BERMONDSEY
Bermundesye (xi cent.) (fn. 1) ; Barmondsey (xvi cent.) (fn. 2) ;
Barmesey, (fn. 3) Barmondsbye, (fn. 4) Barnaby. (fn. 5)
The parish of St. Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey,
is bounded by Southwark on the west, by Rotherhithe
on the east and by Camberwell on the south. The
river frontage extends only from St. Saviour's Dock,
of which it comprehends the eastern half, to Cherry
Garden Pier. It comprises an area of 620 acres. (fn. 6)
The parish became important from the existence of
the abbey, which probably reclaimed, embanked and
cultivated it. But it preserved its rural character
until the 17th century, and even after it became
suburban it had no direct connexion with the City
until the Tower Bridge Road was opened. Now
the South Eastern and Chatham railway lines to
London Bridge run through the parish.
The most ancient streets are those which led from
Southwark to the abbey, Long Lane and Bermondsey
Street, of which neither is wholly in Bermondsey. (fn. 7)
In the beginning of the 18th century the streets,
beyond those already mentioned, were Mill Street,
Water Lane, London Street, Jacob Street, East Lane,
Salisbury Lane and Street, Cherry Garden Street and
the west side of West Lane. These are all included
in the riverside area now bounded by St. Saviour's
Dock, Dockhead and Jamaica Road. The parish
comprehended the Snows Fields on the west of
Bermondsey Street, the Court Yard and Grange Yard,
and the road from Bermondsey Street to West Lane. (fn. 8)
The latter is now Grange Road and Southwark Park
Road, and was called Blue Anchor Road in the
middle of the 18th century (fn. 9) and in 1871. (fn. 10) At the
former date the buildings were still crowded to the
north of Jamaica Road, then known as New Road,
and around Five Foot Lane, Bermondsey Street and
Long Lane, and the site of the abbey's grange in Grange
Road. In Grange Walk, parallel with Grange Road, is a
house of two stories with a considerable street frontage,
the back part of which is weather-boarded. The
front, which has two gables, has been stuccoed. The
windows are all sash, but are possibly insertions, the
design of the front, as far as may be judged after the
defacing with plaster, suggesting a 17th-century date.
Next door to this is a well-built brick house of early
18th-century date with flush sash and a good but
simple overdoor. The road now called St. James
Road connected Blue Anchor Road, a country highway
which it met at Blue Anchor Bridge, and New Road,
and there was a turnpike at its junction with the
latter street. Savory or St. Saviour's Mill Stairs, East
Stairs now East Lane Stairs and Cherry Garden Stairs,
as well as Marygold Stairs to the west of the last-named, led to the river. (fn. 11) Fort Road is said to have
derived its name from the fort by Kent Street made
in 1642–3 by order of Parliament. A building of
Jacobean architecture called Jamaica House stood in
Cherry Garden Street until about 1860. (fn. 12) This,
which was named from the newly-acquired Jamaica
and was probably a place where limes, oranges and
rum were to be had, was apparently connected
with the pleasure garden called Cherry Garden.
Pepys writes in April 1667, 'To Jamaica House
where I never was before, together with my wife
and the Mercers and our two maids; and there the
girls did run wagers upon the bowling green: a
pleasant day and spent but little.' Jamaica Road
must have been so called from it. Five Foot Lane,
now Tanner Street, which joins Bermondsey Street
to St. Saviour's Dock, existed in 1544. (fn. 13) At that
date there is mention of meadows called Sextenes,
Curdons and Flymede. (fn. 14)
The town was protected from the river by banks
and dikes, but was yet subject to frequent incursions
of the tide. In 1230 the Annals of Bermondsey
mention the repairs of the Breach of Rotherhithe. (fn. 15)
In 1294 'the waters of the Thames passed their
wonted limits and flooded the plain of Bermondsey,' (fn. 16)
and in 1304 the prior and convent were exempted,
at the queen's request, from contributing to the
king's needs, because of their losses due to the
submersion of their lands through breaches in the
bank of the Thames. (fn. 17) A commission de walliis et
fossatis was appointed in 1309, on the representation
of the prior and of John de Drokensford, king's clerk,
then holding the manor of Sayes Court in West
Greenwich, to inquire as to the breach in the bank and
dike of the Thames near Bermondsey, and the consequent losses there and elsewhere. (fn. 18) In 1311 a like
appointment was made at the request of the prior and
of John de Drokensford, then Bishop of Bath and
Wells, (fn. 19) and the commissioners were instructed to
report on the compensation due to the bishop and the
prior. (fn. 20) As a result they caused a delivery to the latter
of certain lands owned by those on whom repairs of
the embankment were incumbent. (fn. 21) In 1346 a
commission of oyer and terminer was issued for inquiry
as to persons who had broken and demolished the
prior's close and dike in Bermondsey, felled and
carried off his trees and dug so much in his soil that
140 acres of meadow had been inundated, and he
had totally lost all his profit in them. (fn. 22) According
to tradition the water-course of the Neckinger was
once navigable from the Thames to the monastery. (fn. 23)
The Mill Stream in Bermondsey appears to have
reached the Thames at St. Saviour's Dock, which
has derived its name from St. Saviour's Mill. The
existence of these tidal streams is recorded in placenames. In the early 14th or late 13th century there
is mention of 'le waterweye,' (fn. 24) and of 'le Handbrigge' on the west of the highway by 'le watergang' of the prior (fn. 25) ; and in 1639 tenements are
described as lying between the Stonebridge and the
parish church. (fn. 26) Neckinger Street still preserves the
name of the stream. Pevereffelde, (fn. 27) 'le gretewal,' (fn. 28)
the common path called Shiteburlane and the garden
of Beaurepeyr (fn. 29) occur with 'le Handbrigge.'
