Bermondsey, SE16

Bermondsey is a place in the London Borough of Southwark. It is a built-up district located 2.1 miles (3.4 km) east south-east of Charing Cross.

The area was originally named "Beormund's Ey", Beormund being a Saxon personal name, "ey" being Old Norse for "island". At this time it would have been little more than a marshy riverside island. A community of Cluniac monks established Bermondsey Abbey on the site in 1082 and began the development of the area, cultivating the land and embanking the riverside. They turned an adjacent tidal inlet at the mouth of the River Neckinger into a dock, naming it St Saviour's Dock after their abbey's patron.

The Knights Templar also owned land here and gave their names to one of the most distinctive streets in London, Shad Thames (a corruption of "St John at Thames"). Other ecclesiastical properties stood nearby at Tooley (a corruption of "St Olave's") Street, where wealthy citizens and clerics had their houses, including the Priors of Lewes, the Abbots of Battle and the Priors of St Augustine, Canterbury.

As it developed over the centuries, Bermondsey underwent some striking changes. After the Great Fire of London, it was settled by the well-to-do and took on the character of a garden suburb. A pleasure garden was founded there in the 17th century, commemorated by the Cherry Garden Pier. Samuel Pepys visited Cherry Gardens in 1664 and recorded in his diary that he had left it "singing finely".

By the mid-19th century parts of Bermondsey had become a notorious slum - with the arrival of industrial plants, docks and immigrant housing. The area around St Saviour's Dock, known as Jacob's Island, was one of the worst in London. It was immortalised by Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist, in which the principal villain Bill Sikes meets a nasty end in the mud of 'Folly Ditch' - the scene of an attack by Spring Heeled Jack in 1845 - surrounding Jacob's Island.
Bermondsey Town Hall was built on Spa Road in 1881.

The area was extensively redeveloped during the 19th century and early 20th century with the expansion of the river trade and the arrival of the railways. London's first passenger railway terminus was built by the London to Greenwich Railway in 1836 at London Bridge, connecting Bermondsey with Greenwich. The line ran for four miles on 878 brick arches, with the linked Croydon Railway opening in 1839.

From 1899 to 1965, Bermondsey formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey.

To the east of Tower Bridge, Bermondsey's 3½ miles of riverside were lined with warehouses and wharves, of which the best known is Butler's Wharf. They suffered severe damage in World War II bombing and became redundant in the 1960s following the collapse of the river trade. After standing derelict for some years, many of the wharves were redeveloped under the aegis of the London Docklands Development Corporation during the 1980s. They have now been converted into a mixture of residential and commercial accommodations and have become some of the most upmarket and expensive properties in London. In 1997, US President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair visited the area to dine at the Pont de la Tour restaurant at Butler's Wharf.

Despite the presence of London Bridge station, Bermondsey's transport links with the rest of London have historically been poor. This was remedied in 1999 with the opening of Bermondsey tube station on the London Underground's Jubilee Line Extension.

Places of interest:
Bermondsey antiques market
Fashion and Textile Museum
London Dungeon
Mandela Way T-34 Tank
Millwall F.C.

Nearest places:
Wapping
Whitechapel
Rotherhithe
Newington
Walworth

Useful Links:
London SE1
Bermondsey Village
Bermondsey on Wikipedia
London Borough of Southwark

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(1) Bermondsey, SE16
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