TheLondon Borough of Southwark (/ˈsʌðərk/ ⓘSUDH-ərk)[2][3] inSouth London forms part ofInner London and is connected by bridges across theRiver Thames to theCity of London and theLondon Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas were amalgamated under theLondon Government Act 1963. All districts of the area are within theLondon postal district. It is governed bySouthwark London Borough Council.
The part of theSouth Bank within the borough is home toLondon Bridge terminus station and the attractions ofThe Shard,Tate Modern,Shakespeare's Globe andBorough Market that are the largest of the venues inSouthwark to draw domestic andinternational tourism. Dulwich is home to theDulwich Picture Gallery and theImperial War Museum is inElephant and Castle. Major districts includeBermondsey,Rotherhithe,Peckham,Camberwell, andDulwich.
The nameSuthriganaweorc[4] orSuthringa geweorche[5] is recorded for the place in the early 10th-centuryAnglo-Saxon document known as theBurghal Hidage[5] and means "Surrey folk's fort"[4] or "thedefensive work of the men of Surrey".[5] Southwark is recorded in the 1086Domesday Book asSudweca. The name means "southern defensive work" and is formed from theOld Englishsūþ (south) andweorc (work). InOld English,Surrey means "southern district (or the men of the southern district)",[6] so the change from "southern district work" to the latter "southern work" may be an evolution based on the elision of the single syllablege element, meaning district.
The strategic context of the defences would have been in relation toLondon, itsbridge and preventing waterborne attackers from travelling further up theThames.
Southwark is the oldest part ofsouth London. An urban area to the south of the bridge was first developed in theRoman period, but subsequently abandoned. The nameSouthwark dates from the establishment of a defensive position in the area byKing Alfred in the 9th century.
Southwark was anancient borough, being described as a borough from at least the 12th century. The area historically formed part of the county ofSurrey. Southwark had a complicated administrative relationship with the neighbouringCity of London. There was aparliamentary borough (constituency) ofSouthwark from 1295 onwards. London was given variousmanorial and judicial rights over parts of Southwark, notably in 1327 and 1550, when Southwark was brought within the city boundaries as the ward ofBridge Without. However, the city's authority over Southwark was not as complete as it was for the older part of the city north of the Thames; certain judicial powers over the borough were still exercised by the Surrey authorities.[7]
From 1856 the area was also governed by theMetropolitan Board of Works, which was established to provide services across themetropolis of London. In 1889 the Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made theCounty of London. From 1856 until 1900 the lower tier of local government within the metropolis comprised variousparish vestries and district boards. The parishes ofBermondsey,Camberwell,Newington,Rotherhithe andSouthwark St George the Martyr were governed by their individual vestries, whilst other smaller parishes and liberties were grouped into theSt Olave District andSt Saviour's District.[8]
In 1900 the lower tier was reorganised intometropolitan boroughs. Bermondsey, Rotherhithe and the St Olave District merged to become theMetropolitan Borough of Bermondsey, the parish of Camberwell was made theMetropolitan Borough of Camberwell, and Newington, Southwark St George the Martyr, and the St Saviour's District merged to become theMetropolitan Borough of Southwark. The City of London's Bridge Without ward which had covered parts of Southwark was effectively abolished as part of the reforms, losing all its territory.[9]
The larger London Borough of Southwark was created in 1965 under theLondon Government Act 1963, covering the combined area of the former metropolitan boroughs of Southwark, Bermondsey and Camberwell.[10][11]
The borough borders theCity of London and theLondon Borough of Tower Hamlets to the north (theRiver Thames forming the boundary), theLondon Borough of Lambeth to the west and theLondon Borough of Lewisham to the east. To the south the borough tapers giving a brief border with theLondon Borough of Bromley.
The northwest part of the borough is part of Central London and is densely developed. To the east, the Rotherhithe peninsula has lower-density modern housing and open space around the formerSurrey Commercial Docks. The southern part of Southwark includes the Victorian suburbs of Camberwell, Peckham and Nunhead, and the prosperous "village" of Dulwich with some very large houses forms the far south of the borough.
