LONDON BRIDGE
EXPLORE
Walking Trail Guides Walk 1 START AT: Hay’s Galleria FINISH AT: London Bridge Station
SECRET
Compiled by Clare Birks based on information provided by local historian Jennie Howells and Team London Bridge.
DISCOVER
TRAIL INFORMATION The famous and historic London Bridge has given its name to the nearby London Bridge station at its south end, and to the area round the station. This walk covers the north west corner of the London Bridge area.
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TRAIL MAP
POINTS OF INTEREST 1. Hay’s Galleria ......................................................... 2. Cottons Centre ......................................................... 3 James Braidwood ......................................................... 4 Emblem House and
It will take 1- 1.5hours to follow the Trail using this guide. The walk begins and ends at the junction of Tooley St and Battle Bridge Lane. Stand at the junction with your back to Tooley St, walk along the left hand side of Battle Bridge Lane and into the distinguished brick building on your left, also known as Hay’s Halleria...
Denmark House ......................................................... 5 St Olaf House ......................................................... 6 Illuminated glass lines ......................................................... 7 London Bridge ......................................................... 8 Glaziers Hall ......................................................... 9 Southwark Cathedral ......................................................... 10 Archaeological Pit ......................................................... 11 Cathedral Square ......................................................... 12 Statue of Minerva ......................................................... 13 Borough Market ......................................................... 14 Kings Head Yard ......................................................... 15 Kings College Quad ......................................................... 16 The Old Guy’s Hospital ......................................................... 17 The Shard ......................................................... 18 Guy’s statue ......................................................... 19 Keats House ......................................................... 20 Old Operating Theatre & Herb Garret ......................................................... 21 Terrace of houses ......................................................... 22 Old St Thomas Hospital building
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1. Hay’s Galleria The Galleria occupies the refurbished Victorian Hay’s Wharf building and now includes shops and offices. The Hay family owned the wharf from 1651. For a time, during the 18th century, Hay’s Wharf sheltered German protestant refugees fleeing persecution. By 1838, the Hay family association with the wharf had ended and the new owner commissioned Sir William Cubitt, builder of the Bank of England, to build a new wharf around an enclosed dock. The warehouses were completed in 1857. Its cranes and headquarters building dominated the south side of the river. Hay’s Wharf was associated with sailing ships known as tea clippers, which brought tea from China and the Horniman public house at the river end of the Galleria is named after a famous tea importer to commemorate this. By the 1960s cargo ships had become
too big to sail this far up the river and the wharf was closed. It lay derelict for nearly 20 years and then in the 1980s, was refurbished by Michael Twigg Brown & Partners as Hay’s Galleria, an early example of regeneration in the abandoned dock area. In the middle of the open area in Hay’s Galleria stands The Navigators, a fantastic moving sculpture of a ship in cast bronze and welded steel by David Kemp (1987). The water feature and sculpture also includes found objects, motors and pumps. Look to the open end of the Galleria, looking over the river and you can see across on the North bank, the fine old Custom House building and behind, the office block known, because of its shape, as the Gherkin. Turn your back on the river, walk through the Galleria and out onto Tooley St. Turn right and walk along until you see on your right...
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2. The Cottons Centre
3. James Braidwood
This modern office building is on the site of the old Cotton’s wharf. The wharves on the south bank became known in the 19th century, as the ‘larder of London’ because these wharves handled food imports, including cheese, bacon, butter and meat from New Zealand, Australia and other far flung places. Cotton’s Wharf was destroyed in the Great Fire of Tooley St in 1861 and rebuilt, along with other warehouses, by W & H Snook.
A memorial to James Braidwood (1800-61) is on the first floor elevation of the building at the corner of Tooley St and Cotton’s Lane. It depicts burning buildings, with smoke and flames and fire-fighting equipment. Braidwood was born in Edinburgh. He became Superintendent of the London Fire Engine Establishment and a pioneer of fire-fighting technology. His work led to him being known as ‘the father of the British fire service’. In 1861 he was already known for acts of bravery, and sadly lost his life during the great fire of Tooley St. The story is told that whilst going to the assistance of one of his firemen, he was crushed to death by a falling wall. His body was recovered two days later. Continue past 33-29 Tooley St, cross the narrow road to the wide pavement, turn and look back at...
Just past the Cottons Centre lies Cotton Lane and if you look across it, high on the wall of number 33 Tooley St, you will see a memorial to ...
