Walk This Way

Millennium
Bridge
St Pauls Cathedral to
Bankside and Borough

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 Banksides 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.

architecture + history at your feet

www.southbanklondon.com

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.
1

Millennium Bridge
The Millennium Bridge is a
350m pedestrian link over the
Thames the first completely
new central London river
crossing for over a hundred
years. Conceived as a marriage
of art, design and technology,
the winning design was chosen
from more than 200 proposals
in a design competition
organised by the Royal
Institute of British Architects
and the Financial Times.
There were three main
contributors to the bridges
creation: the architects Foster
and Partners, the engineering
firm of Arup; and the sculptor
Sir Anthony Caro. The
Millennium Bridge Trust was
established to steer the project
through in association with
Southwark and the
Corporation of London.
The bridge was required to
be high enough to allow ships
to pass underneath it, yet low
enough not to interrupt views
of St Pauls. The design
solution was an innovative and
complex structure to achieve a
simple form: a streamlined,
shallow suspension bridge, 4m
wide, with cables that run
alongside the deck, rather than
above, absorbing 2000 tons of

force through cables that are

anchored deep in large
concrete slabs embedded on
either side of the river.
During its opening weekend in
June 2000, it became
apparent that the structure
was swaying beneath the feet
of the first 150,000 people to
use the bridge and the
crossing was closed to
investigate the wobble. The
problem was caused by
pedestrians unconsciously
adjusting their pace to walk in
step with minute vibrations
given off by a footbridge when
it is being used by a large
number of people. When the
number of pedestrians reaches
a critical amount, the structure
will suddenly, and without
warning, begin to sway.
The bridge was fitted with a
passive dampening system,
like car shock absorbers, to
allow smooth passage across
the river without affecting the
stunning visual image of the
bridge. Popular with residents
and visitors alike, the
Millennium Bridge is now
under the care of the
Corporation of London through
the Bridge House Estates Trust.

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

General travel information can be obtained on Transport for

Londons 24-hour number: 020 7222 1234, www.tfl.gov.uk
Underground Stations
St Pauls Central
Blackfriars District, Circle, Thameslink & National Rail
Cannon Street District, Circle & National Rail
Southwark Jubilee*
London Bridge Northern, Jubilee*, Thameslink & National Rail
* the above station exits are wheelchair accessible.

Map reproduced from Ordnance Survey Landplan 1:5000 mapping

with permission of the Controller of Her Majestys Stationery Office
Crown copyright; Licence Number 398179

Transport

Key
1 St. Pauls Cathedral
2 Blitz Memorial
3 St Nicholas Cole Abbey
4 College of Arms
5 Guild Church of St Benet
6 City of London School
7 Tate Modern
8 Bankside Gallery
9 Hoptons Almshouses
10 Kirkaldys Testing Works
11 Union Street
12 Jerwood Space
13 Copperfield Street
14 Borough Welsh
Congregational Chapel
15 Southwark Playhouse

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17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32

Southwark Street
Cardinals Wharf
Shakespeares Globe & Exhibition
Wherrymans Seat
Bear Gardens & Hope Theatre
Rose Theatre site
Anchor Pub
Vinopolis
Clink Prison
Winchester Palace
The Golden Hinde &
St Mary Overie Wharf
Southwark Cathedral
Borough Market
Hop Exchange
St Saviours Southwark War Memorial
Talbot Yard
The George Inn

RV1 Bus Service

Riverside 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's
attractions.
Route Accessibility
There 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 Information
The following attractions can be contacted on these numbers:
St Pauls Cathedral
020 7246 8348
Bankside Gallery
020 7928 7521
Tate Modern
020 7401 5120
The Globe
020 7902 1409
Southwark Cathedral
020 7367 6722
Vinopolis
0870 241 4040
Borough Market
020 7407 1002

St Pauls Cathedral

1
Christopher Wren
16751711

This landmark cathedral overlooks the Square Mile,

the city within a city that is the site of Londons earliest
settlements. From its earliest incarnations, St Pauls 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 Pauls 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 Pauls. 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. Pauls 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.

