished in Tudor Bankside andcould make three times as much money asa theatrical performance. In 1613,entrepreneur Philip Henslowe tookadvantage of the destruction of the Globeand converted his bear gardens (situatedin the alley of the same name) into TheHope, a dual-purpose theatre with animalpits beneath the removable stage. TheHope’s bear-baiting continued until 1642,when it was banned by the Puritans who,by 1656, had pulled down the theatre andshot all the bears.

Cardinal’s Wharf

The street derived its name from nearbyTudor establishments (the ‘Cardinal’s Cap’inn and the ‘Cardinal’s Hat’ brothel). Theolder, thinner house in the row dates fromthe turn of the eighteenth century.Modified in the nineteenth century, thisGrade II listed building has a high tiledroof, stucco front and mounded stuccolintels over the windows and door, whichalso bears male and female coats of arms.

Shakespeare’s Globe

Built in 1599, the original Tudorplayhouse was financed by a consortiumthat included William Shakespeare and hisacting company. The venue of many ofShakespeare’s theatrical works, the Globeburnt down in 1613, and its replacementwas demolished by the Puritans in 1642.Three centuries later the site was found,marked only by a bronze plaque, byAmerican actor-director Sam Wanamakerwhen he searched for The Globe in 1949.Thus began the project to create anaccurate, functioning reconstruction of theGlobe, built only 100 metres from the siteof the original playhouse and usingcontemporary craftsmen’s techniques,including the first thatched roof Londonhas seen since the Great Fire. Since therewere no remaining plans or constructiondrawings that clearly depicted the form ofthe original Globe, the reconstruction wasbased on a body of knowledge built upfrom excavations, maps, buildingcontracts, contemporary accounts andsurviving buildings.Today, the theatre forms one part of aunique international centre dedicated to

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Eighteenth century

Theo Crosby1997

1917

John Griggs1586–87

Eighteenth Century

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Anchor Brewery

The Anchor Brewery was one of the largestin Victorian London and a prominentattraction. It was visited in 1850 by anAustrian General, Baron von Haynau (the‘Hyena of Brescia’ – an Italian villagewhich was brutally suppressed by theGeneral during the 1848 revolutions).When brewery draymen found out ‘theHyena’ was visiting, the outraged workersset upon the hapless dictator with stonesand broom handles, chasing him throughBankside until he took refuge in theGeorge Inn. This international incident iscommemorated by a plaque on BankStreet to the south. The Brewery itself wasconverted into a bottling factory in 1955and demolished in 1981. Built on the siteof the original Globe theatre, a bronzeplaque was placed on the Brewery wall in1909. This plaque remains on the northwall of Anchor Terrace and, in 1949inspired Sam Wanamaker to build a fittingtribute to Shakespeare.

Vinopolis

Beneath the arches of a Victorian railwayviaduct, the Vinopolis site is spread overtwo and a half acres of space devotedentirely to the world of wine and itsassociated pleasures. The tour begins atthe recreated remains of a Roman winestore, laid down nearly 2,000 years agoand unearthed 100 metres from Vinopolis.Vinopolis is essentially a series of vaults,which served as one of the oldest bondedwarehouses for wine in London.

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Hunter and PartnersJasper Jacob1999

dilapidated that it was turned intotenements and warehouses. The palacewas hidden from view until 1814 when awarehouse fire revealed parts of thefourteenth century south and west walls.Still visible today, the west wall containsthe impressive rose window. With adiameter of 13ft the window is a uniquegeometric design that was restored in1972.

The Golden Hinde and St Mary Overie Wharf

Berthed at St Mary Overie Dock, theGolden Hinde is a full-sized operationalreconstruction of the eponymous sixteenthcentury warship. From 1577–80, Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated theglobe in the original craft (initially called‘The Pelican’) and the present incarnationrepeated this feat when it was launched in1974, sailing more than 140,000 milesand visiting over 300 ports. According tothe legend on the nearby wall, the landsurrounding this dock was owned in thetenth century by John Overs, a miserlywaterman who was killed when he tried tofake his own death. John’s daughter, Maryused her inheritance to found a convent,into which she promptly retreated.Canonised for her generosity, the priory ofSt Mary Overie (meaning ‘over the river’)was to become the foundation ofSouthwark Cathedral.

