SOUTH LONDON
BY
WALTER BESANT
AUTHOR OF
'LONDON' 'WESTMINSTER' 'EAST LONDON' ETC.
A NEW EDITION
WITH AN ETCHING BY FRANCIS S. WALKER, R.E.
AND 119 ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
CHATTO & WINDUS
1912
PREFACE
In sending forth this book on 'South London,' the successor to my two preceding books on 'London' and 'Westminster,' I have to explain in this case, as before, that it is not a history, or a chronicle, or a consecutive account of the Borough and her suburbs that I offer, but, as in the other two books, chapters taken here and there from the mass of material which lies ready to hand, and especially chapters which illustrate the most important part of History, namely, the condition, the manners, the customs of the people dwelling in this place, now, like Westminster, a part of London: yet, until two or three hundred years ago, an ancient marsh kept from the overflowing tide by an Embankment, joined to the Dover road by a Causeway, settled and inhabited by two or three Houses of Religious: by half a dozen Palaces of Bishops, Abbots, and great Lords: by a colony of fishermen living on the Embankment from time immemorial, since the Embankment itself was built: and by a street of Inns and shops.
I hope that 'South London' will be received with favour equal to that bestowed upon its predecessors. The chief difficulty in writing it has been that of selection from the great treasures which have accumulated about this strange spot. The contents of this volume do not form a tenth part of what might be written on the same plan, and still without including the History Proper of the Borough. I am like the showman in the 'Cries of London'—I pull the strings, and the children peep. Lo! Allectus goes forth to fight and die on Clapham Common: William's men burn the fishermen's cottages: little King Richard, that lovely boy, rides out, all in white and gold, from his Palace at Kennington—saw one ever so gallant a lad? The Bastard of Falconbridge bombards the city: Sir John Fastolfe's man is pressed into Jack Cade's army: the Minters make their last Sanctuary opposite St. George's: the Debtors languish in the King's Bench. There are many pictures in the box—but how many more there are for which no room could be found!
I must acknowledge my obligations, first, to the Editor of the Pall Mall Magazine, where half of these chapters first had the honour of appearing, for the wealth of illustration of which he thought them worthy: and next to the artist, Mr. Percy Wadham, who has so faithfully and so cunningly carried out the task committed to him.
WALTER BESANT.
United University Club:
September 1898.
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Etched by F. S. Walker, R.E. Frontispiece PAGE VIEW FROM SOUTHWARK MARSH IN PREHISTORIC TIMES 3 CAUSEWAY ACROSS SOUTHWARK MARSH 7 FISHERS' HUTS AT THE MOUTH OF THE FLEET 9 BARKING CREEK 11 RELICS OF THE STONE AGE 15 A RELIC OF THE STONE AGE 17 RELICS OF THE BRONZE AGE 19 MERCHANTS CROSSING SOUTHWARK MARSH 27 LONDON BRIDGE, A.D. 1000 29 A DANISH HOUSE 31 SHIPS, BAYEUX TAPESTRY 33 A VIKING SHIP 34 SKETCH MAP 37 DIAGRAM 40 THE GOKSTAD SHIP 41 SHIPS OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 43 BAYEUX TAPESTRY 45 THE MONASTERY OF BERMONDSEY 51 BERMONDSEY ABBEY 52 GATEWAY OF BERMONDSEY ABBEY 53
From Allen's History of Lambeth 83 THE HIGH STREET, SOUTHWARK, AS IT APPEARED MDXLIII 85 REMAINS OF ELTHAM PALACE, 1796 91 KING JOHN'S PALACE, KENT
From a Drawing by J. Hassell, 1804 93 REMAINS OF ELTHAM PALACE 95 THE MOAT BRIDGE, ELTHAM PALACE 97 GREENWICH, 1662
From a Drawing by Jonas Moore 99 GREENWICH HOSPITAL
From a Drawing by Schnebbelie 101 LAMBETH PALACE 109 BONNER HALL, LAMBETH 111 RESIDENCE OF GUY FAWKES, LAMBETH
From 'La Belle Assemblée,' November 1822 113 BISHOP'S WALK, LAMBETH 114 INTERIOR OF THE HALL, LAMBETH PALACE
From an Engraving dated 1804 115 LAMBETH PALACE, FROM THE RIVER 116 LOLLARDS' TOWER, LAMBETH PALACE 117 DOORWAY IN THE LOLLARDS' TOWER 119 LOLLARDS' PRISON 121 WHITE HART INN, SOUTHWARK 137 SURREY END OF LONDON BRIDGE, FROM HIGH STREET, SOUTHWARK 139 THE SITE OF SIR JOHN FASTOLF'S HOUSE IN TOOLEY STREET 143 HOUSES IN HIGH STREET, SOUTHWARK, 1550 149 OLD HALL, KING'S HEAD, AYLESBURY 158 OLD HALL, AYLESBURY 159 CANTERBURY PILGRIMS
From the Stained Window in Lambeth Church 175 MINSTRELS, A.D. 1480 177 BOOTH, SOUTHWARK FAIR 181 GREENWICH PARK ON WHITSUN MONDAY
From an Engraving by Rawle, 1802 187 A SEAL OF ST. MARY OVERIES 192 SEALS OF ST. MARY OVERIES 193 NORTH-EAST VIEW OF ST. SAVIOUR'S, SOUTHWARK, 1800 194 CRYPT OF ST. MARY OVERIES 195 GATEWAY OF ST. MARY'S PRIORY, SOUTHWARK, 1811
From a Drawing by Whichelo 197 REMAINS OF THE OLD PRIORY, ST. MARY OVERIES 199 TOMB OF BISHOP ANDREWS, ST. MARY OVERIES 201 A CORNER IN ST. SAVIOUR'S, SOUTHWARK 203 ST. SAVIOUR'S, SOUTHWARK, 1790 204 WINCHESTER PALACE 207 THE GLOBE THEATRE
From the Crace Collection 209 BEAR GARDEN 213 THE BEAR GARDEN AND HOPE THEATRE, 1616 221 INTERIOR OF THE OLD SWAN THEATRE 223 A FÊTE AT HORSELYDOWN IN 1590
From the Painting by G. Hoffnagel, at Hatfield 231 THE OLD ELEPHANT AND CASTLE, 1814 233 VIEW NEAR THE STORE-HOUSE, DEPTFORD
From an Engraving by John Boydell, 1750 235 GEORGE HOTEL, BOROUGH 239 MINT STREET, BOROUGH 245 OLD HOUSE, STONEY STREET, SOUTHWARK 249 ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL
From an old Print 250
From a Drawing by T. Higham, 1820 254 THE FALCON TAVERN, BANKSIDE 255 AN OLD MILL, BANKSIDE 256 JOHN BUNYAN'S MEETING HOUSE, BANKSIDE 257 THE OLD TOWN HALL, SOUTHWARK 258 OLD HOUSES IN EWER STREET 259 COURTYARD OF THE DOG AND BEAR INN 261 THE WHITE BEAR TAVERN, SOUTHWARK 263 ALLEN ROPEWALK, SOUTHWARK 265 A SOUTH LONDON SLUM 267 THE OLD TABARD INN, SOUTHWARK 268 ST. GEORGE, SOUTHWARK: NORTH-WEST VIEW
From an Engraving by B. Cole 269 REMAINS OF THE MARSHALSEA: N.E. VIEW. A, CHAPEL; B, PALACE COURT
From 'The Gentleman's Magazine,' September 1803 273 KING'S BENCH PRISON 275 ANOTHER VIEW OF THE KING'S BENCH PRISON 277 VAUXHALL GARDENS
From the Engraving by J. S. Müller 283 VAUXHALL JUBILEE ADMISSION TICKET 285 THE DOG AND DUCK, BETHLEM 289 A DOORWAY, CURLEW STREET, BERMONDSEY 301 IN SNOW'S FIELDS, BERMONDSEY 302 THE TEMPLE FROM THE SURREY BANK 303 HOLY TRINITY, ROTHERHITHE 305 CZAR PETER'S HOUSE, DEPTFORD 307 ALLEYN'S ALMSHOUSES, 1840 309 DULWICH COLLEGE, 1780 311 FROM THE TOWER OF ST. SAVIOUR'S 313 RED CROSS GARDENS, SOUTHWARK 315 ST. SAVIOUR'S DOCK 317
SOUTH LONDON
CHAPTER I
THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS
I propose to call the series of chapters which are to follow by the general name of 'South London.' Like their predecessors on 'London' and 'Westminster,' they will not attempt, or pretend, to present a continuous history of this region—or, indeed, a history at all: they will endeavour to do for this part of London what their predecessors have already attempted for the Cities of London and Westminster: that is to say, they will present such episodes and incidents, with such characters, as may serve to illustrate the life of the place; the manners and customs of the people; the characteristics of the Borough and its outlying suburbs. So far as history means the march of armies and the clash of armour, we shall here find little history. So far, also, as history means the growth of our liberties, the struggles by which they were won; the apparent decay, or defeat, from time to time, of the spirit of freedom, with its inevitable recovery: the reader and the student may be referred to the pages of a Stubbs or a Freeman—not to my humbler page. Great is the work, and worthy to be held in the highest honour, of those who trace out the irresistible march of national freedom: I cannot join their company; I must be contented with the lowlier, yet somewhat useful, task of showing how the people, my forefathers, lived, and what they thought, and how they sang and feasted and made love and grew old and died.
My South London extends from Battersea in the west to Greenwich in the east, and from the river on the north to the first rising ground on the south. This rising ground, a gentle ascent, the beginning of the Surrey hills, can still be observed on the high roads of the south—Clapham, Brixton, Camberwell. It now occupies the place of what was formerly a low cliff, from ten to thirty or forty feet high, overhanging the broad level, and corresponding to those cliffs on the other side of the river, which closed in on either side of Walbrook and made the foundation of London possible. If we draw a straight line from the mouth of the Wandle on the west to the mouth of the Ravensbourne on the east, we shall, roughly speaking, indicate the southern boundary of our district; unless, as we may very well do, we include Greenwich as well. The whole of this region constitutes the Great South Marsh: there is no rising ground, or hillock, or encroaching cliff over the whole of this flat expanse. Before the river was embanked it was one unbroken marsh: for eight miles in length by a varying breadth of about two or two and a half miles, the tidal stream twice in the twenty-four hours submerged this space. Here and there lay islets or eyots, created, as the centuries crept on, by the gradual accumulation of branches, roots, reeds and rubbish, till they rose a few inches above high water; the spring-tide covered them—sometimes swept them away—then others began to form. In later times, after the work of embankment had been commenced, these islets became permanent, and were afterwards known as Battersea, Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Lambhithe, Newington, Kennington. Even then, for many a long year, they were but little areas rising a foot or two above the level, covered with sedge, reeds, and tufts of coarse grass, hardly distinguishable from the rest of the ground around them. Before the construction of the river wall, no trees stood upon this morass, no flowers of the field flourished there, no thorns and bushes grew, no cattle pastured there; the wild deer were afraid of it: there were no creatures of the land upon it. On the south side rose the cliff of clay and sand, continually falling and continually receding before the encroaching tide; on the north side ran the river; beyond the river the cliff stood up above the water's edge, where the tiny stream, afterwards named from the Wall, leaped bright and sparkling into the rolling flood. No man could live upon that marsh: its breath after sunset and in the night was pestilential.