A certain importance doubtless attached to Rotherhithe and Bermondsey as a landing-place for boats
below the dangerous arches of old London Bridge.
A Bishop of Winchester returning from abroad was
apparently expected to land on the shores belonging
to Bermondsey. (fn. 30) But the dominating feature of
Bermondsey was, of course, the great Cluniac Priory.
Built on a large scale, with a very fine church and
well endowed, it should to all appearances have been
a flourishing house. From early times, however, it
was in difficulties, whether from the inundations
described above, from the mismanagement of the
parent house abroad, which interfered with its affairs
and frequently changed its priors after the usual
fashion in Cluniac houses, from the absence of
episcopal visitation, or from the hostility of neighbours
and tenants to an alien priory, it is not easy to say.
Certainly after 1381, when it became an English
abbey, independent of foreign control, its affairs
were less in disorder. (fn. 31) But its size and position made
it the resort of great men and the scene of some
important meetings. In 1140 William Count of
Mortain retired there as an inmate. (fn. 32) The Earls of
Gloucester claimed a lodging there of right, and Ralph
Earl of Stafford died seised of this in right of his
wife in 1372. (fn. 33) Henry II held a great council there
in 1154. (fn. 34) In 1241 (fn. 35) and in 1259 (fn. 36) the assizes
were held there. Katherine widow of Henry V
and Elizabeth widow of Edward IV both died in
honourable captivity at the abbey. For these reasons
Bermondsey must have been one of the towns
most damaged by the Dissolution. Though Sir
Thomas Pope built a house, apparently out of the
ruins of the church, (fn. 37) the place was not permanently
attractive for residence, and was gradually deserted by
the higher classes. The fatality caused by the plagues of
the 17th century, especially that of 1625, (fn. 38) probably
shows that it then had a poor riverside population.
Shortly before 1770, however, a certain Thomas
Keyse opened in Bermondsey some tea gardens, the
discovery of a chalybeate spring enabling the gardens
to be described as Bermondsey Spa. About 1784 Keyse
received a licence to provide in his garden musical
entertainments like those in Vauxhall. They were
varied by occasional exhibitions of fireworks and the
price of admission was 1s. (fn. 39) They were south of Spa
Road close to the spot where it is crossed by the
railway arches of the original Greenwich line. The
garden of Bermondsey Spa was closed about 1805, (fn. 40)
but it gave its name to Spa Road, and its existence
makes it probable that the growth of the trade of Bermondsey had brought to it in the 18th and in the
early 19th century some wealthy residents. Admiral
Sir John Leake, son of Richard Leake, master gunner
of England, was born in Bermondsey in 1656. John
Scott, the Quaker poet, was also born in Bermondsey
in 1730; Robert Harrild, the printer and inventor,
in 1780; Octavius Oakley, the water-colour painter
called Gipsy Oakley, in 1800; John Francis, the son
of a leather-dresser and publisher of the Athenæum, in
1811; and Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener, the
Biblical scholar, in 1813. (fn. 41)
The growth of modern Bermondsey has been due to
the leather trade. This was flourishing in the early
part of the 17th century, but during the Great Plague
Londoners had fled to the tanning pits of Bermondsey
as a supposed refuge from infection. (fn. 42) Its localization
in the place was a result of the supply of water which was
obtainable twice in every twenty-four hours from the
tidal streams of the Thames and was used as a motive
power by tanners and leather-dressers; also plenty of
oak bark for tanning was still to be had close by. In
1703 a charter of incorporation was granted to all
persons instructed as apprentices in tanning for seven
years who exercised their craft in the parish. They
must have of their number from fourteen to twenty-four assistants, out of whom they must elect annually
a master and two wardens. (fn. 43)
In 1792 there had been much building in Bermondsey, but there was still a remainder of grazing
land occupied by cowkeepers and 110 acres of garden
ground. The lingering suburban character of the
neighbourhood is perhaps illustrated by the tradition
that the oldest pack of foxhounds in Surrey was kept
by Mr. Gobsall at Bermondsey in 1750. (fn. 44) The
place, however, had by this time an important trade.
The tanners were numerous, and carried on here a
more extensive business than in any other part of the
country. Some members of allied trades, fellmongers,
curriers, leather-dressers and parchment makers, were
established in the parish, and calico printers, dyers
and pin and needle makers were represented in a
small degree. Rope makers, anchor smiths, stave
merchants, boat builders and persons who furnished
articles of rigging for the navy occupied the waterside,
and there were two small docks. (fn. 45) In 1832 the leather
trade had outgrown the market in Leadenhall, and in
this year and the next the existing leather market,
whose frontage is in Weston Street, was erected by
the principal tanners of Bermondsey. (fn. 46) The hat
factory of Messrs. Christy was established before 1850. (fn. 47)
The wealthier residents had left the parish by
1842 and the place had acquired a character even
more repellent than that which it bears at present.