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An institution so notorious that its name(probably derived from the Middle Englishword clinken meaning lock or fasten)became synonymous with all prisons. TheClink, which began in 1127 as a cellar inWinchester Palace, was built by theBishops of Winchester to house all thedrunkards, debtors and prostitutes that fellwithin the ‘Liberty of the Clink’ (a territoryawarded to them by Henry II). The prisonwas much-detested and often became atarget during civil unrest. It was attackedduring Wat Tyler’s Peasant’s Revolt of1381, the Jack Cade Rebellion of 1450,and when it was burnt down during theGordon Riots of 1780, it was not rebuilt.The boundary of the ‘Liberty’ is still showntoday by four iron posts outside theAnchor pub.

Winchester Palace

Established in the twelfth century, theBishops of Winchester’s London residenceand its surrounding area lay just beyondthe City of London’s strict jurisdiction.Consequently, most of the illegal brothelsthat inevitably sprang up in Banksidecame under the control of the Bishops,who profited from the prostitutes knownas ‘Winchester Geese’ for more than fourcenturies. The clerical connection with thisinsalubrious industry declined in thesixteenth century with the dissolution ofthe monasteries and the spread of syphilis;the last resident Bishop died in 1626.During the Civil War in 1642 it becamethe property of the Parliamentarians, whoused it as a prison. The Restoration sawthe Bishops regain their palace, by now so

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J. Hinks & Son Shipyard/G.A.Dunnage1971–73/1882

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Hop Exchange

One of London’s few surviving Victorianexchanges, this building demonstrates theimportance of the brewing industry toSouthwark. Originally of six storeys (thetop two floors were demolished after a firein 1920), the building’s frontage was ofthree levels, each covering two storeys.The ground and first floors have giant ironcolumns, while the upper floors have longnarrow arches. The entrance is decoratedwith cast-iron hops and hop-pickersaround its iron gates. A glass roof(replaced after the fire) stands 75 feetabove the main exchange hall, which issurrounded by galleries. The building nowhouses offices and warehouse space.

St Saviour’s Southwark War Memorial

Portraying an advancing infantryman withbayonet-fixed rifle on his shoulder, thismemorial to the First World War wasmodelled and sculpted by Captain PhilipLindsey Clark, who was awarded theDistinguished Service Order medal in thatconflict. The tall plinth has bronze reliefsrepresenting aerial and naval combat. Tothe front is St George and the Dragon,and to the rear is a mourning woman,Grief, with a baby clasping a dove.

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BoroughThe Borough of Southwark grew up around the south end

of the original London Bridge as a ‘burh’ (Anglo-Saxon for

‘fortified town’) in the tenth century. It has since exploited

its proximity to the bridgehead to great effect, becoming

one of London’s most important suburbs and being

granted various charters and privileges, such as the right to

send representatives to parliament in 1295, the only town

outside the City to do so. A key transport hub (Borough

High Street is based on the line of a Roman road), the fact

that London Bridge was closed at certain times led to the

large number of coaching inns in the area, where travellers

would either spend the night before entering London, or

begin their journey from one of the inns (which acted as

termini – each inn’s coaches had a designated

destination). Another speciality of the area, no doubt

necessitated by the number of inns and the insalubrious

activities of Tudor Bankside, were the prisons of Southwark,

including the King’s Bench, the Compter, the Marshalsea,

the White Lion, the Clink and the Horsemonger Lane Gaol.

Always a market town (a facet that still survives today), the

industrial revolution led to the growth of Southwark’s

wharves and warehouses as well as a number of local

industries, one of the most significant being the breweries.

It was this industrial Southwark that was the inspiration for

many of the novels by Charles Dickens, himself a former

resident, from the slums, workhouses and prisons to

‘Nancy’s Steps’ on London Bridge.

