Bermondsey is located by the river Thames. The village centre was around Abbey Street. The name comes from OE and may have meant 'Beornumund's Island'. Bermondsey was a district of marshes.

1082 Bermondsey Abbey founded as a Cluniac monastery.
1086 Reference to Bermundeseye church in Domesday Book.
1127 Bermondsey Abbey given land in Dulwich and elsewhere by Henry I.

1154 Henry II held his court at Bermondsey Abbey, early version of Parliament.
1392 Early mention of tanners in Bermondsey.
1450 Reference to Bermonsey.

1538 Bermondsey Abbey taken by the crown.
1541 Bermondsey Abbey demolished to make Bermondsey House in 20 acres.
Print of Bermondsey Abbey remains in 1805



1560 St Olave's Grammar School built on Tooley Street.
c 1569 Painting of a celebration in Bermondsey



1570 Elizabeth I visited Sir Thomas Pope at Bermondsey House.
1592 Swan Theatre opened (west of Hopton Street).

1667 St Mary Magdalen (prev. church for Bermondsey Abbey) rebuilt (now much altered).
Print of St Mary Magdalen in 1809



1703 Leather industry in Bermondsey granted charter by Queen Anne.

1721 Guy's Hospital started by Thomas Guy in St Thomas's Street.
1746 Rocque's map of London.
1800 Southwark remained largely rural.

1829 St James' Church built near Jamaica Road by James Savage.
1836 First London railway started from Spa Road, Bermondsey to Deptford.
Later linked to London Bridge.

1839 Croydon Railway opened.
1844 Bricklayers Arms opened in Old Kent Road.
1866 Viaduct built above Borough Market and Clink Street to link to Cannon Street Railway Bridge.
1867 Star Music Hall, 189 Abbey Street Bermondsey opened. Part of Star & Garter pub.
1869 Tower Subway opened (linked to Tooley Street).
1879 Bermondsey Leather market built.
1892 Central Library built in Spa Road.
Tower Bridge under construction



1894 Tower Bridge opened.

1915 Spa Road Station closed.

Pre-War Bermondsey

1921 New Southwark Bridge designed by Sir Ernest George.
1927 Photo of Star Cinema in Abbey Road(closed during WW2)



1928 St Olave¹s Church demolished.
1920s Film of Tower Bridge market
(Manze Pie & Mash at 1:57 is still trading)

1940-41 Many local people killed by German bombing raids.



1944-5 Flying bomb attack caused extensive damage and loss of life

Post War Bermondsey

1950 Caledonian Market moved to Bermondsey.

1956 Tommy Steele from Bermondsey was the first British rockers to top the UK charts

1963 Star Cinema building in Abbey Street demolished
1965 Borough of Southwark was formed by amalgamation of boroughs of Bermondsey, Camberwell and Southwark.
1968 St Olave’s School moved to Orpington.
1971 HMS Belfast, largest of the WW2 cruisers, moored by Tooley Street.
2008 Bermondsey Square developed with a hotel, shops and a 52 seat cinema called Shortwave

The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Bermondsey - GW Phillips (1840)
Bermondsey - ET Clarke (1901)
Bermondsey Story - F. Brockway (1949)
Old Bankside - G. Golden (1951)
Thames Crossings - G Phillips (1981).
The Story of Bermondsey - Mary Boast (1978 London Borough of Southwark)