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Southwark Leasing

Did You Know?

Southwark Cathedral lies on the south bank of the River Thames, close to London Bridge. It is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark and has been a place of Christian worship for more than a thousand years, but a cathedral only since the creation of the diocese of Southwark in 1905. The church was in the diocese of Winchester until 1877, when the parish of St Saviour's, along with other South London parishes, was transferred to the diocese of Rochester.

Home to Shakespeare's Globe, Tate Modern, the Shard, the Borough Market and the iconic Cathedral. Striking clean lines of the modern Shard building blend gracefully with austere architecture of its old neighbor, Southwark Cathedral, Gorgeous photo opportunity and yet another unforgettable image of London.

Southwark is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as Sudweca. The name means "southern defensive work" and is formed from the Old English sūþ (south) and weorc (work). .

At 56 hectares, Burgess Park is Southwark's largest park. The park stretches from Camberwell and Walworth in the west to Peckham and the Old Kent Road in the east. Burgess Park is a young park, built between the 1950s and 1980s. It was developed as a result of the Abercrombie Plan for open spaces in 1943.

Because the original borough of Southwark was founded by King Alfred in 880 as one of 33 fortified places in England to defend from Viking assault (the Vikings had already occupied Roman ‘Londinium’, which Alfred finally gained control of 6 years later)

The Tabard Inn remains firmly in the history books, and not without a degree of notoriety. During the medieval period, Southwark fell outside of the reach of London and became a pretty lawless suburb under the infamous Bishops of Winchester, with The Tabard featuring high in general skulduggery and mischief.

Southwark is on a previously marshy area south of the River Thames. Recent excavation has revealed prehistoric activity including evidence of early ploughing, burial mounds and ritual activity. The area was originally a series of islands in the River Thames.

Southwark was also the location of several prisons, including those of the Crown or 'Prerogative Courts', the Marshalsea and King's Bench prisons, that of the local manors courts e.g. Borough Compter, The Clink, and the Surrey county gaol originally housed at the 'White Lion Inn' (also called informally the 'Borough Gaol') and eventually at Horsemonger Lane Gao..