A thickly populated district along the waterside was
inhabited by coal porters, whippers, longshore labourers
and jobbers, corn porters, costermongers, watermen
and sailors, whose earnings were irregular. The rest
of the parish was occupied by working tanners, fellmongers, leather-dressers and other labourers. Four
to five persons, on an average, slept in one room,
standards of cleanliness and temperance were low,
and the population subsisted chiefly on bread and
potatoes. (fn. 48) The streams which surrounded Jacob's
Island were built over after the outbreak of cholera
in 1850. The district now forms the greater part of
Christ Church parish. (fn. 49)
By the Reform Bill of 1832 Bermondsey was
made part of the parliamentary borough of Southwark. In 1888 it was included in the county of
London, (fn. 50) and finally, in 1899, the metropolitan
borough of Bermondsey was created. (fn. 51) This comprehends, as well as the ancient parish, a north-eastern
part of old Southwark and most of Rotherhithe. The
river frontage of Bermondsey Borough extends from
London Bridge to the boundary of Deptford.
The population of Bermondsey parish increased
enormously in the 19th century. In 1831 it was
29,741, (fn. 52) in 1901 81,323. (fn. 53) This must have been due
in part to the erection of many-storied tenement houses.
The most important modern thoroughfare is Tower
Bridge Road, which leads towards Tower Bridge from
the junction of Bermondsey Street and Grange Road.
This has become the site of a Sunday morning street
market, which was open until one o'clock before 1907,
when the Borough Council directed that it should be
closed at eleven. (fn. 54)
The modern town contains in the streets near
the Thames a riverside population of the usual
description. Its leather trade is still important and
is centred in the Leather Market, Bermondsey Street
and Tanner Street. For the rest it is a district
of poor dwellings and retail shops, interspersed by a
considerable number of factories. Legislative and
municipal reforms have made a considerable improvement in its condition. Its chief public buildings are
the town hall in Spa Road, whose first stone was
laid in 1880, and the public library next to it which
was erected between 1890 and 1891. The Drill
Hall in Jamaica Road was opened in 1876.
The great increase in the population of Bermondsey
necessitated the formation in the 19th century of
several new parishes: the parish of St. James in Spa
Road was formed in 1840 (fn. 55) out of the north-eastern
part of the parish of St. Mary Magdalene, including
all the waterside district. (fn. 56) The district chapelry of
Christ Church was constituted in 1845 out of the part
of St. James' district which lay westwards of East
Lane (fn. 57) ; the district of St. Paul was formed in 1846
out of the western part of St. Mary Magdalene (fn. 58) ;
that of St. Anne out of a south-eastern part of St.
James' parish in 1871, (fn. 59) and a portion of the new
parish was assigned to that of St. Philip, Camberwell,
in 1876 (fn. 60) ; the parish of St. Crispin was formed in
1875 out of the eastern part of the riverside district
of St. James' parish (fn. 61) ; that of St. Augustine of
Hippo in South Bermondsey in 1878; and that of
St. Luke in Grange Road, out of contiguous parts
of St. Mary Magdalene and St. James in 1885. (fn. 62)
There have been a number of dissenting congregations at Bermondsey from the 17th century. In 1670
Mr. Janaway was preacher at 'the great barn in
Bermondsey near Jamaica House,' and Mr. Whitaker
'at the Long Walk near Bermondsey Church.' (fn. 63)
The former was the founder of the congregation of
the chapel in Jamaica Road called Townsend's Chapel,
in the middle of the 19th century, which was at first
Presbyterian and afterwards Independent. (fn. 64) In 1725
the vicar returned that there were 9,000 people and
3,000 Nonconformists, with two Presbyterian, one
Independent, one Baptist meeting, and Quakers with
no meeting in the parish. There were also two
Papists. (fn. 65) In 1756 there were two Anabaptist meeting houses in Bermondsey. (fn. 66) In 1792 the parish
contained two congregations of Independents, an
Anabaptist meeting house, a Wesleyan chapel and a
Quaker burial-ground. (fn. 67) A Wesleyan chapel called
Southwark Chapel was built in Long Lane in 1808.
In 1835 the Roman Catholic church of the Most
Holy Trinity was opened in Parker's Row, Dockhead.
It took the place of an earlier chapel in East Lane. (fn. 68)
Additional chapels now in existence are those of the
Baptists in Abbey Street, Drummond Road, Ilderton
Road, Lynton Road and New Church Street; that of
the Plymouth Brethren in Cockson Place, Dockhead;
of the English Presbyterians in Southwark Park Road,
of the Primitive Methodists in Fort Road and of the
United Methodists in Upper Grange Road. The
Wesleyans have chapels in Tower Bridge Road and
Leroy Street. There was a Wesleyan burying-ground,
now disused, in Long Lane.
