I Never Knew That About London

by Christopher Winn

  Borough High Street

  Last Galleried Inn

  BOROUGH HIGH STREET is the main thoroughfare running through Southwark, the road by which travellers arrived at or departed from London Bridge, and it was famous, as Dickens put it in Pickwick Papers, for ‘several ancient inns, great rambling queer old places with galleries and passages’, their locations all commemorated by street names.

  Talbot Yard marks the site of the TABARD INN, from where Chaucer’s Canterbury pilgrims set off on their rollicking journey. The Tabard burned down in what became known as the ‘Little Fire of London’ in Southwark in 1676, but was rebuilt, becoming the Talbot through a mistake by the sign-writer. It survived until 1875.

  The WHITE HART was the headquarters of Kent squire JACK CADE in 1450 during his rebellion against the corruption of Henry VI’s administration. THE QUEEN’S HEAD was John Harvard’s pub, whose sale helped to finance Harvard University.

  And the gorgeous GEORGE INN is still there in its courtyard, LONDON’S ONLY SURVIVING GALLERIED INN, rebuilt in 1676 after the original had been burned down in the same fire that took out the Tabard. The George used to have galleries on three sides, from where customers would watch plays performed in the courtyard below, and it is likely that Shakespeare would have come here while he was living in Southwark and working at the Globe. It is now run, as an inn, by the National Trust.

  Ever since the dawn of London, Southwark has been the gateway to the city, and it seems fitting that LONDON’S OLDEST SURVIVING STATION should be here, LONDON BRIDGE STATION, which opened in December 1836, serving LONDON’S FIRST RAILWAY LINE, the LONDON TO GREENWICH RAILWAY. The first section of the line to open ran between Bermondsey Spa and Deptford, and BERMONDSEY SPA STATION which opened in February 1836 was LONDON’S FIRST STATION AND TERMINUS. At the Corbett’s Lane Junction in South Bermondsey stood THE WORLD’S FIRST SIGNAL BOX.

  George Inn

  Bermondsey

  Antique Abbey

  BERMONDSEY USED TO be known for its abbey, founded in 1089, which stood where Bermondsey Square is now. Two queens died there: Henry V’s Kate, Catherine de Valois, who was sent here after it was discovered she had secretly married a Tudor after Henry’s death and given birth to the Tudor dynasty, and Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV. To the subsequent nunnery came Florence Nightingale, seeking sanctuary from popular acclaim on her return from the Crimea. Today Bermondsey Square is home to Bermondsey’s new attraction, the BERMONDSEY ANTIQUES MARKET, more correctly known as the New Caledonian Market, having moved here in 1948 from Caledonian Road in North London. Held every Friday from 6 a.m. until noon, this is considered the best antiques market in London, the market the antique dealers themselves come to.

  The BERMONDSEY bank of the Thames east of Tower Bridge is dominated by vast warehouses and wharves that are being rapidly regenerated into eye-wateringly expensive apartments, restaurants and shopping outlets. Nearest to the bridge is the old ANCHOR BREWHOUSE (not to be confused with the Anchor Brewery on Bankside), rebuilt in the late 19th century as an attractive jumble of brick-and-white clapboard topped with a cupola and weathervane. Next door is BUTLER’S WHARF, completed in 1873, which was THE LARGEST WAREHOUSE COMPLEX ON THE THAMES. At the eastern end is Sir Terence Conran’s DESIGN MUSEUM, THE FIRST MUSEUM IN THE WORLD DEDICATED TO THE DESIGN OF EVERYDAY OBJECTS, housed in a converted 1950s warehouse. On the inland side of the warehouses is the iconic and much photographed SHAD THAMES, a narrow street, criss-crossed with latticed iron walkways linking the two sides of the street at first-floor level. It was here that John Cleese was hung out of a window by Kevin Kline in the comedy film A Fish Called Wanda.

  Rotherhithe

  Mayflower

  CHERRY GARDEN PIER is where boats used to sound their horns if they wanted Tower Bridge to open and is named after the pleasure gardens where Samuel Pepys would go to buy cherries for his wife. The gardens are long gone, but new cherry trees have recently been replanted in the area. It was from here, in 1838, that J.M.W. Turner painted THE FIGHTING TEMERAIRE as it was towed up the Thames to the breaker’s yard at Rotherhithe.

