LONDON REMEMBERS says: The plaque explains the presence here of these bits of the Houses of Parliament with a connection between the two buildings - they were both damaged in WW2 air raids!  

Nobody knows with precision why this governmental bomb debris finished up on a block of flats in Bermondsey.

It's most likely that the gargoyle and stone became available on 10/11 May 1941 when the House of Commons was badly damaged. See this House of Commons page for details of other liberated lumps of Parliamentary stone that found other homes.

Southwark Park is Grade II listed, covers 26 hectares and opened to the public on the 19^thJune 1869. Its design was based on an original map, produced by the Superintendent Architect, Mr Vulliamy, and Alexander McKenzie. The original intention was for part of the park to be used as building plots, but the Vestry of Bermondsey opposed this.

In 1884 a bandstand which was acquired from the Great Exhibition {actually the International Exhibition of 1862} in South Kensington was placed in the Park.

By 1885 substantial changes to the layout had occurred including the addition of the lake. In 1908 the lake was enlarged and adapted for boating. The English Rose Garden replaced island bedding in 1934 and was commissioned by Dr Salter to create a peaceful retreat for people to relax. In 1942 it was renamed the Ada Salter Garden in memory of his wife. In 1872 the carriage drive was reduced in width when the building plans were eventually shelved. The original carriage drive leading from Jamaica Gate now divides the park.

Francis Fowke designed the buildings for the 1862 International Exhibition in South Kensington and also some of the items in the neighbouring RHS Garden such as the conservatory and two band houses, as they were originally called. These cast-iron bandstands were the first erected in this country. The design was inspired by Indo-Islamic architecture and the roof, a wooden dome covered in zinc, wasn’t just to provide rain cover, it also acting as a sounding board to project the music out to the audience.

In 1888 when the RHS Garden vacated the South Ken site the LCC bought both of the bandstands. One was erected at Peckham Rye (see Arts and Culture for a photo) and was opened by the Earl of Meath on 13 July 1889. That same year some LCC minutes note that a previous smaller bandstand in Southwark Park was to be moved to Plumstead Common and replaced with one of the South Kensington bandstands. Maps suggest that a bandstand survived in Southwark Park until at least 1954 but had gone by 1968. Historic England says it was removed by 1947. It’s possibly that the ironwork was removed in WW2, along with many railings, for supposed reuse as armaments. In 1999 the bandstand was reconstructed using the original detailed drawings as part of a Heritage Lottery Funded restoration of the Park.

JSTOR (Garden History Vol. 29, No. 2 (Winter, 2001), pp. 214-216) has a good image showing one of the bandstands in the RHS Gardens at the International Exhibition in 1862.

Note: an LCC minute of 1890 refers to a bandstand being erected on Clapham Common and that has often been taken (by British History Online no less) to refer to one of the Fowke bandstands. But it seems it is a modified replica. Arts and Culture have a photo if you wish to compare and contrast.

This fountain was erected in memory of the temperance advocate Jabez West and formally unveiled on 3rd April 1885. West (6th  1810 – 1884) was a blacksmith’s son from Princes Risborough, who came to Bermondsey in the 1830s. He worked in the leather trade but became best known in the area for devoting his time to political reform and the temperance movement. He also campaigned for Southwark Park. After his death, the Metropolitan Board of Works took the unusual step of agreeing to this memorial for a working-class man. The fountain is made of polished grey granite at an original cost of £120, which was paid for by public subscription.

Designed and constructed {* see our note below} by Henry Poole RA and opened on April 28th 1897, the Town Hall was sited on the corner of Neptune Street and Lower Road, with the rear of the building on Moodkee Street. These caryatides originally flanked the main entrance of the old Rotherhithe Town Hall, which in 1905 was converted into a library. The building was severely damaged by the German air raids of the second world war and subsequently demolished. the caryatides remained on their original site until 1974 when they were relocated within the Heygate Estate just off the New Kent Road. In 2009 the caryatides were removed when demolition of the estate commenced, and located back here in Rotherhithe in 2011.

Caryatides are a Greek architectural support in the form of a female figure which replaces the column or pillar. The significant differences between the two caryatides is one is detailed with oak and the other laurel. Oak is often seen as an emblem of virtue, strength, resiliency, longevity and rebirth. Laurel is a token of peace and quiet but also a symbol of triumph and fame.

* Note: Poole was not an architect, he designed and created these caryatides, not the building, which was the work of Murray and Foster. 

ATTENTION, ATTENTION: You can divert now towards the Southern tip of the Bermondsey Beer “Mile” (only a mile?)

Anchorite' is derived from the Greek anakhorein, to retire or retreat, since anchorites and anchoresses had sequestered themselves from the world to contemplate God thereby, they hoped, assuring their salvation. 

The Blue Anchor pub built in 1876. The area known as The Blue was probably named after a previous tavern of the same name, probably on this site. 

The Old Bank pub is situated on the corner of the square and Southwark Park Road. The flags represent support for England and Millwall Football Club whose ground The Den is close to The Blue. 

A Pie and mash shop on Southwark Park Road in The Blue. Pie, mash and eels is a traditional dish in the East End and South East London.

This representation of the Bermondsey Lion was created by Kevin Boys for Southwark Council. It was unveiled on 16 July 2011.

By the 1860s the construction of railways in London was extensive. One of Anthony Trollope’s characters is “… having to meet a synod of contractors, surveyors, and engineers, to discuss which of the remaining thoroughfares of London should not be knocked down by the coming of the railways…” (‘The Claverings’, 1866-7).

The first public railway to carry passengers in the UK was the Swansea and Mumbles Railway, which opened in 1807, using horse-drawn carriages. The first steam-powered passenger railway was the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which opened in 1825.

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on September 15, 1830. It used steam locomotives to transport both passengers and goods. 

William Huskisson becomes the first widely reported passenger train death. During the ceremonial opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, while standing on the track at Parkside, he is struck and fatally injured by the locomotive Rocket. (Locomotives did not yet have whistles.)

The Rocket locomotive was built in 1829 by Robert Stephenson & Co. at the Forth Street Works in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was designed by Robert Stephenson and became famous for winning the Rainhill Trials, a competition to determine the best locomotive for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway

A greatly enlarged etching of the bridge in 1835 has been placed on the wall opposite the plaque. It shows a much shorter tunnel with only four pairs of pillars between stone piers whereas now there are twelve, plus a section (shown in our photo) with none. We take that to mean that tracks have been added to the railway system above and that initially the tunnel was extended, pillars and all, but on the last occasion it was decided that was just too expensive.  Note: The etching is labelled Neckinger Road which was the name of this street until 1912.

There are similar colonnades of blue pillars at the nearby Spa Road bridge and at Holyrood Street but at this last the columns are not fluted.

At the end of the 18th century and start of the 19th, the population of Bermondsey was expanding rapidly and the area needed a church to serve those moving into the area.

St. James’ is one of the so called Commissioners Churches as it was a result of the Church Building Act of 1818 when Parliament voted money for the construction of new churches.

A group of local churchman purchased the land for the church and were given a grant by the Commissioners of the fund provided by Parliament for the construction of the church.

Construction of the church was delayed whilst additional funds were raised to build both a tower and a spire. This was achieved by building a crypt under the church were space was sold for burials, thereby allowing the money to be raised for construction of the tower, topped by a spire which we see today.

John Savage was the architect, the first stone was laid in February 1827 and the church was consecrated one year later in May 1829.

After the demolition of the old stairway and the building a new internal one from an arch in West Street, now known as Marine Street. In 1867 the station was relocated 180 metres along the viaduct toward the east, with an entrance sitting on Priter Road.