History of Bankside
Deriving its name from one of the medieval causeways built to hold back the Thames, the early history of Bankside owes much to its riverside location.
Bankside is one of the oldest settlements in Britain, dating back over 6000 years. When the Romans founded Londinium on the north bank of the Thames, a bridge was built near the present day London bridge, and the surrounding area has been inhabited ever since.
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. Some of England's greatest writers and players, including William Shakespeare, lived and worked here.
The theatres however were forced out of business and out of existence in the seventeenth century by the Puritans, who considered that Bankside was ‘Better termeda foule dene then a faire garden'.
Theatres aside, the area of the Thames between Blackfriars Bridge and London Bridge was also known to freeze over in exceptionally cold winters and Londoners used to take to the ice for all manors of activities in what were known as Frost Fairs. Over the last five years Southwark Council revived the Frost Fairs, and celebrated the areas history on the Bankside riverside walkway in front of Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe with a Christmas market, street entertainment, music and festive food and drink. But back to history...
During the late 18th century Bankside quickly developed into an industrial environment, with docks, warehouses and wharves. Following industrial decline after the Second World War it remained largely undiscovered, until its recent renaissance as one of the capital's prime visitor destinations.
Undoubtedly, Bankside's revival in the late twentieth century centred around the reconstruction of The Globe Theatre not too far from The Globe's original site and the spectacular transformation of Bankside power station into the internationally acclaimed Tate Modern, offering a permanent exhibition space to contemporary masterpieces that the Tate was largely holding in storage.
Bankside's great feat of planning has been to join up individual attractions to make one exciting coherent destination, newly accessible from the City via the Millennium Bridge and forming a natural riverside extension to the east of the South Bank. The area is refreshingly pedestrian friendly and every time you turn a corner another cultural highlight reveals itself.