  On the waterfront, opposite the scant remains of a moated 14th-century manor house belonging to Edward III, is the ANGEL, a less famous but delightful old pub built by the monks of Bermondsey Abbey. Part of the building rests on piles over the river, and there are trapdoors in the floor, no doubt of interest to smugglers. There is also a shady balcony, where Judge Jeffreys would sit and watch the hangings at Execution Dock across the river. Samuel Pepys and Captain Cook drank here; Turner and Whistler drew the Thames from here.

  ST MARY’S ROTHERHITHE dates from 1715, but there has been a church on the site since Saxon days. Buried here, in an unmarked grave, is CHRISTOPHER JONES, CAPTAIN OF THE MAYFLOWER, the ship that carried the Pilgrim Fathers across the Atlantic in 1620 to begin the New World.

  Like its captain, the Mayflower finished its days in Rotherhithe, allowed to rot on the river beside the Shippe Tavern. The tavern was rebuilt, possibly using timbers from the Mayflower, and renamed the MAYFLOWER, at a later date. It is THE ONLY PUB IN BRITAIN LICENSED TO SELL BRITISH (AND AMERICAN) POSTAGE STAMPS. The pub is quite small but has a wooden terrace on the river, from which there are fine views of the stretch of river where the Pilgrim Fathers set sail at the start of their momentous voyage.

  Thames Tunnel

  First Underwater Tunnel

  THE BRUNEL ENGINE House is a small red-brick building with a tall chimney and a mighty history. This unpretentious structure held the machinery that pumped out the water from THE VERY FIRST UNDERWATER THOROUGHFARE IN THE WORLD, the most significant tunnel ever built, the THAMES TUNNEL. Constructed by MARC BRUNEL over 18 years, this remarkable engineering feat was opened in 1843 and taught the world how to tunnel underwater. Brunel invented a shield that allowed only a small portion of the excavation face to be exposed at one time, considerably lessening the likelihood of a collapse, and the excavated earth would be passed back while the newly dug section was shored up. This technique, developed by Brunel for the Thames Tunnel, is still used in tunnelling today. He had got the idea while sitting in a debtor’s prison watching a worm nibbling its way through some wood, passing the material along its body and ejecting it at the back.

  The Thames Tunnel consists of two identical shafts, 1,200 ft (366 m) long and lined with brick. It was intended for vehicular traffic, but funds were not available for the carriageway entrances at either end, and so it was used as a foot tunnel. For a while it was London’s favourite day out, but eventually the tunnel became a magnet for thieves and prostitutes who would lurk in the arches, and it was sold to the East London Railway Company in 1865. Today London Underground trains still run through the tunnel between Wapping and Rotherhithe. The platforms at Rotherhithe give a splendid view of the elegant, horseshoe-shaped archways, while inside the Engine House is a small museum telling the story of the tunnel.

  Well, I never knew this

  ABOUT

  SOUTHWARK

  Southwark is now the site of London’s tallest building. At 1017 feet (310 m) tall the Shard of Glass rising above London Bridge Station is the first building in Britain to top 1000 feet and is the tallest building not just in London, but in the whole of the European Union.

  BRITAIN’S FIRST SELF-SERVICE PETROL STATION opened at the south end of Southwark Bridge in November 1961.

  The first SOUTHWARK BRIDGE was built from cast iron by John Rennie in 1817–19. With a central span of 240 ft (73 m), it was THE LARGEST CAST-IRON BRIDGE EVER MADE. The present bridge opened in 1921.

  The name ELEPHANT AND CASTLE is derived from a tavern that stood at the busy road junction, named after the Spanish princess La Infanta de Castille (Eleanor of Castile), who was once engaged to Charles I.

  Elephant and Castle was the birthplace in the 1950s of TEDDY BOYS, working-class young men who rebelled by dressing in a uniform of ‘Edwardian’ style suits.

  THE ELEPHANT AND CASTLE SHOPPING CENTRE, opened in 1965,
was THE FIRST MODERN SHOPPING CENTRE IN THE WORLD TO BE BUILT ON AN ARCADE PRINCIPLE.

  When it opened in 1848, ST GEORGE’S CATHEDRAL in Southwark was THE FIRST ROMAN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL TO BE BUILT IN ENGLAND SINCE THE REFORMATION. It was designed by Pugin, one of the architects of the Houses of Parliament, and was rebuilt after being bombed in the Blitz. In 1780 the Gordon Rioters assembled on this very spot.