MANORS
The manor of Bermondsey was held
before the Conquest by Earl Harold,
in 1086 by the king. The land in
1086 was for eight ploughs, of which one was on
the demesne and four were held by twenty-five
villeins and thirty-three bordars. There were
20 acres of meadow and the wood was worth five
hogs from the pannage. In London thirteen
burgesses who paid 44d. in rent belonged to the
manor. (fn. 69) This description concerns a larger area
than that afterwards known as Bermondsey. In a later
register of Bermondsey Monastery it is stated that
Bermondsey, Camberwell (part of), Rotherhithe, the
hide of Southwark, Dulwich, Waddon and Reyham
(probably an error for Leigham in Streatham) all pertained to Bermondsey as having once formed part of
the manor which was of the ancient demesne of the
Crown. All lands and tenements held of Bermondsey Manor were pleadable in the court of that manor
by writ of right according to the custom of the
manor and not at common law. (fn. 70) The later and
lesser manor of Bermondsey was granted by William
Rufus, probably in 1094, to the priory which had
been established in Bermondsey by Alwin Child,
to be held for ever with all its appurtenances, free
and quit of all customs. The grant was confirmed
by Henry I in 1127. (fn. 71)
The Count of Mortain held in 1086 I hide in
Bermondsey, which in the time of King Edward and
in 1066 was in the manor. It was worth 8s. The
count's house was situated on it and there was attached
to it one bordar. This holding must have resulted
from a grant by William 1 to his half-brother Robert,
Count of Mortain and Earl of Cornwall, which
reduced the hidage of the royal manor of Bermondsey from thirteen to twelve. (fn. 72) Earl William, the
successor of Robert, took the habit at Bermondsey in
1140, and died without heirs, (fn. 73) and either by his
gift to the house or because the property had devolved
upon the Crown his holding was apparently reunited
to Bermondsey Manor.
Henry II gave to the monks in 1160 all their
lands, men, tithes and other possessions, to hold free
of all oppressions and exactions
from gelds, aids, forests, assarts,
inclosures of parks, sheriffs,
requirements of shires and
hundreds, pleas and complaints, moots and all other
customs. He granted to them
soc and sac, toll and theam,
infangethef and other liberties,
and the right to keep their
peace and their will in all
their property. Such liberties
were confirmed to them by
Richard I, Henry III, Edward III, Richard II and
Henry IV. (fn. 74) In 1174 Henry II granted free
warren in all the lands of the house in Surrey. (fn. 75)
In 1291 the value of the property of the monastery
in Bermondsey was £19 10s. 8d. (fn. 76)
Bermondsey Abbey. Party gules and azure a border argent.
The possessions of the abbey in Bermondsey at the
time of the Dissolution are difficult to distinguish
from those in Rotherhithe, but were of considerable
value. They included the water mill of St. Saviour,
which yielded an annual farm of £8, (fn. 77) and whose site
is now marked by St. Saviour's Dock. In 1541
Robert Southwell and his wife Margaret (who had
received a grant of the site of the manor, see
below) and Thomas Edgare received licence to
alienate to Sir Thomas Pope, knight and king's
councillor, and Elizabeth his wife, the monastery's
late rights of fishing and hawking in and near
the marshes of Bermondsey. (fn. 78) Edmund Powell
was permitted in the following year to convey
to the same persons messuages in Bermondsey (fn. 79) ;
and in 1544 Sir Thomas received a royal grant
in fee of rents and tenements there, (fn. 80) late of
the abbey of St. Saviour, including view of frankpledge, court leet and royalties (that is all manorial
rights). He held in the parish at this date, jointly
with his wife, the pond known as the east part
of St. Saviour's Dock, all fisheries and all profits
from the breed of swans in that pond, St. Saviour's
water mill, all goods and chattels of fugitives, and
other property. (fn. 81) The wall in Bermondsey and
Rotherhithe, known as 'Le Long Wall,' which had
belonged to the priory of St. Mary Overy in Southwark, was also granted to him (fn. 82) In 1545 he
obtained further grants of rents reserved by the
Crown on lands in Bermondsey, on the liberty of
fishing and hawking in the marshes of Bermondsey
and Rotherhithe, on the messuage called 'Le New
Estgate,' and on a garden outside the monastery
wall (fn. 83) ; and of the grain rent of St. Saviour's
Mill. (fn. 84) Pope held the manor until 1555, (fn. 85) when
he sold it to Robert Trappes of London. (fn. 86) In 1556
the manor was settled on Robert and his wife Joan,
with remainder to Robert Trappes, presumably their
younger son, and to his brother Francis in successive
tail-male. The elder Robert died as holder of the
manor in 1560, (fn. 87) and it appears to have passed from
him to his grandson Robert, the son of the Robert
on whom the settlement of 1556 was made. (fn. 88) This
Robert gave 50 acres in Bermondsey to his mother
Dorothy to hold in dower. He died in 1587, when
he possessed the manor and fishing and fowling rights
in the waters of Bermondsey and Rotherhithe. He
was survived by his mother; and he bequeathed the
manor to his wife Katherine, and left as heir a son
Robert, aged six. (fn. 89) The latter probably did not
outlive Katherine, and the manor passed, in accordance with the settlement of 1556, to Rowland
Trappes, the brother of the Robert who died in
1587. Rowland, who was Sheriff of Surrey and
Sussex, died in his year of office, 1616, holding the
manor, St. Saviour's Dock and a little dock 'this side
Rotherhithe,' some meadow land, two gardens in
Long Lane, fishing and hawking in the marshes of
Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, and three parcels of
land and wall in those parishes, which contained
respectively 60 acres, 300 roods and 800 roods, and
of which two were called 'Le Longe Wall' and
