Page 20 - Boundaries and Parishes.

 Chapter 5        Churches and Parishes.

 Boundaries and Parishes.
                                                  Early Maps of Bermondsey.

                                                   Bermondsey 1787.

From the 1787 map Bermondsey appears to occupy the area south of the river Thames from beyond London Bridge to the west and the borders of Rotherhithe to the east. Situated at its mid river point opposite the Tower of London spreading south well into the countryside beyond the Kings Road amidst fields, hedgerows, woods, market gardens, hop plantations and grazing land.

Within these borders are the Parish Churches of St. Saviour’s close to the river just west of London Bridge, also close to the river is St. Olave with St. John church just a street or two away south of St. Olave's.  By comparison St Mary Magdalene Church lays further south well into what would have been the countryside at that time, these Church yards are coloured green on the 1787 map so making them easy to locate.

As previously mentioned, St Saviour would become the Southwark Cathedral, whilst St Mary Magdalene Parish would expand north to the river engulfing both the parishes of St Olave's and St John's. St Olave Church would remain at Tooley Street site until 1928 when it was demolished to make way for a new Warf.

By comparison St John’s lasted longer into the twenty century having been gutted by a bomb during the blitz of London in WWII, it was restored with records of marriages at the church existing for the 1960’s, however, its final demise does not seem to be recorded but we assume by the late 60’s or early 70’s it would have been redundant.

This interest in the parishes of Bermondsey relates to events that were, or maybe were recorded with reference to the Pettards of Bermondsey. After the mid 1800 hundreds these events were recorded be civil authority of the parishes and districts, prior to this date such events as birth, marriages and deaths were noted by the parish churches themselves, if at all. For this time period around 1787 we don’t have any recorded events for our family of Pettards, these would come later, but for sure if we had full knowledge of parish church records of this time, Pettards I feel convinced would be among them.     

The whole area at this time comprises of about 80% rural settings with the main residential and working areas only a few streets deep from the river Thames.  Clustered along this stretch of river are many Stairs and Wharf’s given access and employment to the local community which may have numbered only a few thousand. St Saviour’s Dock to the east would have also, no doubt, been a hive of activity and employment at the time.

 It’s no surprise that Tanning was the prominent industry of the area, fitting-in with all we now know about are ancestries connection with the trade.  The area just west of St. Saviour’s Dock is well services with streams and ditches affording idea conditions for the Tanneries, further south adjacent to St Mary Magdalene appears further expansion of the Tannery industry.

It does not take much of an imagination to conjure-up the assumption that somewhere within this area our ancestries were both at work and abode, but it would be at least one more generation before we can place them for sure working both on and aligning to the river Thames. I fill sure that with full access to records of the Parish Church of St Olave's and Mary Magdalene prior to 1834 will reveal details of Pettards at this time.

Other places of interest within the boundaries of 1787 Bermondsey included Guy’s Hospital, The King’s Bench County Jail and the Globe Theater. Also of interest to note, is that old references to the Diocese of Southwark were normally referring to an area covered by Lambeth, Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, making Southwark of old a very riverside borough, today the borough is much expanded taking in areas well south of the river.

                                                    

                                                    Map of Bermondsey - 1846

By comparison the 1846 map some 60 years late shows more detail and the beginning of urban development, two railway lines traverse the area the London and Greenwich and its branch line Bricklayers Arms Extension Railway. The riverside and dock areas are now more fully developed, and one can only assume that the existence of the rail lines will accelerate the development of Bermondsey. In fact less then fifty years later a map of Bermondsey 1894 shows the whole area completely urbanized, with only the area around Mill Pond left green to become Southwark Park.

The boundaries at time in 1846 are similar to those on the 1787 map, west to Southwark Bridge and east to Rotherhithe, with much of the south eastern area still appearing to be rural.  The Tanning and Leather industry looks to have expanded with a large complex consisting of a Leather Market, Warehouses and Tanning Yards now well established off of Bermondsey Street not far from Mary Magdalene Church.

The Parish churches are not so well define within the 1846 map and need detail scanning to find them. St Saviour's Church is still well shown just west of London Bridge, St John’s church between Fair Street and Crucifix Road is also marked but not named on the map. Mysteriously St Olave's Church situated just a street north of St John’s on the 1787 map seems to have disappeared, instead just off the Tooley Road close to London Bridge St Olave's Church is clearly marked. I have not yet find any reference to the fact that the Church was relocated from one end of Tooley Road to the other, however, its location just east of London bridge does conform more with some of the early prints of the Church that show it clearly on the water front, which is not the case with the 1787 map location being a few blocks in from the water front. I do remember reading somewhere that St Olave's church had a secondary church yard within the area, but not sure where I read this, no doubt I will come across it again

St Mary Magdalene Church is located but not named on the map just east of the new Leather Market complex, its parish boundaries would be extended north to replace the parishes of both St Olave’s and St John’s, although both Churches would existed well into the twenty century.

To the east in the area of Spa Road Railway Station off Jamaica Road is St James Church clearly shown on the map, dated 1829 this fine Church still stands today. Also in the same area but not depicted is Christ Church just north of the Jamaica Road in the vicinity of Parker Row built about 1848, these build dates are arbitrary due to the protracted time it took to complete many Churches, which may well have been in service before the final completion date given anyway.

The following map depicting Bermondsey 1894 show a mark change over the period 1846 to 1894 the urban development as much accelerated over the preceding 48 years.

                                                  Bermondsey 1894.

The area of Bermondsey is now fully urbanized, to the south the open spaces have now totally disappeared and either side of the Bricklayers Arms Branch housing now covers what were fields and grassing lands.  To the east only the area of Southwark Park still shows green, to all extent the urbanization of Bermondsey is now complete, the inroads of the railway system did indeed mark the end of any remaining rural areas and the map is now complete.

 In detail the map would change due to the devastation brought about by the extensive bombing during WWII, buildings, places, whole streets and tenements would disappear under the onslaught, many never being replaced. To walk the streets of 1894 Bermondsey would be a markedly different experience to today’s walk, although in fairness to the Borough of Southwark some of the remaining older areas are marked and laid out has historical walks of interest.