2
John W Mills
1991

St Pauls Cathedral
The site of pagan temples from the time
of Roman Britain, the first Christian church
was built in 604AD by Ethelbert,
King of Kent. This burnt down in 675AD
and its replacement was ransacked by
the Vikings in 962AD. The third St Pauls,
built after a fire in 1087, was a stone
cathedral of gothic style and gigantic
proportions. 585ft long with a 450ft spire,
it took over two hundred years to
complete and was the largest building in
England, far bigger than the present
cathedral. In serious disrepair by the
seventeenth century, the building was allbut destroyed by the Great Fire, due to its
wooden roof. Work began on the thirty-six
year process of rebuilding in 1675 by
young architect Christopher Wren. The first
proposal was rejected (the original model
can be viewed inside) and a second design
had to be agreed with the conservative
clergy. Despite the compromise, Wrens
creation is spectacular and the massive
dome, constructed from 50,000 tons of
Portland Stone and rising 360ft, is second
only in size to St Peters in Rome.
Blitz Memorial
Dubbed The Heroes with Grimey Faces by
Winston Churchill, this bronze sculpture of
three firemen (a sub-officer and two
branch-men) is a memorial to the men and
women who died in the line of duty during
the Second World War. Placed in the City
of London, which was devastated by
incendiaries and high-explosives, over a
thousand names are recorded on the
octagonal base.

3
Christopher Wren
167177

4
Morris Emmett
167077

St Nicholas Cole Abbey

First recorded in 1144, the church of St
Nicholas was never actually an abbey (cole
abbey probably derives from coldharbour,
a medieval shelter for travellers). Destroyed
in the Great Fire, it was the first church to
be rebuilt by Wren: a square stone building
with arched windows, its conical spire
decorated with an iron balcony and railings.
Gutted by WWII fire bombs, it was restored
in 1962, and some of the original aspects
have survived since the Renaissance: the
brickwork of the west wall, the wooden
interiors and the royal coat of arms over
the south door. It is currently occupied by
the Free Church of Scotland.
College of Arms
Coats of arms (the symbols that identify
prominent families) have been recorded
and regulated by heralds since the Middle
Ages. Granted a charter in 1484, the royal
heralds used Derby Palace as their college
from 1555. Only the college records were
saved from the Great Fire and a
replacement was built by the Kings
Bricklayer: three blocks set around an
quadrangle, with the river face open (iron
and gilded gates were added to the south
side in 1956). All three blocks are uniform:
three storeys of plain brick with the
external stone gallery added in 1776,
replacing a more elaborate pediment
which had fallen out of architectural
favour. The repository of all the coats of
arms in the United Kingdom, the college is
still the functioning headquarters of the
royal heralds, responsible for granting the
right to arms and ceremonial duties, such
the State Opening of Parliament.
4

5
Christopher Wren
167783

6
Tom Meddings
1986

Guild Church of St Benet

Another Great Fire casualty to be rebuilt
by Wren, the original St Benets dates from
around 1111. Wrens replacement is a
simple cube of dark red and blue
brickwork, with golden garlands above the
arched windows and the royal arms of
Charles II above the tower door. The tower
itself shares the same chequered brick
design and is capped by a lead dome. The
final resting place of architect Inigo Jones,
St Benet now functions as the Welsh
church 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 in
1442, Carpenter left property whose
income was to be used to the benefit of
local children. For the next four hundred
years, Carpenters children were
educated, housed, clothed and fed by the
proceeds of this bequest. In 1834 the
property had become so valuable that the
City of London decided to further
Carpenters aims by building a school from
the proceeds. After an Act of Parliament,
the school opened in 1837 on the site of
Honey Lane Market, Cheapside. Expansion
caused the school to move to premises on
the Victoria Embankment in 1882 (which
still stand today) and finally to a purposebuilt building in 1986. The current fivestorey brick building occupies the same
site as Baynards Castle, former residence
of Henry VII and one of the two London
castles built by William the Conqueror
(the other being the Tower of London).

Bankside
Deriving its name from one of the medieval causeways
built to hold back the Thames, the early history of

7
Giles Gilbert Scott
194763
Converted:
Jacques Herzog and
Pierre de Meuron
19952000

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.

