Southwark Trivia

Old cannon now incorporated as a bollard, with trunnions still clearly visible

There is a long history of repurposing old cannons as street furniture across Europe. Southwark is no different. Could this be a French gun captured during the Napoleonic wars, or is that an urban legend? Located South West of Southwark Bridge - What are your favourite bollard canons?

True to its radical spirit, Southwark was a key location in the 1381 Peasant Revolt. A rallying point for Wat Tyler's men - inspired by wayward priest John Ball - local buildings were targeted and destroyed: including Lambeth Palace, owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

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Fascinating, thank you. Would love to hear about and repost about any talks on the subject, so please keep us informed!

There seems to be no contemporaneous map, so it might be a mystery for some time to come

At the bottom of Borough High Street, you will find Stones End Street. This road was named for the end of the paved thoroughfare leading out of Southwark and the beginning of the countryside. It was also the site of a parliamentary fort, defending London in the civil war era.

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Dickens lived in a Lant Street ghetto whilst his father was in Marshalsea debtors prison. "Lant" refers to aged urine, collected for its high ammonia content. The current street is named for Thomas Lant, however, who was chartered by Queen Anne to rent 400 houses there from 1773 to 1824.

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Elizabethan trader Christopher Merrick gifte Trinity Estate to charity in 1660. The King Alfred statue located at Trinity Church has been in situ since 1826 and is now thought to have been crafted from a much earlier Roman statue of Minerva.

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The Lord Clyde on Clennan Street was built in 1863 and restructured in 1913. It is one of many pubs whose name honours Sir Colin Campbell, who fought in numerous campaigns such as the Battle of Balaclava and in Crimea. The pub has retained its Edwardian charm.

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Southwark Schools: The 1870 Education Act saw 3 schools appear in Southwark: Snowsfields, Lant Street School (now Charles Dickens Primary), and Harper Street. School became compulsory in 1876, and by 1891 they were free.
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South Dock Marina - London’s largest working marina - is set to undergo an £8 million structural upgrade to deliver crucial health and safety improvements

www.southwark.gov.uk/news/2025/lo...

Guy's Hospital first applied the scientific method to the study of diseases. Thomas Addison, Richard Bright, and Thomas Hodgkin all worked there (each famous for studying an eponymous disease). John Keats was at Guy's as an apprentice doctor. Can you name any famous Guy's alumni?

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Southwark has always been multicultural; the mid-18th century population comprised of 10% Irish, with a growing number of slaves and freed people. 40% of these workers provided services supporting the movement of trade: e.g., smiths, farriers, and leatherworkers.

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The City of London has attempted to bring Southwark to heel many times. One attempt resulted in Edward III establishing the Guildable Manor in 1327. This court allowed the City limited control of trade and tax, and still holds a ceremonial rent-paying event to this day

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Today, we remember Harry Cole, volunteer, community Bobby, and author of several books about his experiences growing up and then policing in Southwark. He schooled at Charles Dickens Primary School in the 1930s and has a housing association named after him off Thurlow Street.

In contrast to St Thomas' (after Becket, est. 1173) hospital, which historically catered for wealthier patients, Guy's hospital was established in 1721 by philanthropist Thomas Guy to serve all members of Southwark society. The wealthy of yesteryear exhibited compassion, empathy, and morality...

Nave altar and choir of Southwark Cathedral.

Ecumenical vespers at Southwark Cathedral with St George's Cathedral for the Week of Christian Unity.

Southwark Fair was a long-running annual feature of life in the borough. Dating from 1409, it originally only lasted a few days, until its cancellation by City of London authorities in 1762, caused by its vast increase in size, vice, and general debauchery.

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Southwark has a proud progressive history. In 1770, a marriage between Ann Bradley, a white woman, and Michael Thomas, a black man, took place in St. Olave's Church. Possibly the first modern UK interracial marriage; the ceremony was completed, although violence was reported.

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This post honours James Braidwood, Scottish firefighter who died fighting the 1861 Tooley Street fire at Cotton's Wharf, London Bridge. His death was the catalyst for the 1865 Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act, which led to the creation of the London Fire Brigade.

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Southwark has historically been fiercely independent and even featured several revolutionary acts, including Wat Tyler's revolt of 1381 and the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780, which saw the burning down of the King's Bench prison.

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Part One: 🎶 London Bridge is falling down, my fair Lady 🎵
Legend states this nursery rhyme describes when Norwegian King Olav Harraldson, ally of King Aethelred, tied longboats to the old wooden bridge and pulled it down to beat the Vikings.

Part Two: St.Olave's Church was erected on Tooley Street (a corruption of St.Olave's) and is mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086. St.Olaf House now stands in its stead, once the original HQ of the Hay's Wharf company, it is now part of London Bridge Hospital

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Thomas Dekker, Elizabethan author of The Shoemakers Holiday and frequent collaborator with Ben Johnson and Philip Henslowe, once called Borough High St, "a continuous ale house with not a shop to be seen". The George still exists from that time.

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St. Guy's Hospital's genesis harks back to when Southwark Cathedral was an Augustinian Priory in ~1106 CE. The priory founded the hospital alongside St. Thomas' Hospital that is now located in our neighbouring borough of Lambeth.

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After the Romans left Britain in 410CE, London and Southwark were abandoned. It was King Alfred, in response to Viking raids at the end of the 9th century, who built a large defensive works in Southwark, giving the area its modern name and future life to modern London

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102 years after Moll Flanders was published, John Dickens was sent to Marshalsea Debtors Prison, located on modern-day Borough High Street. His 12 year old son Charles had to work 10 hours a week for shillings, living in an attic in nearby Lant Street.

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Southwark seems to be a place name, like Leicester, that visitors have difficulty with. And no wonder, as it derives from two Old English words, sūp (meaning South), and weorc (defensive work). Nevertheless, it is pronounced "Sutherk", not South Walk or South Work

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Whilst Newgate prison is central to Defoe's Moll Flanders, Moll does spend time in the Liberty of the Mint. Her time there was desperate and illicit, foreshadowing her future life of crime. Mint Street off Marshalsea Road was the location of the real-life Liberty.

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There is a great vintage flea market on at Mercato Municipal Newington Causeway today, until 4pm. The Causeway is built on top of the old Roman Stane Street that linked London and Chichester, possibly as old as 43CE.

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What's on in SE1: events guide Find out about local festivals, community events consultations, public meetings and more.

Sunday - vintage flea market at Mercato Metropolitano in Newington Causeway

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