  The WORLD’S FIRST FASHION MODELS were six working-class girls from Bermondsey, hired by Mrs James Wallace, known as the couturier Lucile, to show her clothes at THE WORLD’S FIRST FASHION SHOW at Maison Lucile, No. 17 Hanover Square, in 1899. The girls, labelled in the press as ‘Lucile’s mysterious beauties’, found themselves made famous overnight and became much sought after by the young bucks of the day.

  ROTHERHITHE LEISURE CENTRE is a very good tongue-twister if you attempt to say it three times quickly.

  In 1821 THE WORLD’S FIRST IRON STEAMSHIP, THE AARON MANBY, named after the proprietor of the Staffordshire ironworks where the components had been made, was assembled and launched at Rotherhithe.

  When it was opened in 1693, the HOWLAND GREAT WET DOCK was THE LARGEST COMMERCIAL DOCK IN THE WORLD, covering 10 acres (4 ha) and capable of holding 120 ships. In 1793 it became a major whaling base and the name was changed to Greenland Dock. It was eventually incorporated into the Surrey Docks and closed in 1970. In the 1980s a marina was built and the area is slowly being regenerated for residential use.

  Entertainer MAX BYGRAVES was born Walter William Bygraves, in Rotherhithe, in 1922.

  Actor SIR MICHAEL CAINE was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in St Olave’s Hospital, Rotherhithe, the son of a Billingsgate porter, in 1933.

  Silent film legend CHARLIE CHAPLIN was born in East Lane, Walworth, on 16 April 1889. He grew up at No. 3 Parnell Terrace on the Kennington Road.

  SOUTHWARK was the site, in the 18th century, of William Blake’s ‘dark, satanic mills’, specifically the ALBION MILLS, which stood, not far from Blake’s Lambeth home, at the southern end of Blackfriars Bridge. Albion Mills, set up by Boulton and Watt, was LONDON’S FIRST FACTORY, one of the first steam-powered mills in Britain, and it belched forth sparks and smoke and noise 24 hours a day. It finally burned down in 1791 and remained there as a blackened shell for years. Today the site is occupied by the Daily Express.

  In August 1989, the worst ever disaster on the Thames in central London occurred on the stretch of river between Southwark Bridge and the Cannon Street Rail Bridge, at 1.50 in the morning. The pleasure boat MARCHIONESS, carrying 132 revellers celebrating a birthday, was struck by the dredger Bowbelle, rolled over and sank with the loss of 51 lives. As a result of the incident THE FIRST THAMES LIFEBOAT SERVICE was set up, with stations at Gravesend, Tower Pier, Chiswick Pier and Teddington. In their first year of service in 2002 the boats were called out 850 times. There is a memorial to the Marchioness victims in Southwark Cathedral.

  BOROUGH MARKET is LONDON’S OLDEST FRUIT AND VEGETABLE MARKET and has been trading on and around Borough High Street for over 1,000 years. At one time it even spread on to London Bridge but was finally confined within the boundaries it now occupies in the 18th century. Today, particularly at the weekend, Borough is the chosen market of ‘foodies’ and TV chefs, providing just about any kind of speciality produce from anywhere in the world.

  HMS BELFAST, moored above Tower Bridge as a museum of naval warfare, is THE LARGEST CRUISER EVER BUILT FOR THE ROYAL NAVY. She was launched in Belfast in 1938 and spent much of the Second World War protecting the Atlantic convoys. She took part in the sinking of the Scharnhorst in 1943 and was the first Allied ship to open fire on the German positions during the Normandy landings on ‘Gold’ and ‘Juno’ beaches in 1945.

  A new landmark beside Tower Bridge is CITY HALL, which opened in 2002 as the new home for the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. It was designed by Sir Norman Foster and from some angles looks sensational, from others dreadful. Boring it is not. Inside, the spiralling ramp that rises the height of the building is spectacular, as are the views from the interviewing gallery at the top, which is sometimes open to the public.

  THE OLDEST OPERATING THEATRE IN BRITAIN, opened in 1822, was rediscovered in the roof space of ST THOMAS’S CHURCH in St Thomas Street by London Bridge in 1956. The Baroque church stands on the site of the chapel of the old St Thomas’s Hospital, and the theatre was built in the roof here because it could be kept separate from, but on the same level as, the women’s wards it served. The layout of the theatre, with the operating table surrounded by a horseshoe of elevated seats, illustrates exactly why it is called an operating theatre rather than an operating room: people came to watch – students, young doctors and nurses, and even members of the public. The theatre is open for visitors every day.

