Books Liberty over London Bridge: A History of the People of Southwark by Margaret Willes
Yale University Press, 2024
Before we start, I have to admit a bias. Southwark is one of my favourite parts of London, containing both the Tate Modern and the Globe— regular haunts of mine during the summer months—with stunning views across the river towards St Paul’s. I would argue that there are few better places to spend a lazy summer afternoon in London: take a walk along the Thames, and then feast on the offerings at Borough Market.
However, back to the book. Subtitled A History of the People of Southwark, it takes an unusual but very effective approach to telling the borough’s story, concentrating not only on the physical environment but also on the people who lived and worked there. Situated opposite the confines of the City, Southwark grew and developed in ways that the older district could not. While the north bank of the Thames saw the growth of great houses and wonderful churches, and was also home to those involved in affairs of state, its southern neighbour was something of an outcast. Outside the jurisdiction of the City’s statutes and local governance rules, Southwark was a wilder, freer environment where businesses could flourish without interference.
Willes provides a brief but detailed overview of the Roman settlement that we know as Londinium, which left behind several traces including the foundations of a bridge that connected Southwark with the Roman settlement on the north bank. It seems that this part of the Thames was particularly suited as a crossing-point, since there is evidence that even during the time of the Danes there was a bridge here of some kind. However, the real expansion of the settlement on the south bank in the early mediaeval period was in part due to the arrival of William the Conquerer in 1066.
The detail with which Willes describes the aftermath of the Conquest is fascinating. Apparently William gave the manor south of the river to his half-brother Bishop Odo, who was responsible for the Bayeux Tapestry. After Odo fell out with William II his land was given in part to the de Warennes family, and they built a substantial house that they could use when attending the royal court. However, this was not the only such building of its type in Southwark at the time. Several similar houses were constructed for the use of various religious orders, mostly along the route between London Bridge and the City.
These were the first ‘inns,’ as their primary purpose was to house monks and priests visiting the area. However, in the early twelfth century larger houses – mansions – began to appear. One of the first belonged to Bishop Gifford of Winchester. By that time the See of Winchester owned most of the land in the area south of the river, and his successor Henry of Blois extended the palace and laid out a park of some seventy acres running along the riverfront. What is remarkable here is that, according to the author, the park was very marshy in places so that the banks needed stabilising to prevent flooding – hence the name Bankside. Besides these grand mansions, there were also smaller inns to cater for other travellers to and from the City. Alongside these shops began to appear, and soon the area became a bustling and lively community.
As an example of its importance, Willes recalls the story of Thomas Becket’s last visit to London. Late in 1170 the argument between the Bishop and the King had reached its height. On the 11th of December Becket preached in the church of St Mary Overie (meaning ‘over the river’), now Southwark Cathedral. More than 3,000 people welcomed him and he stayed the night at Winchester House with Bishop Henry. Just a few weeks later, on December 29th, he was savagely cut down near the altar of his cathedral in Canterbury. The events following his death were significant in the development of Southwark.
A few weeks afterwards, reports of miracles occurring near his tomb in Canterbury Cathedral began to circulate. In 1176 construction started on a new bridge, instigated by the priest of St. Mary Colechurch in the parish of Cheapside, where Becket had been born and baptised. A pattern of pilgrimage began, starting at the church and ending at Canterbury Cathedral, and the inns of Southwark became helpful resting points, one of which was portrayed by Chaucer in his magnificent Canterbury Tales.
Willes devotes a whole chapter to Chaucer and his contemporary, the poet John Gower. There is a beautiful monument to Gower in Southwark Cathedral, which shows him recumbent with his head resting upon his three most-loved works. The text notes that these were respectively written in different languages: Norman French, Latin, and English. From the time of the Conquest, Norman French had been the language of the court and the law and it was only from the accession of Richard II that English really became embedded as the language of the ruling class. For example, Richard freely conversed with the rebel Wat Tyler in the common vernacular when they met during the Peasants’ Revolt. Chaucer, of course, helped the process along. Although he lived near Aldgate, he would have been familiar with Southwark and its inns.
Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales between 1387 and 1400. The twenty-nine pilgrims’ journey begins at the Tabard Inn, situated on the east side of Borough High Street, just over the bridge in Southwark. Chaucer describes the host of the Tabard as a typical landlord:
Greet chiere made oure Hoost us everichon, And to the soper sette he us anon, And served us with vitaille at the beste: Strong was the wyn and wel to drynke us leste.
A semely man Oure Hooste was with-alle For to been a marchal in an halle. A large man he was with eyen stepe, A fairer burgeys was ther noon in Chepe
What is especially notable about the Tales is how Chaucer succeeds in describing accurately the different types who would have been found on such a pilgrimage. (For obvious reasons, such an undertaking would have been beyond the very poor, while the upper aristocracy would have not lowered themselves to be part of such a group.) Chaucer portrays them all with the brush of real-life experience, from the slightly aloof Knight to the obviously scurrilous Pardoner. His choice of the Tabard, a common starting-point for pilgrimages, gives the account added credibility.