Tower Bridge, theMillennium Bridge,Blackfriars Bridge,Southwark Bridge andLondon Bridge all connect theCity of London to the borough. TheTate Modern art gallery,Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, theImperial War Museum andBorough Market are also within the borough. At one mile (1.6 km) wide,Burgess Park is Southwark's largest green space.
TheNorwood Ridge, save for around its broad northern third, forms the borough's boundary. Along these crests, against the extreme of the borough's southern narrow taper, is the highest point of the borough,Sydenham Hill. This isthe fifteenth-highest peak in London.
The main watercourse is theThames bounding the north of the borough into which the area drains.
The southern2⁄3 of the borough is the valley catchment of a present sewerage and surface waterdrainage basin, once a large stream with complex mouths across the north of the borough, theEffra. It is in very large part converted to a combined sewer under aJoseph Bazalgette-engineered reform to enable general urbanisation; all combined and public foul sewers drain far to the east – to theCrossness works.
Similarly reformed, into all three types of drainage (foul, combined, surface), are theNeckinger andPeck catchments of the borough.
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The local authority is Southwark Council, based at160 Tooley Street.[12]
Since 2000, for elections to theLondon Assembly, the borough forms part of theLambeth and Southwark constituency.
Following the completion of the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the borough has been covered by fiveparliamentary constituencies since the2024 general election, three of which extend into neighbouring boroughs.[13] In the 2024 election, all five electedMPs wereLabour Party candidates.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1801 | 114,901 | — |
| 1811 | 138,644 | +20.7% |
| 1821 | 172,699 | +24.6% |
| 1831 | 204,734 | +18.5% |
| 1841 | 146,922 | −28.2% |
| 1851 | 167,045 | +13.7% |
| 1861 | 283,723 | +69.8% |
| 1871 | 400,401 | +41.1% |
| 1881 | 517,080 | +29.1% |
| 1891 | 576,786 | +11.5% |
| 1901 | 578,059 | +0.2% |
| 1911 | 579,338 | +0.2% |
| 1921 | 556,520 | −3.9% |
| 1931 | 534,615 | −3.9% |
| 1941 | 425,088 | −20.5% |
| 1951 | 338,003 | −20.5% |
| 1961 | 297,132 | −12.1% |
| 1971 | 261,203 | −12.1% |
| 1981 | 209,724 | −19.7% |
| 1991 | 227,060 | +8.3% |
| 2001 | 244,867 | +7.8% |
| 2011 | 288,283 | +17.7% |
| Note:[14] | ||
At the2001 census Southwark had a population of 244,866. Southwark was ethnically 63.04% white, 5.9% Asian or Asian British, and 25.9% black or black British. By 2021 the population was 307,640, with 51.5% white, 9.9% Asian or Asian British, and 25.1% black or black British. 31% of householders were owner–occupiers.