Southwark Cathedral

Already the site of a Roman Villa, paganshrine and Saxon monastarium, the oldestsurviving portion of this church was builtin 1106 by two knights. Confiscated byHenry VIII, used as a heresy court by Mary I and a swineyard during Elizabeth I’sreign, in 1614 the parishioners jointlybought the church from James I. Theproposed approach road to the nineteenthcentury London Bridge threatened thebuilding but by sacrificing some of itssmaller chapels, it was saved and becamea Cathedral in 1905. After a thousandyears of restoration and rebuilding,Southwark Cathedral now contains avaried mix of architecture: from theoriginal Norman walls to the recently-completed Millennium restoration.

Borough Market

A market in the Borough of Southwarkwas first recorded in 1014, selling produceand livestock to merchants from Londonand beyond. Trading in wholesale fruit andvegetables continued in the local area andin 1756 an Act of Parliament was passed,establishing the 4.5 acre area that survivestoday. The market reached its zenith in theVictorian era, with thousands of tons ofimported food unloaded at the nearbywharves or brought from the new LondonBridge rail terminus, earning it the title of‘London’s Larder’. Sheltered by Victorianiron-cast sheds, the wholesale retailersnow open to the general public atweekends, together with stalls sellingproduce from around the country.

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William Pont de l'Arche& William Dauncey1106

H. Rose1851

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R H Moore1866

Philip Lindsey Clark1922

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Talbot Yard

As the main terminus for travellers andgoods moving between London and thesouth of England, Borough was alive withcoaches, inns and pilgrims. Probably themost famous wayfarers are the pilgrims ofGeoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, whobegan their journey in 1386 at the TabardInn. Named after a heraldic coat, TheTabard was destroyed in Southwark’s greatfire of 1676 and rebuilt as The Talbot (aDalmatian-like coach dog). The coachingtrade reached its peak at the turn of thenineteenth century as the roads improvedand traffic increased. The arrival of therailway in 1844 put the coaching inns intorapid decline and The Talbot was pulleddown in 1875, despite a public outcry. Thelocation of the inn is today Talbot Yard.

The George Inn

London’s only surviving coaching inn wasfirst recorded as the ‘St George’ in 1542.Destroyed in Southwark’s devastating fire, itwas replaced in 1676 with three wingsranged around a quadrangle, made oftimber-frame and brick. Two tiers ofgalleries were later added and remain theonly surviving examples in London: thelower tier is supported by cantileveredbeams while the upper tiers rest on woodenDoric columns. The building was bought in1874 by the Great Northern RailwayCompany to use as a depot and in 1889,two of the three wings were demolished,leaving only the south face standing. TheGeorge was given to the National Trust in1937, who supervised its repair andrestoration. It continues to function as apublic house to this day.

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Mark Weyland1676

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More Walking Guides

IIf you have enjoyed this guide then please visitwww.southbanklondon.com to discover the other titles in the series:

Walk This Way – South BankFrom the London Eye to the Imperial War Museum

Walk This Way – Golden Jubilee BridgesFrom Soho & Covent Garden to South Bank

Walk This Way – Riverside LondonFrom Tate Britain to the Design Museum

Walk This Way – A Young Person’s GuideA discovery of the Thames, especially written for young people

AcknowledgementsThe Walk This Way series has been researched and publishedby South Bank Employers’ Group, a partnership of the majororganisations in South Bank, Waterloo and Blackfriars with acommitment to improving the experience of the area forvisitors, employees and residents.

This guide has been made possible thanks to funding from the Cross River Partnership, which is supported by the LondonDevelopment Agency, Transport for London, Corporation ofLondon, Southwark Council and Bankside Marketing Group.

For further information about Walk This Way or the South Bank, please see www.southbanklondon.com

South Bank Employers’ Group103 Waterloo RoadSE1 8ULT: 020 7202 6900E: mail@southbanklondon.com

Photography: Peter Durant/ arcblue.comGraphic design: Mannion DesignMap design: ML Design