Southwark
Until time travel is possible, a visit to Southwark might be the next best thing. Encompassing Roman ruins and the gleaming Shard skyscraper, via a glimpse of Shakespeare’s London at the Globe theatre, it’s an amazing snapshot of the capital’s history.
The inner-city borough is where London’s first bridge across Thames was built, at least 1,600 years ago. For centuries it was the only bridge, making it a hugely strategic site – and where many traitors’ heads were displayed on spikes.
Around the historic Southwark Cathedral, the foodie delights of Borough Market draw in the crowds. There’s also the option of a pint in nearby pub The George, London’s last galleried coaching inn with a preserved two-storey gallery looking over the courtyard.
In 2000, Bankside Power Station reopened as Tate Modern, a gallery showing modern and contemporary art.
Borough Market with The Shard rising above it
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How Florence Nightingale shaped London healthcare
Modern nursing has a lot to thank this 19th-century trailblazer for
An Irish Traveller community in 1980s Bermondsey
These photos put the focus on a group often left out of London’s story
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Surrey Docks: Street scene off Lower Road, showing steamer in the Greenland Dock towering above houses in January, 1930. (cellulose acetate)
Linney, Albert Gravely
1930