The area is the home of many Nigerian (Peckham is largely regarded as the heart of London's Nigerian community), Jamaican, South African, South American, Polish, and French immigrants.[citation needed]
| Ethnic Group | Year | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 estimations[15] | 1971 estimations[16] | 1981 estimations[17] | 1991 census[18] | 2001 census[19] | 2011 census[20] | 2021 census[21] | ||||||||
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| White: Total | – | 96.3% | – | 91.2% | 181,995 | 82.9% | 170,847 | 75.2% | 154,316 | 63.04% | 156,349 | 54.09% | 158,220 | 51.5% |
| White:British | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 127,752 | 52.2% | 114,534 | 39.7% | 109,253 | 35.5% |
| White:Irish | – | 4% | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7,674 | 3.1% | 6,222 | 2.1% | 6,024 | 2.0% |
| White:Gypsy or Irish Traveller | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 263 | 0.09% | 156 | 0.1% |
| White: Roma | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,579 | 0.5% |
| White:Other | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 18,890 | 7.7% | 35,330 | 12.2% | 41,208 | 13.4% |
| Asian or Asian British: Total | – | 0.4% | – | – | 6,343 | 2.9% | 11,418 | 5% | 14,443 | 5.9% | 27,574 | 9.3% | 30,540 | 9.9% |
| Asian or Asian British:Indian | – | – | – | – | 1,919 | 2,736 | 3,655 | 1.5% | 5,819 | 2.1% | 6,145 | 2.0% | ||
| Asian or Asian British:Pakistani | – | – | – | – | 620 | 814 | 1,118 | 0.5% | 1,623 | 0.5% | 2,006 | 0.7% | ||
| Asian or Asian British:Bangladeshi | – | – | – | – | 1,208 | 2,284 | 3,642 | 1.5% | 3,912 | 1.3% | 5,547 | 1.8% | ||
| Asian or Asian British:Chinese | – | – | – | – | 1,433 | 2,914 | 4,492 | 1.8% | 8,074 | 2.8% | 8,405 | 2.7% | ||
| Asian or Asian British: Other Asian | – | – | – | – | 1,163 | 2,670 | 1,536 | 0.6% | 7,764 | 2.6% | 8,437 | 2.7% | ||
| Black or Black British: Total | – | 3.3% | – | – | 28,590 | 13% | 41,089 | 18.1% | 63,416 | 25.9% | 77,511 | 26.8% | 77,299 | 25.1% |
| Black or Black British:African | – | 0.4% | – | – | 8,289 | 3.8% | 16,783 | 7.4% | 39,349 | 16.1% | 47,413 | 16.4% | 48,320 | 15.7% |
| Black or Black British:Caribbean | – | 2.9% | – | – | 16,257 | 7.4% | 19,145 | 8.4% | 19,555 | 8.0% | 17,974 | 6.2% | 18,156 | 5.9% |
| Black or Black British:Other Black | – | – | – | – | 4,044 | 5,161 | 4,512 | 1.8% | 12,124 | 4.2% | 10,823 | 3.5% | ||
| Mixed or British Mixed: Total | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9,146 | 3.7% | 17,778 | 5.94% | 22,151 | 7.2% |
| Mixed: White and Black Caribbean | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3,350 | 1.4% | 5,677 | 1.9% | 6,401 | 2.1% |
| Mixed: White and Black African | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,954 | 0.8% | 3,687 | 1.2% | 3,569 | 1.2% |
| Mixed: White and Asian | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,343 | 0.5% | 3,003 | 1.4% | 4,653 | 1.5% |
| Mixed: Other Mixed | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,499 | 1.0% | 5,411 | 1.8% | 7,528 | 2.4% |
| Other: Total | – | – | – | – | 2,580 | 3,845 | 3,545 | 1.4% | 9,453 | 3.2% | 19,430 | 6.3% | ||
| Other: Arab | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,440 | 0.8% | 3,123 | 1.0% |
| Other: Any other ethnic group | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3,545 | 1.4% | 7,013 | 2.1% | 16,307 | 5.3% |
| Ethnic minority: Total | – | 3.7% | – | 8.8% | 37,513 | 17.1% | 56,353 | 24.8% | 90,550 | 36.98% | 131,934 | 45.91% | 149,420 | 48.5% |
| Total | – | 100% | – | 100% | 219,508 | 100% | 227,200 | 100% | 244,866 | 100.00% | 288,283 | 100.00% | 307,640 | 100% |
According to the last census, Southwark was at the time about 50% Christian. It has many notable places of Christian worship and ceremony: Anglican, Roman Catholic and other denominations. These includeCharles Spurgeon'sMetropolitan Tabernacle,Southwark Cathedral (Church of England),Saint George's Cathedral (Roman Catholic), and Saint Mary's Cathedral (Greek Orthodox). London'sNorwegian Church,Finnish Church and the Swedish Seamen's Church are all inRotherhithe.Saint George the Martyr is the oldest church in London dedicated to England's patron saint. Southwark has the most British-Nigerian churches in the country and the highest concentration of African churches outside the continent.
