Southwark

Southwark sits on the south bank of the River Thames immediately downstream of the City of London, focused around the approach to London Bridge and the line of Borough High Street. The district includes Southwark Cathedral, which began as the priory church of St Mary Overie, and a network of streets that follows routes laid out in medieval times. Railway lines and London Bridge station mark its northern edge; to the south the lanes narrow and step down toward old wharf areas on the river. Civic buildings, small shops and hospital sites sit close together, and the street plan still shows long, narrow burgage plots.

The area has acted as a gateway since Roman and medieval periods and developed trades and entertainments that were not licensed inside the City. Layers of history are visible in building façades, parish records and in the line of the old bridge approach where the road curves. Today Southwark combines residential streets, offices and river-front paths while retaining parish churches, historic lanes and the cathedral that records the district’s long urban sequence.