8
1980

Tate Modern
Now one of the worlds most popular art
galleries, the building was originally
Bankside Power Station, which operated
from 1952 to 1981. A monolithic
construction of four million bricks and a
325ft chimney, the Tate Gallery acquired
the option on the site and, in 1995 began
a process of demolition, preparation and
conversion to transform the building into
the new home for its collection of modern
art. To provide natural light, the lightbeam
was constructed: a two-storey glass roof on
top of the gallery, housing a restaurant
that overlooks the river.
Bankside Gallery
One of the first cultural organisations to
move to the area, the Bankside Gallery is
the home to the Royal Watercolour Society
and the Royal Society of PainterPrintmakers. The Gallery runs a varied and
accessible programme of exhibitions
featuring watercolours and prints by
members of these two prestigious
societies, offering visitors the opportunity
to purchase these works at affordable
prices. The Old Water-Colour Society,
founded in 1804, was the first institution
to specialise in that medium, inspiring
other groups worldwide. Granted a Royal
Charter in 1881, from the beginning of the
twentieth century, the re-titled Royal
Watercolour Society shared premises with
the Society of Painter-Etchers, founded in
1880 to recognise printmaking as a
creative art. Also recipients of a Royal
Charter, the Etchers evolved with new
technology to become the Royal Society of
Painter-Printmakers by 1989.
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10

9
Thomas Ellis &
William Cooley
174649

10

T R Smith
187274

Hoptons Almshouses
In 1752, twenty-six almshouses were
opened for the purpose of providing
shelter for poor men of the local parish.
Two-storey cottages of red brick with stone
quoins on the corners, the buildings are
arranged around three sides of a square
courtyard. The principal block is a
pedimented committee room which bears
a foundation tablet crediting its
benefactor, Charles Hopton, a fish
merchant who died in 1731, leaving a
legacy which enabled the houses to be
built. Damaged in the Second World War,
twenty cottages were rebuilt and
modernised in 1988.

13

12

11
1781

12
London Board School
1892
Converted: Paxton Locher
1998

Kirkaldys Testing and

Experimenting Works
Purpose-built as the testing works for
David Kirkaldy, this four-storey building is
of multi-coloured stock brick, banded with
yellow brick and stucco dressings. The
eclectic, round-arched nineteenth century
German style of Romanesque architecture
is known as rundbogenstil. Kirkaldy
was instrumental in the evolution of
engineering and pioneered the
standardised, scientific testing of materials
including those by Krupp, Germany and
Westanfors and Fagersta, Sweden. Run as
a family business for a century, the
building finally closed in 1974, becoming
a museum nine years later. The main
testing machine (built in 1864-66 by
Greenwood and Batley) is preserved in
working order on the ground floor. The
entrance to the building on the extreme
right bears Kirkaldys motto on the
pediment: Facts Not Opinions.

13

Union Street

Church. The church was built in 187980

by G.G. Scott jnr (son of George Gilbert,
architect of the Albert Memorial, and
father of Giles Gilbert, who designed
Waterloo Bridge). The Middle Scott was
also a gifted architect and the gothic style
of All Hallows represented some of his
finest work. Near-destroyed in the Blitz, a
red-brick building in 1957 incorporated
the churchs surviving fragments, while the
churchyard was converted into a garden.

Originally Charlotte Street, this road was

renamed after the St Saviours Union
Workhouse, located to the south-west.
The workhouse dates from 1834, and was
paid for by uniting the poor law revenues
from the parishes of St Saviours and
Christchurch, hence its name.
Jerwood Space
The Jerwood Space is housed in the
Orange Street School, which later became
the John Harvard School. Harvard was a
resident of seventeenth century Southwark,
before he emigrated and became the first
benefactor of the Massachusetts university
which now bears his name. The school
buildings were acquired and refurbished
by the Jerwood Foundation to provide a
suite of affordable rehearsal spaces for
professional theatre and dance companies,
as well as a caf and contemporary art
gallery to be enjoyed by the general
public. The year-round programme in the
gallery features the art schemes and
awards of the Jerwood Foundation and
the caf has recently extended to provide
open-air dining.

14
Revd. Thomas Thomas
187273

15
1993

16
13
Cluttons
189395

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Borough Welsh Congregational Chapel

The building on the bend of Southwark
Bridge Road was designed by a noted
chapel architect, Revd Thomas of Swansea,
in his own semi-classical Landore style.
Southwark Playhouse
Beginning in the nineteenth century as a
tea and coffee warehouse, the building
became an engineering workshop and a
Filipino church before its present
incarnation as a studio theatre. Situated in
a Victorian courtyard, the Playhouse has
been nominated three times for the
Peter Brook Empty Space award.
Southwark Street

Copperfield Street
Formerly Orange Street, the road is one of
the many in Bankside named after the
literary characters of Southwark resident
Charles Dickens (Pickwick Street, Quilp
Street and Little Dorrit Court among
them). The south side of the street
contains the Winchester Cottages, a small
row of Victorian homes. Opposite the
cottages are the gardens of All Hallows