Great Fire of Tooley Street 1861
4 4. Emblem House and Denmark House, Tooley St Emblem House was designed by architect Charles Stanley Peach. It was built in 1903 and housed shipping and other offices. Denmark House is a Grade II listed building designed in 1908 by S D Adshead for the Bennett Steamship Company. The front of the building is decorated with whales, an anchor and heads of Neptune. Walk a little further on and you can turn to see the side of the building, decorated with ornamental stone plaques, a steamship and swags of shells. Both buildings are now part of the London Bridge Hospital complex. The main hospital building on the riverbank occupies the site of what was Chamberlain’s Wharf. Next along is...
5 5. St Olaf House This is a handsome, Art Deco building, designed by architect, H S GoodhartRendel in 1929-31. The current building has an inscription about St Olaf on the right hand corner and a depiction of him on the left hand corner. The main entrance, far under the portico, is handsome and gilded and decorated with three coats of arms. Artist and sculptor Frank Dobson (1888-1963) created the black and gold design for the depiction of St Olaf. St Olaf (also known as Olav, Olave) Olaf was King of Norway. He was canonised in 1164 and is the patron saint of Norway. His name is connected to Southwark where it survived in a church, a school and a hospital. He assisted the Anglo-Saxons in defeating King Canute and the Danes, who had occupied London. When Olaf sailed up the Thames, he faced an assault by the Danes who were hurling spears down from London Bridge. The response of the Norwegian Vikings was to pull the roofs from nearby houses, holding them over their heads. This enabled them to get close enough to attach ropes to the piers and pull the bridge down, defeating the occupiers. Beyond the
building is a sign for St Olaf Stairs. In times gone by, travelling by boat on the river was a common way to move around, and the riverbank was dotted with stairs down to the water, for people and goods. Here there is a view across the river to the old Billingsgate fish market building. The market began as a water gate in the 10th century, cutting through the old Roman riverside wall to produce a wharf. By 1698, it had become a specialised fish market. Trade in fish was very important for many hundreds of years when there was a religious tradition of fasting (not eating meat) on Fridays and certain other days of the year. The building you are looking at was designed by the City Architect, Sir Horace Jones and was completed in 1877. The fish market moved in 1982 to a much bigger site down river, close to Canary Wharf.
Walk a little further on towards the arch under the bridge and you will see at your feet...
This fire was described as the worst since the Great Fire of London in 1666. It started on the 22 June 1861 in the afternoon, in Cotton’s Wharf where inflammable goods were stored in warehouses. By 6pm, 14 fire engines from the London Fire Engine Establishment were in attendance. The flames were so intense at times that fire fighters could not get near enough to direct water onto the blaze. It burned for two weeks and attracted thousands of sightseers. Pubs even remained open throughout the night. The cost of the fire was estimated at around £2 million. It destroyed 1,000 tons of hemp, 3,000 tons of sugar, 500 tons of saltpeter, 5,000 tons of rice, 18,000 bales of cotton, 10,000 barrels of tallow and 1,100 tons of jute, together with vast quantities of bacon, tea, spices and other merchandise. The cause was thought to be spontaneous combustion. After this fire, insurance companies no longer felt able to take responsibility for London’s fire safety and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was established in 1866.
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6. Illuminated glass lines in the pavement A series of metal and glass lines sunk into the pavement and road show the former positions of the St Olaf church and Stairs and the old London Bridge. A church on this site was first recorded in the Domesday Book in the 11th century. The second church, which replaced it, was designed by Henry Flitcroft in 1738-9, and badly damaged by fire in 1843. It was rebuilt and demolished in the 1920s. All three churches were dedicated to St Olave. Walk on, into the underpass and you are now standing underneath the present...
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7. London Bridge The first bridge crossing the river here was Roman. Later on, the Anglo Saxons also bridged the river here. Both those bridges were made of wood. They were continually damaged, by fire, accident and warfare, and the work of maintenance and repair was constant. In 1176, the building of the first stone bridge began. The glass tracks in the pavement that you have just seen show how narrow the bridge was, and much of that width was taken up by the shops and houses built on the bridge. So the space for people and carts to pass was very narrow and frequently there were long queues to cross it. The design of the bridge, and subsequent replacements is shown in the drawing below. By 1257 a Drawbridge had been installed at the north end of the bridge. In 1305, a gruesome tradition was established. The Scottish warrior William Wallace
was executed at Smithfield and his head was exhibited on the Drawbridge Gate. When this gate was demolished in 1577, the tradition transferred to the Stone Gate here at the south end. The display of executed heads here went on for many centuries.