'Sallow Wall.' It is evident that the embankment of
the land near the river was still important. Rowland's
brother and heir Roger Trappes of Cheam died within
three months of him, (fn. 90) and was succeeded by Roger
Trappes, gentleman, apparently his son, who at his
death in 1622 held the manor and dccks. (fn. 91) He was
followed by a son Roger, who died in 1630 at the
age of ten and left as heir a brother Edward. (fn. 92)
During the latter's minority the courts were held by
his mother Rachel. (fn. 93) He was lord in 1675, (fn. 94) and
was succeeded by Thomas Trappes, said to be his
son, (fn. 95) who held in 1687. (fn. 96) He devised the manor
in 1709 to his niece Elizabeth Holford, and died in
1710. Elizabeth, on her marriage in the next year
to Edward Thurland of Reigate, (fn. 97) conveyed the
manor to trustees to be sold. It was acquired by
Peter Hambley of Streatham, (fn. 98) who held in 1718, (fn. 99)
and passed from him before 1725 to his son Wiliam
Hambley of Carshalton, who died in 1749. In
accordance with a settlement it was assigned as
jointure to Eleanor widow of William with reversion
to his son (fn. 100) the Reverend Thomas Hambley. (fn. 101) The
latter married Anne daughter of John Hallet and
died childless in 1802. By his will he settled the
manor on his wife for her life, and after her on
Edmund Robinson, son of his sister Eleanor, with
successive remainders to Edmund's sons in tail-male,
to his daughters in tail, to his niece Eleanor, only
daughter of Jerome Knapp (fn. 102)
of Charlton House in Berkshire. Mrs. Hambley was
living in 1814. (fn. 103) In 1818
Eleanor Knapp married Abel
Ram of Ramsfort, High Sheriff
for co. Wexford in 1829, and
the manor was thus conveyed
to the Ram family. Abel
died in 1832 and left as heir
Stephen Ram of Ramsfort,
D.L., High Sheriff for co.
Wexford in 1840. He died
in 1899, and his heir was his
son Arthur Archibald, who
died in 1905. The family
property has been inherited by his sisters, the
Misses Mary Eleanor and Elizabeth Ram, but all
manorial rights are practically obsolete. (fn. 104)
Ram of Ramsfort. Azure a cheveron ermine between three rams' heads razed argent with their horns or.
At the court leet of the manor held in 1637 one
constable, two headboroughs, two ale-tasters and a
scavenger were chosen, and an ordinance directed
certain tenants to pave and mend the pavements
before their several houses. (fn. 105) In 1663 three
tithingmen were elected; and at the court baron of
the next year the lord chose a bailiff who should hold
office during his pleasure. (fn. 106) Two constables and
four headboroughs were appointed at a court held in
1697. The ale-tasters at this date presented certain
who had broken the assize of bread, (fn. 107) which duty
was probably theirs by custom.
The site of the monastery of Bermondsey was
granted in 1541 to Robert Southwell, together with
a coney-yard, neighbouring lands within the parish,
and those fishing and hunting rights afterwards conveyed to Sir Thomas Pope. (fn. 108) In the same year
Robert was permitted to alienate to certain persons a
meadow and pastures called the Swan Mead and the
Nether Gravel Pittys, which lay between the highway
towards the gate of the monastery on the north and
Southwark on the south, the 'Stone House' near
the abbey gate, and lands near the gate and near the
grange of the monastery. (fn. 109) A rent reserved on the
house of the monastery was granted by the Crown
to Sir Thomas Pope in 1545. (fn. 110) Stow states that
the abbey church was 'pulled down by Sir Thomas
Pope, and in place thereof a goodly house built of
stone and timbers' (fn. 111) ; and if he is correct, as is
probable, since he himself may have been able to
remember the event, the site was one of Pope's
acquisitions. The house was, at all events, a modern
one in 1598. In 1571 it was held by Thomas Earl
of Sussex, who lay 'very sick at Barmesey,' and there
received a visit from the queen. (fn. 112) He settled the
capital messuage and the site of the monastery in
1579 on his wife Frances for her life, and after her
on his heirs in tail-male. He died here in 1583, (fn. 113)
and in 1589 his brother and successor Henry dated
a letter from his house in Bermondsey. (fn. 114) This earl
held the property at his death in 1593, (fn. 115) and his
funeral took place in Bermondsey on 6 January
1593–4, 'when my Lord of Essex was chief mourner.' (fn. 116)
The house and site were probably alienated by the
next earl, Robert. In 1610 there was a conveyance
of the site of the abbey from Mary Stanley, widow,
to John Moyle, (fn. 117) and in 1621 another between John
Moyle and his wife Mary and Richard Croshawe. (fn. 118)
Richard held the site when he died in 1631, and
had settled it in three parts on the daughters of his
sister Frances Carter, who were Judith Haddon,
Elizabeth the wife of Michael Hunsley, citizen and
saddler of London, and Audrey Carter. (fn. 119) After
such division the property ceases to be traceable. (fn. 120)
In 1378 the king made a life grant to Adam de
Colton—one of the yeomen of his chamber—of a
garden, a dovecote, and 3½ acres of meadow called
LA HALE, of the yearly value of 40s., which had
been forfeited by Alice Perrers. (fn. 121) In 1380 he
granted the same property to William de Wyndsor,
who had married Alice, (fn. 122) together with another tenement in Bermondsey which she had also held, and
which had belonged lately to Walter Forester. (fn. 123) Subsequently, however, La Hale was acquired by Adam
de Colton in fee simple, and in 1384 he received
licence to alienate it to any of the king's subjects. (fn. 124)
CHURCHES
The parish church of ST. MARY
MAGDALEN consists of a chancel,
nave, north and south aisles, a west
tower and west entrance vestibule, a north-east clergy
vestry, and a south transept opening out of the centre
of the south aisle and now used as a quire vestry.