Joseph Bazalgette
1862

The Anglo-Saxon Suthringageweork

(southern fortifications), refers to the
areas original role as a defended
bridgehead. Laid down in the nineteenth
century, Southwark Street was the first in
London to contain a special duct for water,
gas and telegraph services down the
centre. It also contains some of the most
consistent stretches of High Victorian
architecture in the city.
6

17

18

17
Eighteenth century

19

the exploration of Shakespeare in

performance. Shakespeares Globe
Exhibition, housed in the vast Under Globe
beneath the Theatre, provides an
introduction to the theatre of
Shakespeares time and the London in
which he lived and worked. The annual
Globe Theatre Season, which runs from
May to September, features productions of
the works of Shakespeare, his
contemporaries and of modern authors.

Cardinals Wharf
The street derived its name from nearby
Tudor establishments (the Cardinals Cap
inn and the Cardinals Hat brothel). The
older, thinner house in the row dates from
the turn of the eighteenth century.
Modified in the nineteenth century, this
Grade II listed building has a high tiled
roof, stucco front and mounded stucco
lintels over the windows and door, which
also bears male and female coats of arms.
19

18

21
John Griggs
158687

Wherrymans Seat

Shakespeares Globe
Fifteenth Century

Theo Crosby
1997

22

Built in 1599, the original Tudor

playhouse was financed by a consortium
that included William Shakespeare and his
acting company. The venue of many of
Shakespeares theatrical works, the Globe
burnt down in 1613, and its replacement
was demolished by the Puritans in 1642.
Three centuries later the site was found,
marked only by a bronze plaque, by
American actor-director Sam Wanamaker
when he searched for The Globe in 1949.
Thus began the project to create an
accurate, functioning reconstruction of the
Globe, built only 100 metres from the site
of the original playhouse and using
contemporary craftsmens techniques,
including the first thatched roof London
has seen since the Great Fire. Since there
were no remaining plans or construction
drawings that clearly depicted the form of
the original Globe, the reconstruction was
based on a body of knowledge built up
from excavations, maps, building
contracts, contemporary accounts and
surviving buildings.
Today, the theatre forms one part of a
unique international centre dedicated to

20
Peter Streete
161314

The stone seat on the corner of the

Riverside House offices is thought to be
the last of the wherrymen perches that
once lined the Thames shore. These seats
were resting places for the Thames
boatmen, who waited to ferry Bankside
theatregoers home in their passenger
boats, or wherries, to the cries of
Eastward ho! or Westward ho!.
Bear Gardens & Hope Theatre
The practice of bear-baiting, along with
bull-baiting, dog-fighting and cockfighting, flourished in Tudor Bankside and
could make three times as much money as
a theatrical performance. In 1613,
entrepreneur Philip Henslowe took
advantage of the destruction of the Globe
and converted his bear gardens (situated
in the alley of the same name) into The
Hope, a dual-purpose theatre with animal
pits beneath the removable stage. The
Hopes bear-baiting continued until 1642,
when it was banned by the Puritans who,
by 1656, had pulled down the theatre and
shot all the bears.

22
Eighteenth Century

Rose Theatre site

The first of Banksides theatres was built
for Philip Henslowe on the grounds of a
rose garden. An open-air construction of
timber, plaster and thatch, The Rose was
prolific with plays by Marlowe, Jonson,
Webster and Shakespeares early work.
Facing competition from The Swan (1595)
and The Globe (1599) The Rose fell into
disuse and was demolished in 1606.
The theatre remained lost until 1989,
when an exploratory dig on a building site
revealed its remains. Spared destruction
by a public campaign, the remains were
re-opened in 1999 as a historical
exhibition, conducting tours of the
excavation site until it can be restored.
Anchor Pub
Samuel Peyps watched the destruction of
London by the Great Fire of 1666 from
the safety of a little alehouse on
Bankside. This was the Anchor Pub,
taphouse of the Anchor Brewery (see next
entry) and named after the shipping
interests of its then-owner, Josiah Child.
Burnt down in 1676, the present-day
replacement is a mix of the surviving
features (oak beams and brick fireplaces
date from the late-eighteenth century).
Ownership passed in 1758 to Henry and
Hester Thrale (Thrale Street is to the south),
good friends of Dr. Samuel Johnson and a
copy of the great lexicographers
dictionary is displayed within.

