LONDON BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK


The 'London Borough of Southwark' is a London borough in London, England. It is located directly south of the River Thames and forms part of Inner London.

Contents
History
Geography
Demographics
Landmarks
Civic affairs
Mayor
Executive
Coat of arms
Twinning
Politics
Southwark London Borough Council
Westminster Parliament
Transport
Bridges and tunnels
"A" Roads
Tube stations
Railway stations
Places
Parks and open spaces
Localities
Postcode areas
Education
Community schools
Independent state schools
Public schools
Notable current and former residents
External links

History


Southwark got its "Southwark" name in the 9th century but was first settled in the Roman period. ''Southwark'' is pronounced [].
The London Borough of Southwark was formed in 1965 from the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark, the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell, and the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey.

Geography


The borough borders the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to the north, the London Borough of Lambeth to the west and the London Borough of Lewisham to the east. To the south is the London Borough of Bromley and the London Borough of Croydon.
Demographics

The 2001 census gives Southwark a population of 244,866. Southwark is ethnically 63% white, 16% black African and 8% black Caribbean. 31% of householders are owner–occupiers.
Landmarks

City Hall, taken from the high walkway on Tower Bridge

The rebuilt Globe Theatre

Southwark has a number of old churches, most notably Charles Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle, Southwark Cathedral and St Thomas Church. The Salvation Army maintains the William Booth Memorial College near Denmark Hill railway station. London's Norwegian Church and Finnish Church are both located in Rotherhithe. On the other hand, it is also famous for a number of historic public houses, starting with the site of The Tabard inn featured in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The George Inn and the the White Hart inn are also notable.
The old theatre district of Southwark leaves the remains of the old Rose Theatre and the rebuilt Globe Theatre. Art galleries include the oldest public gallery in Britain, Dulwich Picture Gallery and one of the most modern, the Tate Modern, situated in the shell of the 1930s Bankside Power Station. In the centre of the borough is Camberwell College of Arts and south, in Dulwich has been a centre for public schooling for centuries, containing Alleyn's School and the Charles Barry designed Dulwich College.
There are many museums, including the Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret, Britain's Imperial War Museum built on the site of the Bethlem Royal Hospital, The Clink and Livesey Museum for Children. The site of the medieval Winchester Palace can be seen.
Some of the old industrial and wharfside heritage can be seen at the now defunct Surrey Commercial Docks including Greenland Dock. Near Tower Bridge old warehouses have been converted at to new uses at Butler's Wharf and Hay's Wharf. Similarly, the Oxo Tower now hosts restaurants shops and housing. Visitors are allowed on board at HMS Belfast moored nearby.
Southwark is the home to the Greater London Authority at City Hall and contains Guy's Hospital with its roots in the Middle Ages. Peckham Library, designed by Will Alsop has won architecture awards. For shopping, Borough Market near London Bridge is probably London's most famous general food market.
The planned Shard London Bridge will be London's tallest building when completed.

Civic affairs



Mayor

The Mayor of Southwark for 2007/2008 is Cllr Bob Skelly (Grange ward).
Executive

The council is run by a Leader and Cabinet Executive, chaired by council leader Nick Stanton. Following the election in 2006 the Executive is a coalition, with Liberal Democrat councillors holding 8 seats on the Executive and Conservative councillors holding 2.
Coat of arms

The two supporters on the coat of arms are an Elizabethan player dressed to play Hamlet to the left, indicating the theatrical heritage of the area, and the youth on the right side is the Esquire from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The well in the centre of the shield is a 'canting' reference to Camberwell, while the ship on the top left refers to the maritime history of Bermondsey and the rose on the right is for St Mary Newington.
Twinning

Southwark is twinned with Langenhagen in Germany and Clichy in France.