Over the aisles and west end of the nave are gables
approached from the vestibule, which extends right
across the west end of the building.
With the exception of the lower stages of the
tower and the west wall of a mediaeval north aisle,
now incorporated in the present west wall, the church
was entirely rebuilt early in the 17th century. Later
in the century additions including the galleries were
made, while in the 19th century the building underwent several restorations. In the first of these in
1830 the west front was refaced with stucco and the
upper part of the tower rebuilt. The next restoration was in 1852 and 1853, when the building is
said to have been 'repaired and beautified,' while in
the restoration of 1883 the chancel was lengthened
and the vestry enlarged and the pillars to the nave
were taken down and recut. The last restoration
took place in 1898, when a new north-east vestry
was built.
The church as seen from the outside is uninteresting. The roofs are slated. The chancel has
round-headed windows on the east and south and a
semi-elliptical coffered plastered ceiling. The nave
arcades of five bays have stone Tuscan columns supporting modillioned cornices, from which springs,
over the nave, a semi-elliptical plaster vault continuous with that of the chancel but not coffered.
The tower stands in the end bay of the nave, and
the westernmost bays of the aisles are cut off by glass
screens and form with the bottom stage of the tower
a west vestibule the whole width of the building, out
of which rise staircases to the galleries. The centre
bay of the nave is wider than the rest. Four bays
of the aisles have flat ceilings, but over the centre bay
is a semi-elliptical barrel vault, which is continued
across the nave and south transept forming groins at
the intersection with the nave vault. The nave is
lighted by a clearstory of lunettes above the main
cornice, the barrel vault being groined to receive them.
The aisles are lighted by large semicircular windows
and the south transept by a semi-elliptical window
with wooden tracery.
In the centre of the vault of each bay of the
nave is a large foliated plaster rosette. The tower
arches are pointed and spring from semi-octagonal
responds with moulded capitals. Above the modern
west doorway is a pointed window of three cinquefoiled lights under a vertical traceried head. The
tracery has been completely restored, but the inner
jambs, which are shafted and have a continuously
wave-moulded rear arch, are original. The upper
part of the tower, which is modern, has an embattled
parapet with crocketed pinnacles at the angles, and
is surmounted by an open bell chamber with gabled
sides, from which rises a small octagonal turret.
The 18th-century galleries are good examples of
woodwork of that period. They are supported by
wooden columns of a diminutive composite order,
surmounted by an enriched entablature breaking over
the columns, while the fronts of the galleries are
panelled and over each column the panelling projects
and is carved with cherubs' heads and swags of fruit.
The woodwork is all painted and varnished, and the
capitals to the composite capitals are gilded. On the
east wall of the chancel behind the altar are two
18th-century oak panels with carved cherubs and
swags, and the organ case is of the same date. Over
the centre of the organ are carved the royal arms;
the sides of the case are panelled. Under the organ
gallery on the south side of the nave is an 18th-century churchwardens' carved pew. Most of the
pews in the gallery are of the 18th century, and
in the sanctuary are two 17th-century chairs.
The pulpit is octagonal; the upper part is 18th-century carved and panelled work. The font is of
marble in the form of baluster, with a bowl carved
with cherubs' heads. Round the base engraved on
silver plates is the following inscription: 'This Font
& Cover are the Gift of Mr. James Hardwidge
Churchwarden A.D. 1808 To The Parish of St.
Mary Magdalen Bermondsey.'
In the west vestibule is a 13th-century stone coffin,
which was found about 6 ft. from the surface in front
of the White Bear tavern.
There are two fine brass candelabra, one hanging
from the central rosette in the nave vault, the other
over the chancel steps; both are the gift of members
of the Ellwood family, and are inscribed to that
effect, with the dates 1699 and 1703.
On the north wall of the chancel is an elaborate
mural monument to William Castell, who died in
1681, with shields of Castell (Argent three castles
gules) and Brittaine (Gules a saltire between four
fleurs de lis or).
