The River Neckinger is a reduced subterranean river that rises in Southwark and flows approximately 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) 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.
The watercourse drained first the seasonally wet (and occasionally flooded) ground at St George's Fields, where the former building of the Bethlem Royal Hospital, now the Imperial War Museum, stands.Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, in western Southwark. [1] Its course was east as follows: it took the line of Brook Drive then passed by the Elephant and Castle, [2] then passed the site of Lock Hospital, Kent Street. [3] This upper section was also known before that hospital's closure in the early 19th century as the Lock Stream. [3] It then runs under abbey street and passed the grounds of (since ruined and underground) Bermondsey Abbey to the south, forming the channel north of what was the large Thames island of Bermond's ey (island). [4] The channel is today resembled by Abbey Street. [2] In the first millennium, the river merged into the Thames by hooking north at three points. At least three tidally broadly flooded mouths existed, two of which were west of the former small island of Horsleydown and the third at the approximate site of St Saviour's Dock. [3] [5] The Neckinger's northern mouth (now a surface water point of discharge into a deep, excavated inlet) divides the much-built up former marshland at the east end of Horsleydown island, known as Shad Thames and the low part of Bermondsey historically known as Jacob's Island to the east, which has also been built-up.
In the 17th century convicted pirates were hanged at the wharf where the Neckinger entered the Thames. [3] The name of the river is believed to derive from the term "devil's neckcloth", a slang term for the hangman's noose. [3] In London Past and Present , published in 1891, Henry B. Wheatley argued that there was 'much good evidence' that 'the 'Devil's Neckinger'... the ancient place of punishment and execution' was at the site of the 'Dead Tree public-house' on Jacob's Island. [6] Writing in The Inns of Old Southwark And Their Associations, in 1888, authors William Rendle and Philip Norman note that a place called Devol's Neckenger appears on a map in 1740 and, in the same location, in 1813, the Dead Tree inn. [7]
Historian Walter Besant says the Neckinger's early section, where it crosses the Kent Road, at Lock Bridge, was also known as Canute's Trench. [8] In May, 1016, [9] Danish Cnut the Great, who had invaded England, dug a trench through Southwark to allow his boats to avoid the heavily defended London Bridge. [10] In 1173, a channel following a similar course was used to drain the Thames to allowing building work on London Bridge. [11]
In the 14th century, the crossing point of the Neckinger and the Old Kent Road was known as the wateryng of Seint Thomas, or St. Thomas-à-Watering, and was mentioned by Geoffrey Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales as a place where the pilgrims water their horses on their way to Thomas Becket's shrine. [12] [13] In the Tudor period St. Thomas-à-Watering was also the location for public executions. [14]
In the 16th century, herbalist and botanist John Gerard wrote of the wild willow herb that 'It is found nigh the place of execution at St. Thomas a Watering; and by a style on a Thames bank near to the Devil's Neckerchief on the way to Redriffe.' [7]
During the Middle Ages, the local religious house, Bermondsey Abbey, made use of the water of the Neckinger to power a Tide mill. [4] The mill's early name was Redriff, [15] also an early name for the present neighbouring district of Rotherhithe, [16] [17] On 31 June 1536, the Abbey leased the mill to John Curlew, [18] but the Dissolution of the Monasteries saw it privately acquired. [15] At this time the Neckinger was navigable from the Thames up to the Abbey grounds. [19]
Local doctor, William Rendle, writing in Old Southwark And Its People, in 1878, describes a bridge on the Old Kent Road, dated to the time of Bermondsey Abbey, which was still visible as part of the sewer system in the 19th century. It was 'of a pointed arch of stone with six ribs, similar to the oldest part of the London Bridge and to those of Bow and Eltham. There are, however, no mouldings to the bridge; it was merely chamfered at the edges. Its date may be about the middle of the fifteenth century... The dimensions of the bridge are: width, 20 feet; span of arch, 9 feet.' [20]
In 1640, the City of London issued an order to 'make up and amend' the Lock Bridge as part of sewer works. According to Rendle the sewers were built up to adjoin the bridge at each side and it was a familiar landmark to 'sewer people' in the tunnels. During the 19th century improvements 'the ancient relic was not injured by the new works but necessarily covered up again. [20]
Private homes and businesses began to be built on the former Abbey grounds and the water of the Neckinger attracted tanners to its banks. [19] In the late 1700s competition for the water led to the tanners bringing a suit against the mill owner which was won on the argument of 'ancient usages of the district' which ensured the inhabitants had the right to a supply of tidal water. [19]
The Jacob's Island district was notoriously squalid from early Victorian times until the mid-20th century. It was described by Charles Dickens in 1838 as "the filthiest, the strangest, the most extraordinary of the many localities that are hidden in London", [21] and by the Morning Chronicle in 1849 as "The very capital of cholera" and "The Venice of drains". In Dickens' novel, Oliver Twist a branch of the Neckinger is given the name Folly Ditch and is the place where the book's Bill Sikes meets his death. [21] [22]
In the 1790s Neckinger Mill was established to produce paper, which continued until 1805 when the site was sold to the leather manufacturers Bevingtons. [23] In 1838, the construction of a new line for the London and Greenwich Railway divided the mill land into two uneven portions, with further railway works taking place in 1841 and 1850. [24]
In 1935, Bevingtons moved most of their business to Dartford, keeping the smaller section of their divided site as a warehouse, and selling the larger portion to the Bermondsey Borough Council. [24] When Bevingtons sold the warehouse in early 1980s it was converted into a residential development, [24] and it has since been joined by new blocks of flats, which coexist, with some friction, with the more bohemian houseboats moored offshore at Reed Wharf. [25] [26]
The River Thames, known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At 215 miles (346 km), it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the River Severn.