Places of worship for SunniMuslims,Hindus,Sikhs andJews exist.[22]
Per the 2011 Census, 35.6% of the borough's resident respondents identified asnon-religious, or chose not to state their faith.[23]
The following table shows the religious identity of residents residing in Southwark according to the 2001, 2011 and the 2021 censuses.
| Religion | 2001[25] | 2011[26] | 2021[27] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| Holds religious beliefs | 175,313 | 71.6 | 186,574 | 66.7 | 173,427 | 56.3 |
| Christian | 150,781 | 61.6 | 151,562 | 52.6 | 133,298 | 43.3 |
| Muslim | 16,774 | 6.9 | 24,551 | 8.5 | 29,633 | 9.6 |
| Jewish | 1,011 | 0.4 | 1,006 | 0.3 | 1,243 | 0.4 |
| Hindu | 2,664 | 1.1 | 3,668 | 1.3 | 3,444 | 1.1 |
| Sikh | 578 | 0.2 | 653 | 0.2 | 632 | 0.2 |
| Buddhist | 2,621 | 1.1 | 3,884 | 1.3 | 2,965 | 1.0 |
| Other religion | 884 | 0.4 | 1,350 | 0.5 | 2,149 | 0.7 |
| No religion | 45,325 | 18.5 | 77,098 | 26.7 | 111,935 | 36.4 |
| Religion not stated | 24,228 | 9.9 | 24,611 | 8.6 | 22,338 | 7.3 |
| Total population | 244,866 | 100.0 | 288,283 | 100.0 | 307,700 | 100.0 |
Ex-St Thomas's Church is theOld Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. The other redundant church in public use isFrancis Bedford's inTrinity Church Square, as recording studioHenry Wood Hall.
Southwark has many literary associations.Charles Dickens set several of his novels in the old borough where he lived as a young man. The site ofThe Tabard inn (featured inChaucer'sCanterbury Tales),the White Hart inn and theGeorge Inn which survives.
The rebuiltGlobe Theatre and its exhibition on theBankside remind us of the area's being the birthplace of classical theatre. There is also the remains of theRose Theatre. In 2007 theUnicorn Theatre for Children was opened on Tooley Street. TheSouthwark Playhouse is inElephant and Castle and theUnion Theatre is on Union Street near Southwark station. TheMenier Chocolate Factory combines a theatre and exhibition space, whilst the newly openedBridge Theatre is next to Tower Bridge and City Hall.
The borough hosts the main site of theImperial War Museum at the south end of Borough High Street.[28]
Peckham Library, designed byWill Alsop won theStirling Prize for modern architecture. Another architecturally innovative library designed byPiers Gough,Canada Water Library opened in 2011.[29]
South London Gallery between Camberwell and Peckham is split across two buildings on Peckham Road. TheTate Modern is also based at Bankside.[30] MOCA, London, as curated by the artistMichael Petry, andFlat Time House are both contemporary art galleries onBellenden Road.[31]Dulwich Picture Gallery also is in Dulwich. Bold Tendencies is an annual exhibition space in a former car park on Rye Lane in Peckham which has shown work by Simon Whybray,Jenny Holzer,Derek Jarman,Rene Matić, andGray Wielebinski.[32][33]
Another museum is theOld Operating Theatre.[34]
One former museum include theCuming Museum and theLivesey Museum for Children was a free children's museum housed in the former Camberwell Public Library No.1, which was given to the people of Southwark by the industrialist Sir George Livesey. The museum was closed by Southwark council in 2008.[35]
The northern end of the borough opposite the Square Mile includes theMore London andLondon Bridge City developments accommodating the offices of major professional service firms. Notable such businesses includePricewaterhouseCoopers,Norton Rose,Ernst & Young,Lawrence Graham andActis.[36] TheGreater London Authority is based atCity Hall.