Rennie senior was accepted and in 1823 Royal Assent was given to build a new bridge and approaches. It was sited just to the west of the original bridge. The foundation stone was laid in 1825 and the new bridge was opened by King William IV and Queen Adelaide in 1831.
Buildings at the north end of the bridge were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. Another fire in 1725 consumed houses over the first two arches at the south end of the bridge and the Great Stone Gate.
In 1973 this bridge was replaced with the present bridge. Rennie’s bridge found a new home in Lake Havasu City in Arizona. It was demolished stone by stone, shipped over and rebuilt there. The Rennie bridge is commemorated with coloured lighting under the arch of the current bridge.
By this time, the bridge was a severe bottleneck for traffic, and so from 1757 the houses were removed and the bridge with its remaining shops, was widened. Tolls were no longer charged and as a result, traffic increased yet further. In 1821, work began to at last replace the 700 year old bridge. A design by Southwark engineer, John
Walk on through the underpass and out the other side. On your right, you will see...
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8. Glaziers Hall Designed by William Holford, the hall and offices were opened in 1978. The Glaziers Company received their first Charter in 1638 and formerly occupied buildings in the City of London. A plaque on the building gives a history of the site.
Walk on and turn in through the large metal gates to the courtyard of...
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9. Southwark Cathedral The first religious establishment here was an Augustinian priory, dedicated to St Mary and known as St Mary Overy (‘over the river’). It was under the care of the bishops of Winchester. Alongside the church, a hospital was established, the predecessor of today’s St Thomas’s Hospital. In 1537, King Henry VIII took ownership of the church and rented it back to the congregation. In 1611, the congregation bought it back. The church was remodelled and extended many times and was designated Southwark Cathedral in 1905. In 2000, major extensions by Richard Griffiths were added to the north of the cathedral. These
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10. An Archaeological Pit include an Education Centre, Shop and Refectory. The cathedral is well worth a visit if you have time. Walk across the courtyard and through two sets of large double doors. Turn left in the cathedral precinct and you will see some interesting models of the buildings in this area in historic times. Walk a little further, and you will find on your right....
This pit shows remains from Roman times to the present. They include a 12th century building, a 13th century coffin and a 17th century pottery kiln. Retrace your steps out of the Cathedral and through the courtyard gates and cross the road to ...
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11. Cathedral Square
12. Statue of Minerva
13. Borough Market
A small piazza gives a view across the river Thames. Just to the left of the bridge you can see the impressive Fishmongers Hall. The guild was established in 1272, one of the original City of London guilds and moved to this site in 1444, close to the old Billingsgate fishmarket building which we saw earlier. The present building was opened in 1835 and its size and grandeur reflect the wealth of fish merchants over the centuries. Look left upriver and you can see the dome of St Pauls Cathedral on the north bank.  Now turn your back on the river and have a look at the stones placed by the pavement. These are from the 1831 London Bridge by John Rennie and somehow escaped being sent to America. When you leave the piazza turn right heading away from the underpass, cross the road and in the bend of the pavement there is...
‘Minerva’, is a statue by the sculptor, Alan Collins. It is made in aluminium and stands on a rough concrete plinth. It is a semi-abstract figure depicting the Roman goddess with a long cloak and plumed helmet.
A market grew up round the south end of London Bridge and traded until the 13th century. It was moved but continued to grow, extending southwards and eventually causing sufficient traffic congestion and overcrowding that Parliament agreed in 1754 that it be closed down. Permission was then granted to parishioners of St. Saviour’s church (now Southwark Cathedral) to set up a new market here in 1756.
Leaving Minerva behind and keeping the Cathedral on your left, walk along Cathedral St and follow it round a bend to the left. Here you are in the heart of ...
The Victorian market buildings were constructed between 1851 and 1864. The Floral Hall portico, previously in Covent Garden market in the West End, was re-located here in 2004. Borough Market was for many years a wholesale market, trading foodstuffs and cattle. It has now become a popular retail attraction with over 100 stalls. A panel of experts ensures the quality of products, including locally-sourced food and drink, as well as produce from other parts of Europe and elsewhere, popular with gourmets and tourists alike.
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Continue until you reach Borough High Street and turn right. You will soon see on your right the Art Deco market entrance built in 1932. Continue along to the traffic lights and cross the two busy roads, Southwark Street and Borough High St. Turn left and within a few moments, you will find you can turn right into...
