Southwark, Surrey : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Southwark. You may be able to find further references to Southwark in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
CHRISTCHURCH-SOUTHWARK a parish and a sub-district Imperial
Southwark parliamentary borough Bartholomew
SOUTHWARK a metropolitan borough, five parishes, and three districts Imperial
St George the Martyr parish Bartholomew
St Olave Southwark parish Bartholomew
St Saviour parish Bartholomew

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Southwark within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Daniel Defoe Letter 5 (London), Part 1: Overview and Suburbs 13
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 3: Hampshire and Surrey 5
Daniel Defoe Letter 5 (London), Part 2: The City 5
Daniel Defoe Letter 5 (London), Part 3: The Court and Westminster 4
William Camden Berkshire, Surrey and Sussex 2
William Camden Middlesex and London 2
Celia Fiennes London, part 1 2
James Boswell September 21st to 24th, 1773: Dunvegan to Talisker 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 1: Kent Coast and Maidstone 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 3, Part 2: Salisbury and Dorset 1
Daniel Defoe Appendix to the second volume 1
Daniel Defoe Preface to Third Volume 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 8, Part 4: Leeds and North Yorkshire 1
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: Carlisle to Newcastle 1
George Head Durham Coast 1
John Wesley 1754-6: Retirement in Paddington; Wesley Slandered; Premonitions 1
Karl Moritz Chapter 2: Entering London 1
Karl Moritz Chapter 7: St. Paul's Cathedral 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Borough 0 2
Waterloo 0 5
Newington 9 2
Billingsgate 3 0
Inner Temple 1 1
Horsleydown 0 2
Newgate 2 0
Middle Temple 1 2
Tower of London 0 6
Walworth 0 2
Bermondsey 1 2
Duchy of Lancaster 0 1
Aldersgate 3 1
Lambeth 9 2
Cripplegate 3 0
Bishopsgate 3 1
Strand 2 5
St Katherine 0 2
Moorfields 9 1
Aldgate 4 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Southwark. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
CHRISTCHURCH SOUTHWARK John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
SOUTHWARK John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
SOUTHWARKE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
SOUTHWORKE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
ST GEORGE THE MARTYR John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
ST OLAVE SOUTHWARK John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
ST SAVIOUR John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
SUTHWERC John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
SUTHWERKE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.