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Anchor Brewery
The Anchor Brewery was one of the largest
in Victorian London and a prominent
attraction. It was visited in 1850 by an
Austrian General, Baron von Haynau (the
Hyena of Brescia an Italian village
which was brutally suppressed by the
General during the 1848 revolutions).
When brewery draymen found out the
Hyena was visiting, the outraged workers
set upon the hapless dictator with stones
and broom handles, chasing him through
Bankside until he took refuge in the
George Inn. This international incident is
commemorated by a plaque on Bank
Street to the south. The Brewery itself was
converted into a bottling factory in 1955
and demolished in 1981. Built on the site
of the original Globe theatre, a bronze
plaque was placed on the Brewery wall in
1909. This plaque remains on the north
wall of Anchor Terrace and, in 1949
inspired Sam Wanamaker to build a fitting
tribute to Shakespeare.
23
Hunter and Partners
Jasper Jacob
1999

Vinopolis
Beneath the arches of a Victorian railway
viaduct, the Vinopolis site is spread over
two and a half acres of space devoted
entirely to the world of wine and its
associated pleasures. The tour begins at
the recreated remains of a Roman wine
store, laid down nearly 2,000 years ago
and unearthed 100 metres from Vinopolis.
Vinopolis is essentially a series of vaults,
which served as one of the oldest bonded
warehouses for wine in London.

25

24

Clink Prison
An institution so notorious that its name
(probably derived from the Middle English
word clinken meaning lock or fasten)
became synonymous with all prisons. The
Clink, which began in 1127 as a cellar in
Winchester Palace, was built by the
Bishops of Winchester to house all the
drunkards, debtors and prostitutes that fell
within the Liberty of the Clink (a territory
awarded to them by Henry II). The prison
was much-detested and often became a
target during civil unrest. It was attacked
during Wat Tylers Peasants Revolt of
1381, the Jack Cade Rebellion of 1450,
and when it was burnt down during the
Gordon Riots of 1780, it was not rebuilt.
The boundary of the Liberty is still shown
today by four iron posts outside the
Anchor pub.

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115161

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Winchester Palace
Established in the twelfth century, the
Bishops of Winchesters London residence
and its surrounding area lay just beyond
the City of Londons strict jurisdiction.
Consequently, most of the illegal brothels
that inevitably sprang up in Bankside
came under the control of the Bishops,
who profited from the prostitutes known
as Winchester Geese for more than four
centuries. The clerical connection with this
insalubrious industry declined in the
sixteenth century with the dissolution of
the monasteries and the spread of syphilis;
the last resident Bishop died in 1626.
During the Civil War in 1642 it became
the property of the Parliamentarians, who
used it as a prison. The Restoration saw
the Bishops regain their palace, by now so

dilapidated that it was turned into

tenements and warehouses. The palace
was hidden from view until 1814 when a
warehouse fire revealed parts of the
fourteenth century south and west walls.
Still visible today, the west wall contains
the impressive rose window. With a
diameter of 13ft the window is a unique
geometric design that was restored in1972.
26

J. Hinks & Son Shipyard/

G.A.Dunnage
197173/1882

The Golden Hinde and

St Mary Overie Wharf
Berthed at St Mary Overie Dock, the
Golden Hinde is a full-sized operational
reconstruction of the eponymous sixteenth
century warship. From 157780,
Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the
globe in the original craft (initially called
The Pelican) and the present incarnation
repeated this feat when it was launched in
1974, sailing more than 140,000 miles
and visiting over 300 ports. According to
the legend on the nearby wall, the land
surrounding this dock was owned in the
tenth century by John Overs, a miserly
waterman who was killed when he tried to
fake his own death. Johns daughter, Mary
used her inheritance to found a convent,
into which she promptly retreated.
Canonised for her generosity, the priory of
St Mary Overie (meaning over the river)
was to become the foundation of
Southwark Cathedral.

27

Borough
The Borough of Southwark grew up around the south end

27
William Pont de l'Arche
& William Dauncey
1106

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 Londons 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 inns 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 Kings 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 Southwarks
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

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H. Rose
1851

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Southwark Cathedral
Already the site of a Roman Villa, pagan
shrine and Saxon monastarium, the oldest
surviving portion of this church was built
in 1106 by two knights. Confiscated by
Henry VIII, used as a heresy court by
Mary I and a swineyard during Elizabeth Is
reign, in 1614 the parishioners jointly
bought the church from James I. The
proposed approach road to the nineteenth
century London Bridge threatened the
building but by sacrificing some of its
smaller chapels, it was saved and became
a Cathedral in 1905. After a thousand
years of restoration and rebuilding,
Southwark Cathedral now contains a
varied mix of architecture: from the
original Norman walls to the recentlycompleted Millennium restoration.