There is on the floor at the west end of the nave
a stone slab to Whitaker, a former vicar of the parish,
who died in 1654. On the slab is a laudatory verse
to Whitaker and Elton, another 17th-century vicar
of Bermondsey.
There are three bells: the treble and second by
T. Meurs, 1830, and the tenor by R. Phelps, 1721.
The plate consists of a silver-gilt cup of 1608, the
gift of William Gardner, and bearing his arms and
crest; a second cup of 1611 or 1613, gilded at the
charges of Thomas Ledam, churchwarden, 1613; a
silver-gilt cup of 1657, 'the Guift of John Scotson,
mariner, performed by Elizabeth his widdow …
1657'; two silver flagons of 1662; a silver plate,
parcel gilt of the 15th century, said to have belonged
to Bermondsey Abbey; a silver plate of 1639; two
modern patens and a modern silver flagon; a silver
alms-basin of 1711, and two beadles' staves with
silver tops.
The registers record baptisms 1548 to 1645,
1653 to 1738, 1740 to 1812; burials 1548 to
1645, 1653 to 1725, 1727 to 1812; marriages
1548 to 1645, 1653 to 1738, 1740 to 1812.
In Abbey Street is a small mission church dedicated
to ST. ANDREW. It was built in 1882 and is
constructed of red brick and stone and is designed in
early 14th-century style. Next door to it is a clergy
house erected in 1887 by the Eason trust.
The church of ST. ANNE consists of a chancel, a
nave with aisles, and a south-west tower. The whole
church is built of brick banded with stone, and is
designed in early 14th-century style. The tower
is crowned by a small stone spirelet. The church
dates from 1869.
The church of ST. AUGUSTINE, Lynton Road,
is a tall building of red brick and stone in 13th-century style begun about 1875. It has a chancel,
tall north transept, low south transept, nave with a
clearstory, north and south aisles, vestry, porch, &c.
The roofs are covered with slates.
CHRIST CHURCH consists of a chancel, a nave
with clearstory and aisles and south-west tower. The
whole building is of stock and grey brick with stone
detail and is designed in the style of the 12th century.
The church dates from the middle of the 19th century
and has no churchyard. At the east are parish rooms,
church school, &c.
The church of ST. CRISPIN, endowed for the
most part by Sir Frederick W. I. FitzWigram, bart.,
consists of a polygonal apse and chancel with a vestry,
a nave of five bays with a clearstory, north and south
aisles, a south porch and a north-east tower. The
church is built of red brick with stone dressings, and
is designed in late 13th-century style. It dates from
the latter half of the 19th century and stands in a
small churchyard.
The church of ST. JAMES in Spa Road consists
of a wide nave and chancel in one range, with aisles
separated from the nave by trabeated Ionic arcades.
There are north, south and west galleries and round
staircase vestibules at the west. Externally there is a
tetrastyle Ionic portico. Above this rises a square
tower in series of diminishing stages. The church is
built of yellow stock brick with stone detail cornices,
columns, &c., and a stone tower. An unusual feature
is the clearstory to the nave. The church has a
very fine ring of ten bells by Mears, 1828.
The church of ST. LUKE, Grange Road, consists
of a continuous chancel and nave with aisles, and
stands south-west and north-east. There is a bell-cote at the south-east angle.
The church of ST. PAUL, Kipling Street, which
is built of stone, consists of a continuous chancel and
nave with aisles and a north-east spire. There is a
gallery at the western end.
ADVOWSONS
The 'new and handsome church'
which was in Bermondsey in 1086 (fn. 125)
must have been that of the monastery,
founded a few years previously. The parish church
of St. Mary Magdalen probably owed its foundation
to the monks, and was a result of their piety and of
the growth of the place which followed on their
establishment in it. There is no evidence that it
was held by anyone before the prior and convent. In
1291 there is record of a presentation to the rectory
by the prior and convent. (fn. 126) A presentation was
made in 1322–3 by the Bishop of Winchester,
apparently during a vacancy of the priory; in
1338–9 John Earl of Warenne presented in right of
demise by the king, who then held the priory's
possessions; and in 1543 there was a presentation
by John Cele, who had received from the abbot a
grant of one turn in the advowson. (fn. 127) The rectory
was worth £17 5s. 4d. a year in 1535, of which
sum £10 was the value of the mansion of the rectory
and the messuage, garden and house annexed to it.