  GUY’S HOSPITAL was founded in 1725 by Thomas Guy, a City bookseller born in SOUTHWARK, with profits he made from South Sea stock.

  GREENWICH

  DEPTFORD – GREENWICH – BLACKHEATH – CHARLTON – WOOLWICH

  Charlton House – London’s finest country house

  Deptford

  To the Ends of the Earth

  THE ‘DEEP FORD’ at the mouth of the Ravensbourne is THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE ROYAL NAVY. The FIRST ROYAL DOCKYARD was established here in 1513 for Henry VIII, who was living at nearby Greenwich. Within 20 years DEPTFORD had become the most important dockyard in England. The Trinity House lighthouse authority, founded by Henry VIII in 1514, had its first headquarters here, and over the next 250 years many of the most famous voyages of discovery began here.

  In 1577 Francis Drake set sail from Deptford to become the FIRST ENGLISHMAN TO CIRCUMNAVIGATE THE WORLD, and on his return he entertained Elizabeth I to dinner on board the Golden Hind at Deptford, after which he was knighted. Elizabeth ordered that the Golden Hind should be preserved for ever at Deptford, and for 100 years it was, but eventually the timbers rotted and the ship was broken up and made into furniture.

  A few years later, in 1588, LORD HOWARD OF EFFINGHAM left from his home at Deptford Green to deal with the Spanish Armada.

  During these years PETER PETT, a Deptford shipbuilder, designed and built THE FIRST FRIGATES for the Royal Navy.

  In 1661 THE FIRST YACHT EVER TO BE BUILT IN BRITAIN was constructed in the yards at Deptford, for Charles II. It was launched in March and named Katherine after the Queen. Later that year Charles raced Katherine against his brother James’s yacht Anne, from Greenwich to Gravesend, in THE FIRST YACHT RACE THE WORLD HAD EVER WITNESSED.

  In 1768 CAPTAIN COOK left from Deptford in the Endeavour to become THE FIRST EUROPEAN TO CHART AUSTRALIA. A few years later he said goodbye to England at Deptford once more, this time aboard the Resolution, never to return.

  Sayes Court

  Great Peter

  THE DIARIST SAMUEL Pepys (1633–1703) was a frequent visitor to Deptford in his capacity as Clerk to the Navy Board, and he would sometimes stay with his friend, JOHN EVELYN (1620–1706), another famous diarist, who had a fine house and garden at Deptford called SAYES COURT.

  One day when Evelyn was out taking the air he happened to look in through the window of ‘a poor solitary thatched house in a field’ to see a young man at work on a wood-carving. He went in, and was captivated by the artistry of the craftsman, who had come to Deptford from Rotterdam to find work in the shipyards. Evelyn later introduced the man to Sir Christopher Wren, and that is how Wren came to find the greatest wood-carver of them all, GRINLING GIBBONS (1648–1721), whose work can be seen in cathedrals, churches, royal palaces and country houses all over England.

  Evelyn had a succession of difficult tenants at Sayes Court, including the rough-tongued ADMIRAL JOHN BENBOW (1651–1702), who was Master Attendant at Deptford Dockyard from 1690 to 1696. Two years later, at the request of the King, William III, Evelyn took in the TSAR OF RUSSIA, PETER THE GREAT, who wanted to study the shipbuilding techniques of the English with a view to upgrading Russia’s navy. The Tsar turned out to be a nightmare guest, ca
rousing every night, leaving the house in a terrible mess, and indulging in his favourite pastime of being pushed in a wheelbarrow through Evelyn’s prized yew hedges.

  St Nicholas, Deptford

  Skull and Crossbones

  JOHN EVELYN’S SADDEST moment came many years earlier in 1658, when he carried his five-year-old son Richard to the parish church of ST NICHOLAS and buried him there with the words, ‘Here ends the joy of my life, for which I go mourning even to the grave.’

  Richard lies not far from GEORGE SHEVLOCKE, Captain of the Speedwell, whose story found everlasting fame in literature. Shevlocke’s ship was struggling round Cape Horn through stormy waters when the crew became spooked by a solitary bird that appeared to be following them. Being superstitious folk, they thought the bird was a bad omen and shot it. The storm did not abate but got worse, raging on for six more weeks, and many times the Speedwell nearly foundered, causing the sailors to bitterly regret shooting the poor albatross. One hundred years later William Wordsworth came across the story, and on one of their walks across the Quantocks, he told it to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who turned the tale into The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.