Literary Bankside
Bankside's rich literary history can be traced back to the 14th century when Geoffrey Chaucer wrote of the Canterbury Pilgrams leaving from the Tabard Inn in Southwark for their journey through Kent along Stane Street, the ancient Roman road.
The Tabard Inn no longer exists but the George Inn provides a good example of a galleried inn. The George Inn is the only remaining galleried inn in London.
Chaucer's friend and fellow poet, John Gower, lies buried in Southwark Cathedral, as are the 17th century playwrights John Fletcher and Phillip Massinger. It is here too, in Southwark Cathedral that William Shakespeare buried his younger brother Edmund, also an actor at the Globe Theatre. Theatre owner Phillip Henslowe and his son-in-law actor Edward Alleyne were vestrymen at the church of St Mary Overie, now Southwark Cathedral.
See the tomb of the first English poet, John Gower and the memorial to William Shakespeare!
Further west, Dr Samuel Johnson often stayed at The Anchor riverside inn when visiting his friends the Thrales, owners of the Anchor brewery and Oliver Goldsmith, also a guest at Mrs Thrale's soirees, worked as a doctor in Southwark.
It is als said to be the pub from where Samuel Pepys witnessed the awesome destruction of the Great Fire of London in 1666. He describes the dreadful heat and "fire drops" falling on him whilst in a boat on the river. He sought refuge in "a little alehouse on Bankside... and there watched the fire grow".
In the 19th century the young Charles Dickens lodged in Lant Street, Southwark while his family were in the Marshalsea Debtors Prison. The old wall of the Marshalsea is still standing beside the Local Studies Library off Borough High Street.
Many locations in Southwark figure in Dickens novels, particularly Little Dorrit and Oliver Twist. Opposite the prison site is the church of St George the Martyr, built in 1734 and commonly known as ‘Little Dorrit's Church' after the character in Dickens' tale of the same name. Little Dorrit was born in Marshalsea Prison and was christened at St George's. It was this same church in which she was married to Arthur Clennam, and in the bottom right-hand corner of the modern stained glass window at the east-end of the church is a representation of Little Dorrit wearing a poke hat.
The stone London Bridge which featured twenty arches and stone piers with a drawbridge, incorporating houses and shops to help pay for the upkeep of the bridge is remembered in Great Expectations, when Pip crossed it in great despair, having recently learned that Estella was to be married to Drummle. It also featured in David Copperfield, as his favourite place to sit.
Finally to the western side of London Bridge is the site of ‘Nancy's Steps'. This was where a fateful conversation about Oliver Twist that Nancy had with Mr Brownlow on the flight of steps, overheard by Noah Claypole. It was this conversation that lead to the death of Nancy at the hands of Bill Sykes.
Newly opened! The London Bridge Experience