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R H Moore
1866

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Hop Exchange
One of Londons few surviving Victorian
exchanges, this building demonstrates the
importance of the brewing industry to
Southwark. Originally of six storeys (the
top two floors were demolished after a fire
in 1920), the buildings frontage was of
three levels, each covering two storeys.
The ground and first floors have giant iron
columns, while the upper floors have long
narrow arches. The entrance is decorated
with cast-iron hops and hop-pickers
around its iron gates. A glass roof
(replaced after the fire) stands 75 feet
above the main exchange hall, which is
surrounded by galleries. The building now
houses offices and warehouse space.
St Saviours Southwark
War Memorial

Borough Market
A market in the Borough of Southwark
was first recorded in 1014, selling produce
and livestock to merchants from London
and beyond. Trading in wholesale fruit and
vegetables continued in the local area and
in 1756 an Act of Parliament was passed,
establishing the 4.5 acre area that survives
today. The market reached its zenith in the
Victorian era, with thousands of tons of
imported food unloaded at the nearby
wharves or brought from the new London
Bridge rail terminus, earning it the title of
Londons Larder. Sheltered by Victorian
iron-cast sheds, the wholesale retailers
now open to the general public at
weekends, together with stalls selling
produce from around the country.

Philip Lindsey Clark

1922

Portraying an advancing infantryman with

bayonet-fixed rifle on his shoulder, this
memorial to the First World War was
modelled and sculpted by Captain Philip
Lindsey Clark, who was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order medal in that
conflict. The tall plinth has bronze reliefs
representing aerial and naval combat. To
the front is St George and the Dragon,
and to the rear is a mourning woman,
Grief, with a baby clasping a dove.

resident, from the slums, workhouses and prisons to

Nancys Steps on London Bridge.
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Mark Weyland
1676

Talbot Yard

More Walking Guides

As the main terminus for travellers and

goods moving between London and the
south of England, Borough was alive with
coaches, inns and pilgrims. Probably the
most famous wayfarers are the pilgrims of
Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales, who
began their journey in 1386 at the Tabard
Inn. Named after a heraldic coat, The
Tabard was destroyed in Southwarks great
fire of 1676 and rebuilt as The Talbot (a
Dalmatian-like coach dog). The coaching
trade reached its peak at the turn of the
nineteenth century as the roads improved
and traffic increased. The arrival of the
railway in 1844 put the coaching inns into
rapid decline and The Talbot was pulled
down in 1875, despite a public outcry. The
location of the inn is today Talbot Yard.

IIf you have enjoyed this guide then please visit

www.southbanklondon.com to discover the other titles
in the series:

The George Inn

This guide has been made possible thanks to funding from

the Cross River Partnership, which is supported by the London
Development Agency, Transport for London, Corporation of
London, Southwark Council and Bankside Marketing Group.

Londons only surviving coaching inn was

first recorded as the St George in 1542.
Destroyed in Southwarks devastating fire, it
was replaced in 1676 with three wings
ranged around a quadrangle, made of
timber-frame and brick. Two tiers of
galleries were later added and remain the
only surviving examples in London: the
lower tier is supported by cantilevered
beams while the upper tiers rest on wooden
Doric columns. The building was bought in
1874 by the Great Northern Railway
Company to use as a depot and in 1889,
two of the three wings were demolished,
leaving only the south face standing. The
George was given to the National Trust in
1937, who supervised its repair and
restoration. It continues to function as a
public house to this day.

Walk This Way South Bank

From the London Eye to the Imperial War Museum
Walk This Way Golden Jubilee Bridges
From Soho & Covent Garden to South Bank
Walk This Way Riverside London
From Tate Britain to the Design Museum
Walk This Way A Young Persons Guide
A discovery of the Thames, especially written for young people

Acknowledgements
The Walk This Way series has been researched and published
by South Bank Employers Group, a partnership of the major
organisations in South Bank, Waterloo and Blackfriars with a
commitment to improving the experience of the area for
visitors, employees and residents.

For further information about Walk This Way or the

South Bank, please see www.southbanklondon.com
South Bank Employers Group
103 Waterloo Road
SE1 8UL
T: 020 7202 6900
E: mail@southbanklondon.com

Photography: Peter Durant/ arcblue.com

Graphic design: Mannion Design
Map design: ML Design

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