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 River Effra is a former set of streams in south London, England, culverted and used mainly for storm sewerage. It had been a tributary of the Thames. Its catchment waters, where not drained to aquifer soakaways and surface water drains, have been incorporated into 1850s-built combined sewer sectors, devised by Sir Joseph Bazalgette. One drains Peckham, the other Brixton, then intended to flow towards Peckham. These generally flow east to be treated at Crossness.
Old Kent Road is a major thoroughfare in South East London, England, passing through the London Borough of Southwark. It was originally part of an ancient trackway that was paved by the Romans and used by the Anglo-Saxons who named it Wæcelinga Stræt. It is now part of the A2, a major road from London to Dover. The road was important in Roman times linking London to the coast at Richborough and Dover via Canterbury. It was a route for pilgrims in the Middle Ages as portrayed in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, when Old Kent Road was known as Kent Street. The route was used by soldiers returning from the Battle of Agincourt.
Bankside is an area of London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. Bankside is located on the southern bank of the River Thames, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Charing Cross, running from a little west of Blackfriars Bridge to just a short distance before London Bridge at St Mary Overie Dock. It is part of a business improvement district known as 'Better Bankside'.
The Great Stink was an event in Central London during July and August 1858 in which the hot weather exacerbated the smell of untreated human waste and industrial effluent that was present on the banks of the River Thames. The problem had been mounting for some years, with an ageing and inadequate sewer system that emptied directly into the Thames. The miasma from the effluent was thought to transmit contagious diseases, and three outbreaks of cholera before the Great Stink were blamed on the ongoing problems with the river.
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.
Southwark St John Horsleydown was a small parish on the south bank of the River Thames in London, opposite the Tower of London. The name Horsleydown, apparently derived from the "horse lie-down" next to the river, is no longer used. The parish was created by splitting St Olave's parish in 1733.
The Tideway is a part of the River Thames in England which is subject to tides. This stretch of water is downstream from Teddington Lock. The Tideway comprises the upper Thames Estuary including the Pool of London.
Jacob's Island was a notorious slum in Bermondsey, London, in the 19th century. It was located on the south bank of the River Thames, approximately delineated by the modern streets of Mill Street, Bermondsey Wall West, George Row and Wolseley Street. Jacob's Island developed a reputation as one of the worst slums in London, and was popularised by the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, published shortly before the area was cleared in the 1860s.
St Saviour's Dock is an inlet-style dock in London, England, on the south bank of the River Thames, 420 metres east of Tower Bridge. It forms the eastern end of the Shad Thames embankment that starts at Tower Bridge. The east side of the Dock is Jacob's Island.
St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey is an Anglican church dedicated to St Mary Magdalen in Bermondsey in the London Borough of Southwark. The majority of the present building is late 17th century and is Grade II* listed.
Southwark St Olave was an ancient civil and ecclesiastical parish on the south bank of the River Thames, covering the area around where Shard London Bridge now stands in the modern London Borough of Southwark. The boundaries varied over time but in general the parish stretched east from London Bridge past Tower Bridge to St Saviour's Dock. Southwark St Olave and St Thomas replaced the civil parish in 1896. It was abolished in 1904 and absorbed by Bermondsey parish.
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.
Grange Walk is a historic road in Bermondsey in the London Borough of Southwark, in south London. It runs between Tower Bridge Road in the west and Neckinger in the east.
Maltby Street Market is a weekly street-food and provisions market in Bermondsey, southeast London, England. The market is located on a street of the same name near Tower Bridge in the old Horselydown parish of Bermondsey.