The press and publishing industry is also well represented in Southwark; theFinancial Times has its head office in Southwark Bridge Road,[37][38] andIPC Magazines in Southwark Street.Campus Living Villages UK also has its head office in the borough.[39]
Some of the old industrial and wharfside heritage remains at the now-defunctSurrey Commercial Docks nowSurrey Quays, includingGreenland Dock andBaltic Quay, where major residential schemes were developed in the 1980s and 1990s. NearTower Bridge, old warehouses have been converted to new mixed uses atButler's Wharf andHay's Wharf. Similarly, further west, theOxo Tower hosts restaurants, shops and housing.
There are major retail concentrations at Surrey Quays, Old Kent Road, Elephant & Castle/Walworth Road and central Peckham.
Southwark is currently home to three Opportunity Areas (areas with capacity for significant economic development) as designated in the Mayor of London's London Plan.[40] These are Elephant and Castle,[41] Canada Water[42] and Old Kent Road.[43]
London South Bank University (LSBU) has over 23,000 students and 1,700 staff at its principalElephant and Castle site. The Chancellor is the entrepreneur newscasterRichard Farleigh.
TheUniversity of the Arts London has two of its colleges in the borough: theLondon College of Communication is at Elephant and Castle, andCamberwell College of Arts is on Peckham Road. ItsCreative Computing Institute is also on Peckham Road.[44]
The largest university teaching hospital in Europe,King's College London, is at theGuy's Hospital site, merging the teaching activities of the Guy's, St Thomas' and King's College Hospitals here. St Thomas' was founded in the mid-12th century in the borough and parts of it remain atSt Thomas Street; Guy's was founded opposite this in 1725. TheSalvation Army maintains theWilliam Booth Memorial Training College at Denmark Hill.
Founded in 1945,Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts moved toPeckham in 2018.[45][46]
Southwark has a wide variety of housing, includingcouncil housing such as the post-BlitzAylesbury Estate and theHeygate Estate to provide homes to low-income residents. The aforementioned estates have been turned over to localhousing associations to demolish and redevelop as mixed-tenure developments. Southwark Council and the Greater London Authority have invested tens of millions of pounds in supporting the respective housing associations complete these projects, which in both cases will lead to a large increase in the number of properties on the sites, with an almost equal reduction in the amount of social housing: the Aylesbury Estate originally housed 2,403 properties at social rent while post-development there will be 1,323 for social rent and 1,733 for private sale; meanwhile the Heygate Estate had 1,214 properties before demolition, most of which were leased at social rent, while the final plans for the development will see 2,530 homes, of which 500 will be social housing.[47][48][49]
Southwark's local residents' returns recorded in 2011 that its rented sector comprised 53.4% of its housing, marginally below the highest in England, which was recorded byCamden, at 53.5%. In neighbouring Lambeth this figure was 47.3% and in neighbouring Croydon the figure was 29.7%.