As noted earlier, large portions of Southwark remained under the control of the Bishop of Winchester. Prior to the dissolution of the monasteries and the passing of church lands to the Crown, the Winchester bishopric was one of the wealthiest of all the church holdings. In time this had serious consequences for the borough. From the twelfth century onwards the City of London passed several local ordinances to control and police brothels and prostitution. While these measures were not always enforced, by the early sixteenth century Southwark, outside such restrictions, was the centre of this trade. Most, if not all, of the premises licensed for prostitution were owned by the Bishop of Winchester, so that the women involved became known as ‘Winchester geese.’ A further effect of this was the proliferation of inns and boarding houses to accommodate visitors, some of which had large courtyards in which plays were performed or bear- and bull-baiting took place. With a public park in which people could see and be seen, it was perhaps inevitable that the Southwark area would become a centre of entertainment.
In 1597 James Burbage, leaseholder of The Theatre in Shoreditch, died. His sons inherited the business, but the owner of the land in Shoreditch refused to renew the lease. At the time the Puritans in Shoreditch were very vocal about the evils of the theatre, and by the end of the following year the situation for the Burbage family had become critical. On the 28th of December 1598 the Burbages and various actors, probably including Shakespeare himself, dismantled the theatre’s wooden structure and stored it in a waterfront warehouse in Bridewell. In the spring the wooden frame was ferried across the river and a new theatre was constructed, to be renamed the Globe. It remained there until 1613, when it was destroyed by fire during a performance of Henry VIII. There is a famous print from 1612 which shows the Globe situated next to a bear-pit on Bankside. Of course, Shakespeare is most closely associated with the Globe, and it is self-evident that he would have known the area very well. His brother Edmund also lived in Southwark and was buried in the church that later became the Cathedral. Shakespeare himself lived for a while near the Globe before moving to Silver Street in Cripplegate. Writing primarily for a London audience, he filled his plays with characters whom he must surely have encountered in the local community, such as Dogberry and Verges, the comically useless ‘watch’ in Much Ado About Nothing. His connection with the area inspired Sam Wanamaker to construct the new Globe, which opened on Bankside in 1997, some two hundred metres from its original site.
After the theatre’s destruction in 1613 it was rebuilt and survived until 1644 when it was torn down by order of the Puritans. When the Civil War broke out in 1642 all the London theatres were closed down, and Southwark was no longer the city’s social centre. Willes describes a community now characterised more by entrepreneurship. Shops of all descriptions were open for customers, and many of the river boatman, essential for city travel, were also based in the borough. It hosted several trades that were not welcome in the city north of the river because of the smell, such as tanning and dyeing.
In 1616 a brewery was established just behind the Globe (in today’s terms, approximately to the rear of the Tate Modern). By 1659 it belonged to Josiah Child, who named it the Anchor, apparently because of his nautical background. A hundred years later the business was inherited by Henry Thrale from his father, and he set about improving it as a serious competitor to the other major London brewer, Samuel Whitbread. Thrale was a friend to many contemporary literary figures, especially Dr Johnson, who lived with the Thrales for some time, lodging in the house next to the brewery and in their country retreat in Streatham.
By the early summer of 1780, anti-Catholic sentiment had reached fever pitch. The passing of the Catholic Relief Act in 1778 had been intended to end discrimination, but had the opposite effect. Fired up by Lord Gordon, amongst other agitators, in June 1780 the powder-keg exploded and upwards of 20,000 Londoners took to the streets in protest. Newgate Prison was attacked and the prisoners set free, Catholic churches were burned, and eventually the army was called in to quell the disturbance. It is estimated that more than a thousand died during the largest riot that London has ever witnessed. In Southwark the rioters broke into the old mediaeval prisons the Clink and the Marshalsea and released their inmates. Breweries were also high on their list of targets, and they soon arrived at the Anchor intent on destroying it —probably after helping themselves to its contents. The manager, one John Perkins, met the rioters and offered them food and drink. He also said that he would help the freed prisoners, many of whom were still in chains. The offer pacified the rioters, and after feasting they moved on without damaging the brewery at all.
During the nineteenth century Southwark became a bustling centre for industry of all kinds. Businesses included glass, soap, and shoe-polish manufacturing, flour mills, vinegar production, and iron foundries. The factories required a large workforce, who lived close by and were often employed for a very low wage. William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, undertook a survey of the borough in 1898-99 and found that of a population of 300, 000 more than sixty per cent lived in poverty. Today the area is a far cry from the neighbourhood of Victorian times. With the Tate Modern, the Globe, and the refurbished walkway along the Thames, it has become a magnet for tourists. Borough Market is thriving, and the Cathedral is a vibrant centre for the local community. Willes is to be congratulated on producing a book which continually surprises. By concentrating on the people who lived and worked in the area, she enables the reader to get a feeling for life in Southwark throughout its history. Apart from eminent figures like Richard II, Shakespeare, and Ben Jonson, thousands of ordinary lives have also touched these spaces and left their marks. To finish, therefore, here is an inscription, now in the Cathedral but originally from the parish church of St Saviour’s. It is for a young child, Susanna Barford (perhaps from a family associated with the theatres), who died during an outbreak of plague in 1623. It ends:
This world to her was but a traged play She came and saw’t, dislik’t and pass’d away.
We know nothing about this young girl but she was obviously loved by her parents, who wanted a physical object with which to safeguard her memory. Their memorial may stand as representative of all those unnamed individuals who contributed in their own ways to the life of this extraordinary part of London.--Paul Flux
