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In
1295 Southwark was considered important enough to have two members of
Parliament; the first district outside the City to be granted such rights.
Foreign religious refugees brought their trade of glass, leather, print and pottery to this area, St Thomas’s and Guys hospitals were founded and the Borough was the centre of the English hop trade.
As
the only southern route into the City across London Bridge, many Inns were to be
found in Southwark; famous names such as the Tabard Inn mentioned in the
Canterbury Tales and men like Samuel Pepys, Dr Samuel Johnson and Charles
Dickens visited them, whilst William Shakespeare brought his plays here.
Today Southwark is making a ´come-back´. It was Sam Wannamaker who had the vision of bringing back to life Shakespeare´s Globe Theatre, and since its opening in 1997 others have followed, including Tate Modern and the London Mayor.
Southwark is linked to the City by London Bridge and pedestrian Millennium Bridge. Go to St Paul’s Cathedral and then walk across this bridge and the views are stunning. The range of interesting places to visit has grown enormously in the last few years. One of the latest being the Fashion and Textile Museum housed in a bright orange, yellow and pink building which was converted by Mexican architect, Ricardo Legoretta and the creation of world-famous fashion designer, Zandra Rhodes. So now, everyone wants to come to Southwark!
Here
also is a very unusual wine museum Vinopolis, as you wander through its
different wine regions of the world you taste a very different experience. On
the right the Tuscany Region of Italy, get on your bike and see what will
happen!
It is also an area very rich in Roman archaeological history. Archaeologists have found much evidence of the large Roman suburb which grew up around the bridgehead, and inside Southwark Cathedral you can walk on a piece of Roman pavement found in the Cathedral grounds. Roman sculptures were discovered hidden in a Roman well beneath the crypt. Part of a Roman road which led most probably from London Bridge to a ferry at Lambeth was found below Montague Close, near the Cathedral, and the story of so many finds goes on and is still going on!