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King's Stairs Gardens is a riverside park in Bermondsey, London. It is bordered to the north by the River Thames and to the south by Jamaica Road (A200), the other side of which is Southwark Park.
In July 1947, the London County Council (LCC) declared Bermondsey a reconstruction area and, as part of wholesale post-war regeneration, approved the idea of extending Southwark Park to the river. The idea of a link to the river pre-dated the Second World War by a few years, but the post-war need to reconstruct gave this aim more resonance.
In January 1948, the LCC Planning Committee endorsed the policy of a park by the river at King's Stairs riverside.
Putting the policy into practice proved to be a slow business because of a combination of objections from, among others, Bermondsey Council and local businesses. For instance, in 1953, the County of London Plan was subject to an Inquiry, and the Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Chambers of Commerce objected to the park extension.
In September 1954, the Ministry of Housing approved the compulsory purchase of land to extend the park, but this took a few years to implement.
In 1960, the LCC approved a design for the King's Stairs riverside walk, which was opened in November 1962. In January 1963, the LCC approved the name King's Stairs Gardens.
In 1964, the LCC agreed to a grassy area to the south of The Angel public house. Again, the implementation seems to have been delayed due to financial constraints, and it was not until 1968 that the Greater London Council (the successor body to the LCC) reappraised the site and agreed to three green space additions. These were finally completed by 1982, and it is in that form that King's Stairs Gardens still exists today.
For the Silver Jubilee of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II in 1977, a memorial stone was unveiled by Her Majesty on the banks of the River Thames in King's Stairs Gardens. To coincide with the summer 2002 restoration works in nearby Southwark Park and to commemorate the Golden Jubilee, a new memorial stone was unveiled in King's Stairs Gardens by the Earl and Countess of Wessex. The Earl and Countess returned in 2012, on the occasion of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, to unveil an additional inscription. [1]
Thames Water named the park in September 2010 as one possible site for works as part of the planned construction of the Thames Tideway Tunnel, but following a consultation process and a vigorous local campaign ("the Save King's Stairs Gardens Campaign), Thames Water decided against using the site, choosing Chambers Wharf instead. [2]
The park was also given village green status in March 2012 by the London Borough of Southwark under the Commons Act 2006, a move which reduced the likelihood of any future such threat. [3] [4]
In 2013, Fields in Trust gained protection. [5] [6]
Together with the nearby King Edward III manor house, the park forms part of Southwark Council's Edward III's Rotherhithe Conservation Area. [7]
Southwark is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed due to its position at the southern end of the early versions of London Bridge, for centuries the only dry crossing on the river. Around 43 AD, engineers of the Roman Empire found the geographic features of the south bank here suitable for the placement and construction of the first bridge.
Bermondsey is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, and to the north is Wapping across the River Thames. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Surrey. During the Industrial Revolution Bermondsey became a centre for manufacturing, particularly in relation to tanning. More recently it has experienced regeneration including warehouse conversions to flats and the provision of new transport links.
The London Borough of Southwark in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London Government Act 1963. All districts of the area are within the London postal district. It is governed by Southwark London Borough Council.
Rotherhithe is a district of South London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, with the Isle of Dogs to the east. It borders Bermondsey to the west and Deptford to the south-east. The district is a part of the Docklands area.
The Rotherhithe Tunnel, designated the A101, is a road tunnel under the River Thames in East London, connecting Limehouse in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets north of the river to Rotherhithe in the London Borough of Southwark south of the river. It was formally opened in 1908 by George, Prince of Wales, and Richard Robinson, Chairman of the London County Council. It is a rare example of a road tunnel where road traffic, pedestrians and cyclists all share the same tunnel bore. Transport for London took over ownership and maintenance of the tunnel in 2001.
The Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London, created in 1900 by the London Government Act 1899. It was abolished and its area became part of the London Borough of Southwark in 1965.
North Southwark and Bermondsey was a parliamentary constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency was created for the 1997 general election.
The River Neckinger is a reduced subterranean river that rises in Southwark and flows approximately 2.5 kilometres through that part of London to St Saviour's Dock where it enters the Thames. What remains of the river is enclosed and runs underground and most of its narrow catchment has been diverted into other combined and surface water sewers, flowing into the Southern Outfall Sewer and the Thames, respectively.
Jubilee Gardens is a public park on the South Bank in the London Borough of Lambeth. Created in 1977 to mark the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II, the site was formerly used for the Dome of Discovery and the adjacent Skylon during the Festival of Britain in 1951. A multimillion-pound redevelopment of the park was completed in May 2012, just before the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II and the 2012 Summer Olympics, in order to transform it from a state of grassland to a mature looking park with trees and hills. The re-developed Gardens were designed by Dutch landscape architects West 8. Queen Elizabeth II reopened the gardens in October 2012.
Bermondsey Abbey was an English Benedictine monastery. Although generally regarded as having been founded in the 11th century, it had a precursor mentioned in the early 8th century. It was centred on what is now Bermondsey Square, the site of Bermondsey Market, Bermondsey, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast London, England.
Bermondsey and Old Southwark is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2015, it has been represented by Neil Coyle, who was elected as a Labour MP but was suspended from the party from 2022 to 2023 following an accusation of racism.
Southwark and Bermondsey was an inner city constituency in London, United Kingdom. Its sole Member of Parliament was Simon Hughes, in the first stage of his career in the house, as a Liberal then Liberal Democrat after the party's founding in 1988. It was replaced with the North Southwark and Bermondsey seat in 1997.
Alfred Salter was a British medical practitioner and Labour Party politician.
Southwark Park is located in Rotherhithe, in central South East London, England, and is managed by the London Borough of Southwark. It first opened in 1869 by the Metropolitan Board of Works as one of its first parks. It was designed by Alexander McKenzie and covers 63 acres (250,000 m2). It takes its name from being in what was the old Parliamentary constituency of Southwark at the time of its opening.
The A200 is an A road in London running from London Bridge to Greenwich.
St Olave's Church, Southwark was a church in Southwark, England which is believed to be mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. It was located on Tooley Street which is named after the church, i.e. 't'olous'. It became redundant in 1926 and was demolished. It is now the location of St Olaf House, which houses part of the London Bridge Hospital.
Ada Salter was an English social reformer, environmentalist, pacifist and Quaker, President of the Women's Labour League and President of the National Gardens Guild. She was one of the first women councillors in London, the first woman mayor in London and the first Labour woman mayor in the British Isles.
The Bermondsey Lion is a sculpture in The Blue, Bermondsey, London, created by Kevin Boys for Southwark Council. It was unveiled on 16 July 2011.
The remains of the so-called King Edward III manor house are near the Thames in Rotherhithe in London.