Out of the income a pension of 26s. 8d. was paid
yearly to Bermondsey Abbey, 2s. 1d. to the Bishop
of Winchester for synodalia and 7s. 7½d. to the
Archdeacon of Surrey for procurations. (fn. 128) After the
Dissolution the advowson of the rectory was granted
to Robert Southwell, who in 1541 alienated it to
Sir Thomas Pope, (fn. 129) after which date it followed the
descent of the manor. In 1624 the patronage was
exercised by Samuel Paske, citizen and merchant
tailor of London, probably for one turn. He appointed Thomas Paske, D.D., master of Clare College,
Cambridge. (fn. 130) In 1642 the churchwardens and
parishioners petitioned the House of Lords because
this Thomas, their rector, had not preached even once
a year and had otherwise done nothing to provide
preaching or reading in the church or to supply a
dwelling for a curate. The expense of such arrangements had fallen on the petitioners. They had
lately bought the next presentation to the living and
they prayed for a confirmation of their elect. (fn. 131) In
the following year a draft order of the House directed
the sequestration of Dr. Paske, a non-resident minister
and a teacher of heretical doctrines, in order that the
parishioners might maintain their own minister. (fn. 132)
Paske, whose Arminian opinions were as obnoxious
as his negligence, (fn. 133) was ejected accordingly in this
year, and the parishioners appointed in his stead
Jeremiah Whitaker, (fn. 134) an eminent Orientalist, member
of the Westminster Assembly, who held the benefice
until his death in 1654 and was buried in the
chancel of the church. (fn. 135) He was succeeded by
another distinguished theologian, Dr. Richard Parr,
who resigned the living in 1682. (fn. 136) William
Browning, a fellmonger in the parish who had
bought a term in the advowson, presented in 1723,
1726 and 1740. (fn. 137) In the beginning of the 18th
century the vestry was general. (fn. 138)
The advowson was bought from the Ram family
in 1871 or 1872 with funds raised by Canon
Tugwell, rector of Bermondsey, and was vested in
the Church Patronage Trustees, who are the present
holders. (fn. 139)
The advowson of the vicarages of Christ Church
and St. Paul belongs to the bishop of the diocese and
the Crown alternately, that of St. James to the
rector of Bermondsey, of St. Anne to the rector and
two trustees, (fn. 140) of St. Crispin to Sir F. W. J. FitzWigram, bart., and of St. Augustine and St. Luke to
the bishop.
CHARITIES
In 1725 there were already four
charity schools endowed. The first
two, one for boys and one for girls,
had the interest of £300 between them, apparently
the benefaction of Peter Hills, who by deed of
20 February 1613 gave a Free School and an endowment for the children of poor seafaring men. The
second was endowed with £150 a year by will of
Josiah Bacon in 1709. The master received £70,
the usher £50. There were not to be more than sixty
boys, and the number was to be kept up to forty at
the least. The fourth school was endowed with £5
a year by Mr. John Wright in 1673 for teaching
seven poor children, and the parish had added £5
more. This school was taught by a mistress 'who
is chose and payed by ye Upper Church Warden.' (fn. 141)
The first two schools were benefited by eighteen
different donations between 1718 and 1786, when a
return was made to Parliament, showing a total of
£349 10s. a year. (fn. 142)
There is in the parish a very long list of charitable
gifts:—
1563. Owen Chinn gave land for bread and coals.
The land was afterwards utilized for a workhouse,
now replaced.
1578. Hugh Full gave £2 12s. 6d. for bread.
1597. William Gardner gave land worth £4 a
year for the poor.
1606. Stephen Skidmore gave £1 a year to buy
firing.
1607. Ralph Pratt gave £2 13s. 4d. a year for the
poor.
1609. Francis Tirrell gave six chaldrons of coal a
year for the poor.
Lucia Easson gave two houses, at an unknown
date, for an unknown purpose, and 'the houses are
not known.' But they are said to have been in
Marigold Alley.
Henry Leake, money, date entirely unknown also.
1614. Richard Archden gave £2 a year for bread.
Thomas Kendall, at an unknown date, gave a house,
pulled down and thrown into the churchyard in 1775,
for two poor persons.
1625. Jane Trapp gave £6 6s. a year for two
sermons, and for the poor.
1629. Thomas Chibbald gave £100 to purchase
land.
1630. Bernard Hyde gave £4 10s. every ten years
to poor maids and widows.
John Lockwood gave a house for the poor, at
unknown date.
Sir John Fenner gave £8 a year for the poor, £6
to buy Bibles, at unknown date.
1635. William Steavens gave £55 for bread.
John Scragg gave 6s. 8d. a year for the poor, at
unknown date.
Henry Martin gave £3 a year to buy Bibles, at
unknown date.
1659. Robert Barryward gave £10 a year for the
poor.
Susannah Williams gave £40 towards almshouses,
at unknown date.
Francis Rothwell gave £2 a year to the poor, at
unknown date.
1672. Joyce Howlett gave £13 4s. a year for the
poor, £1 6s. 8d. for two sermons.
1673. John Wright gave £5 for school, as above,
£1 6s. 8d. a year for two sermons, £3 for bread,
£12 13s. 4d. for clothing.
1675. Andrew Dandy gave £3 a year for the
poor.
1688. John Samuel gave £2 10s. a year for bread.
1709. Josiah Bacon gave £150 for a school as
above, and £150 to buy land, the rent to be for
bread.
George Wheely gave £78 14s. for apprenticing
poor boys, at unknown date.
John Taylor gave £100 to poor housekeepers, at
unknown date.
'Rebacker' Carey gave £15 to buy bread, at unknown date.
David Apsey gave £100 to provide a guinea a year
for a sermon, the rest of the interest for the poor, at
unknown date.
Mary Parker gave a rent of leasehold, now expired,
for the poor.
Mary Whitcomb gave £21 for the poor, at unknown date.
1783. Edward Evite gave £15 7s. for the parish.
Smith's Charity is also distributed as in other
Surrey parishes.