Southwark had the greatest proportion of social housing in England, 43.7% (31.2% owned by the council itself with the other social housing in the hands of housing associations), at the time of the 2011 census.[50]Tenant management organisations benefit many apartment blocks. The council set much housing policy among Housing Association blocks to allocate homes based on need and arent that residents can afford, based onmeans testing, viaheadlease and/or by the Housing List. In many blocks a mixture of social, shared-ownership and private sector housing exists, particularly in those where theright to buy has been exercised and in newer developments.[51]
| Local Authority | Socially rented | Privately rented | Shared Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southwark London Borough | 43.7 (31.2) | 23.6 | 2.0 |
| Hackney London Borough | 43.7 (23.8) | 28.9 | 2.3 |
| Islington London Borough | 42.0 (26.7) | 26.9 | 1.3 |
| Lambeth London Borough | 35.1 (19.6) | 29.3 | 1.5 |
| Royal Borough of Greenwich | 34.3 (22.6) | 19.8 | 1.6 |
| Barking and Dagenham London Borough | 33.7 (28.4) | 17.7 | 1.3 |
| Camden London Borough | 33.1 (23.0) | 32.3 | 0.7 |
| South Tyneside Metropolitan District | 32.6 (25.2) | 9.0 | 0.4 |
| Norwich Non-Metropolitan District | 32.5 (26.2) | 21.7 | 0.7 |
| Harlow Non-Metropolitan District | 31.2 (26.9) | 10.8 | 0.9 |
| Note: First figure is total social rented, the figure in parentheses is council-owned | |||
The old Southwark borough hosted many Courts and Prisons of Royal Prerogative, theMarshalsea and King's Bench. As well as the manorial and borough courts, magistrates met until the 20th century at the Surrey Sessions House which had its own jail for the punitive aspect of its work. TheInner London Sessions House (or now Crown Court) on Newington Causeway descends from these. TheSouthwark Coroner's Court in Tennis Street dates back to the charter of 1550. In 1964Southwark Crown Court was opened at English Grounds near London Bridge. Since 1994 the Crown Court for west London Boroughs, was rehoused fromKnightsbridge to Southwark asBlackfriars Crown Court. When the decision was taken to separate the judiciary and legislature, in 2007, by transforming the House of Lords Judicial Committee of Law Lords into the Supreme Court took over the court occupying the Middlesex Guildhall, whoseCity of Westminster judges transferred to Southwark Crown Court, hence the senior judge holds the honorific title of theRecorder of Westminster. Southwark's local magistrates sit at two courts in the borough, Tower Bridge and Camberwell Green Magistrates Courts.
The concentration of major courts, which areunlawful to film save for sentencing with judicial permission, enables theirmedia coverage: Southwark has seven jurisdictions, six of which are London's criminal courts and which commonly receive offences committed in public office or in businesses based in Westminster and several other London boroughs.
The London Borough of Southwark has the following sport clubs:
TheBakerloo,Jubilee andNorthern lines all run through the borough, below are the stations called at:
(All stations listed here are on theWindrush line)
National Rail services in the Borough are operated by Southern, Southeastern and Thameslink.
Operated byThames Clippers
In 2012 it was revealed that the Southwark borough council has been permanently banned from accessing information from theDriver & Vehicle Licensing Agency. This information is normally made available to local authorities for purposes such as enforcing parking fines, but access can be withdrawn if they are found to be mis-using the service. TheBig Brother Watch organisation, which obtained the information about the ban under aFreedom of Information request, claimed that "the public are right to be worried that their privacy is at risk across a range of government services."[53]
In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: bus, minibus or coach, 17.5% of all residents aged 16–74; underground, metro, light rail, tram, 8.5%; train, 8.5%; on foot, 8.2%; driving a car or van, 8.1%; bicycle, 4.9%; work mainly at or from home, 2.8%.[54]
In 2003, theLondon Borough ofSouthwark started ablue plaque scheme for the commemoration of notable residents notably including living people in the awards.[55] The London Borough of Southwark awards Blue Plaques through popular vote following public nomination. Unlike the English Heritage scheme, the original building is not necessary for nomination.
The two supporters on the coat of arms are, on the left, an Elizabethan player dressed to playHamlet, indicating the theatrical heritage of the area, and the youth on the right side is the Esquire fromChaucer'sThe Canterbury Tales. The coat of arms is an amalgam of elements of the three constituent Metropolitan Boroughs arms. The chequered band represents the three boroughs together. The cross was a common feature of Southwark and Camberwell. The well in the centre of the shield is a 'canting' reference to Camberwell and thecinquefoils represent the Dulwich area of Camberwell, while the ship on the top left refers to the maritime history of Bermondsey and was part of the Rotherhithe insignia. The rose on the right is from the Southwark arms where it represented St Saviour's parish, i.e. the cathedral.
Southwark istwinned with:
The following people and military units have received theFreedom of the Borough of Southwark.
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