‘The George’ and the Inns of Borough High St People and carts often had to wait to get across London Bridge, which was only open in the hours of daylight. Some traders started selling their wares here on the south side of the river. As a result, since medieval times, there has been a busy trade for inns in this area. Inns had a street frontage with a large courtyard behind. Accommodation and stables and other trades operated from the courtyards. In the 15th century, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote a famous book, ‘the Canterbury Tales and in the story, his pilgrims set off on their journey to Canterbury, from the Tabard Inn on Borough High St. Sadly, the Tabard and many other inns were lost in a fire in 1676. Some were rebuilt, including the ‘Queens’s Head’, which was owned by the family of John Harvard, founder of Harvard University. One of the galleried inns still exists, ‘The George’, which is owned by the National Trust.
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14. Kings Head Yard
15. Kings College Quad
The present Kings Head public house dates from 1881. It is a successor to one of the many famous Southwark inns which were situated on Borough High Street. Or more accurately in yards off the main road. Fragments of Roman and medieval pottery were found during building works in the yard. A colourful bust of King Henry VIII, probably from the late 17th century, decorates the front of the public house.
This area is the campus for the Medical School of Kings College, part of the University of London. The Memorial Park was established in memory of those who died in the First and Second World Wars. The Portland stone memorial arch by William Walford, which you can see in the distance, was unveiled in 1921.
Walk on through the yard. It doesn’t look like much but is what remains of a typical medieval courtyard, an opening off a main street with many buildings and activities taking place within the yard.
Turn left up some gentle steps and into part of the original...
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Ludwig Wittgenstein
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16. The Old Guy’s Hospital Building This is the original 1720 building of Guy’s Hospital. Thomas Guy, who we will meet again later, made a fortune selling bibles and investing (successfully, unlike most people) in the South Sea Bubble. He was at the time a governor of St Thomas’s hospital nearby. You’ll hear more about that later too. Thomas Guy got permission to found a new hospital for the incurably sick whom St Thomas’s could not help - and this land to build it on. As you walk through the colonnade, you come to an inner courtyard which has open arcades. On the wall immediately to your right, there is a plaque about the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and next to it a graceful war memorial with Art Nouveau script. In the courtyard on the right sits an alcove from the London Bridge of 1758-62 and in it sits a statue
of the poet John Keats, who was a medical student at the hospital in the early 19th century. There will be more about Keats later. In the other courtyard, there is a statue of Lord Nuffield, who was a great supporter of health-related charities and research. Walk along the colonnade and through the next building and you will come to another courtyard. This was the main entrance to the original hospital. The west wing (on your left) is original and the east wing (on your right) was rebuilt after bomb damage during World War 2. Walk into the doorway at the centre of the west wing to see the tranquil galleried chapel built in the 1780s, which houses John Bacon the Elder’s noble, white marble monument to Thomas Guy (1779). The
sanctuary was remodelled in 1956. Ludwig Wittgenstein A plaque in the colonnade notes that the eminent Austrian philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) spent time working incognito, first as a drugs porter and then as an ointment maker at Guy’s Hospital 1941-3.  Re-emerge, and look to your right to look at the south face of the courtyard where the colonnade starts. The sculptured stone-faced frontage has bas reliefs, allegorical figures and in the two niches, the figures of Aesculapius, the god of medicine and Hygeia, the goddess of health, all by John Bacon the Elder. Still standing in the chapel doorway, look up for a fabulous view of...
A plaque in the colonnade notes that the eminent Austrian philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) spent time working incognito, first as a drugs porter and then as an ointment maker at Guy’s Hospital 1941-3.
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1 17. The Shard The Shard (as in shard of glass) was developed by Irvine Sellar as a ‘global landmark’. The building, with its public viewing platform was opened in 2012. It is the tallest building in the European Union, reaching 1016 feet. It was designed by Renzo Piano, inspired by the nearby railway lines of London Bridge station and an engraving of the steeples of London churches. Urban legend has it that while it was being built, a fox made its way to the upper floors and lived there for a while! There have been several examples of climbers scaling the building and charity abseiling descents of the Shard. The Shard has 72 habitable floors, hosts three restaurants (31st, 32nd and 33rd) and the Shangri-La Hotel
18. Sir Thomas Guy (floors 34- 52). The rest is offices and apartments. Bring your thoughts back to the courtyard. The wing opposite you is planned to become a Science Gallery by 2017, to be built by Kings College and focused on drawing in young people and encouraging interest in and understanding of science. Walk into the middle to see the statue of...
The statue of Thomas Guy, founder of Guy’s Hospital is by notable Flemish sculptor Peter Scheemakers and dates from 1734. It is decorated with brass plates. Two of these show biblical scenes of healing and charity. The third displays the armorial bearings of Guy’s Hospital with the inscription ‘Dare Quam Accipere’ and the fourth a dedicatory inscription Thomas Guy (1644-1724).  Walk through the main gate of the courtyard into St Thomas St. Turn left and walk a few yards until you see a pair of handsome houses with pillared entrances, one of which has a blue plaque. Cross the road and turn back to get the best view of ...
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19. Keats House
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The blue plaque commemorates the fact that John Keats lived in, or near to St. Thomas Street. John Keats (17951821) was a renowned English Romantic poet. For a short period, he was a medical student at Guy’s Hospital, receiving his apothecary’s licence in 1816. He shared lodgings withHenry Stephens, later to become known as an inventor and ink magnate. The house has decorative firstfloor windows with busts, two of which have been identified as having connections with the field of medicine. These are William Harvey (1578-1657) and physician of ancient Greece, Hippocrates of Cos. Carry on along St Thomas St and you will come to...
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20. Old Operating Theatre & Herb Garret
21. Terrace of houses on St Thomas Street
22. Old St Thomas Hospital Building
Augustinian monks and nuns founded a hospital heresometime before 1215 to look after the poor and sick.Later it became known as St Thomas’s Hospital. This 18th century church was once part of the hospital and the hospital apothecary used the tower to dry his herbs.
The early 18th century houses at the west end of the terrace were originally built for the treasurer, apothecary and other officers of Guy’s Hospital. They have decorative front doors with pediments. Houses and railings at the east end of the terrace are of the early 19th century. Continue along the street until a railway arch opens up on the left. Just past the arch is an escalator. Take the escalator up and turn left at the top.
This building dates from the 1840s. It was originally the south wing of St Thomas Hospital and housed wards. The hospital was shortly afterwards moved to make way for the railway station. The building is now used as offices. Next door to the left is the north wall of the former church that we saw on St Thomas St and to the left again, a house in characteristic early 18th century style with giant pilasters and brick window surrounds.
Walk down the hill until you see an opening on the left. Turn in and you will find...
Remerge from the yard and walk back up towards London Bridge station, strike out to your left across the bus station, heading for the metal steps down to street level. Walk down and you are at one of the entrances to...
From 1822 it housed the operating theatre for the female ward. The hospital was moved in 1862 further up river to make way for London Bridge station. The operating theatre was blocked up and forgotten. It was rediscovered by builders in 1956 and after complete restoration reopened as a museum in 1962. Turn back towards The Shard and stay on this side of the street. Walk on and you will see on your left...
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London Bridge Station Improvement Works 2013-2018 will have seen major changes at London Bridge with more through platforms (for additional Thameslink trains) and a huge new station concourse underneath the tracks. The work entails: •
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23. London Bridge Station
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London Bridge Station was London’s first railway terminus. It opened in 1836 for passengers travelling on the line to and from Greenwich. Soon other railway companies began paying a fee to use the track. Right up to 1925 two railway companies were operating services from the tracks, from two station buildings, to the north (services to Greenwich and Croydon) and to the south, services to Brighton and the South Coast. A succession of station buildings catered to evergrowing passenger numbers. The station buildings were badly damaged in World War 2 and replaced in the 1960s. London Bridge Station is now the fourth busiest railway station in the country and a further major rebuild is underway, planned to complete in 2018. Cross the road and turn right down Tooley street, In a few moments you will be in front of Hay’s Galleria. To return to Battle Bridge Lane, walk on past the front of the Galleria
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The demolition of many of the original brick arches and the 1866 Brighton railway train shed 1800 piles to be driven deep into the Thames mud the creation of a football pitchsized concourse area in the area of Weston St and Stainer street with access from the north and the south consequential changes to the bus station.
And all this while keeping millions of passengers, trains, buses and other traffic moving! In the course of the work, archaeological investigation has revealed remains of one of the earliest of several Roman buildings in the area. Quantities of historic artefacts have also been discovered. These included pewter tankards inscribed with the names of local public houses, decorated clay pipes, fragments and tiles of medieval flooring and items connected with industrial activity.