Politics


Southwark London Borough Council

Main articles: Southwark local elections

Summary of council election results:
'Overall control' 'Labour' 'Lib Dem' 'Conservative' 'Others'
2006 No overall control 28 28 6 1
2002 No overall control 28 30 5 -
1998 Labour 31 27 4 2
1994 Labour - - - -
1990 Labour - - - -
1986 Labour - - - -
1982 Labour - - - -
1978 Labour - - - -
1974 Labour - - - -
1971 Labour - - - -
1968 Labour - - - -
1964 Labour - - - -

Westminster Parliament

The borough is covered by three parliamentary constituencies:

Camberwell and Peckham

Dulwich and West Norwood (shared with London Borough of Lambeth)

North Southwark and Bermondsey

Transport


The Tabard Inn, around 1850



Bridges and tunnels


Blackfriars Bridge

London Bridge

London Millennium Bridge

Southwark Bridge

Tower Bridge

Rotherhithe Tunnel

Thames Tunnel now part of the East London Line

Gipsy Hill - Crystal Palace railway station
"A" Roads


★ Many roads leading to bridges across the Thames meet at St. Georges Circus

★ The A201 Inner Ring Road crosses the north-west of the area from The Elephant and Castle to Tower Bridge and The City.

★ The A2 runs along Old Kent Road through the north of the borough and is London's main artery from the centre out to Kent.

★ The A202 runs along Peckham High Street and passes the town hall.

★ The A205 London's South Circular Road runs East-West along Dulwich Common and Thurlow Park Road in the south.

★ The boundary with Bromley at Crystal Palace Parade is part of the A212.
Tube stations


Bermondsey

Borough

Canada Water

Elephant & Castle

Kennington

London Bridge

Rotherhithe

Southwark

Surrey Quays
Railway stations


Denmark Hill

East Dulwich

West Dulwich

Elephant & Castle

London Bridge

North Dulwich

Nunhead

Peckham Rye

Queens Road Peckham

Sydenham Hill

Gipsy Hill
===Riverbus piers===

Bankside Pier - for Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre

London Bridge City Pier

Greenland Dock

Places


Parks and open spaces


Southwark Park

Burgess Park, (including trees at New Church Road)

Dulwich Park

★ Belair

★ Long Meadow a.k.a. Belle Meadow

Russia Dock Woodland

★ Sydenham Hill Woods

★ Sydenham Hill Nature Reserve

★ Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, Lambeth Road, SE1. This park houses the Imperial War Museum although the Museum only owns the land directly in front of it, and the remainder is a public park.
Localities

Areas of Southwark


Bankside

Bermondsey

The Borough

Camberwell

Crystal Palace east of Gipsy Hill railway station west of the parade & Sydenham Hill

Dulwich

Dulwich Wood

East Dulwich

Elephant and Castle

Herne Hill east of Herne Hill railway station

Newington

Nunhead

Peckham

Rotherhithe

The Borough (historic Southwark)

Surrey Quays

Walworth

West Dulwich east of South Croxted Road
Postcode areas

SE1 (part), SE4 (part), SE5 (part), SE11 (part), SE15 (part), SE16 (part), SE17 (all), SE19 (part), SE21 (part), SE22 (all), SE24 (part)

Education


Community schools

Many state schools are operated under the umbrella of the borough council [1] as Local Education Authority (LEA) for the area.
Community secondary schools include:

Kingsdale School

Walworth School

Waverley School

Brunswick Park School
Independent state schools

A particularly large proportion of schools operate outside the LEA, as Foundation schools or City Academies, including:

Bacon's College

City of London Academy (Southwark)

The Academy at Peckham
Public schools

Dulwich in the southern part of the borough has a number of public schools with a long history:

Alleyn's School

Dulwich College website

James Allen's Girls' School website

Notable current and former residents



Edward Alleyn (actor)

Sarah Armstrong-Jones (painter)

Charles Babbage (mathematician)

John Bacon (sculptor)

Sacha Baron-Cohen (comedian)

Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte)

Edmund Bonner (bishop of London)

Robert Browning (poet)

Marc Isambard Brunel and Isambard Kingdom Brunel (engineers)

Jack Cade (rebel)

Michael Caine (actor)

Raymond Chandler (author)

Charlie Chaplin (actor)

Geoffrey Chaucer (playwright; see also Canterbury Tales)

Charles Dickens (author)

Jason Donovan (actor, pop icon)

★ Sir Michael Faraday (scientist, physics)

Rio Ferdinand (footballer)

Harriet Harman (politician)

John Harvard (founder of university)

Simon Hughes (Lib-Dem politician)

Roy Jenkins (politician)

Samuel Johnson (lexicographer and author)

David Jones (poet)

Tessa Jowell (politician)

Benjamin Jowett (scholar and theologian)

Sally Keeble (politician)

Austen Henry Layard (archaeologist, author, and politician)

Ann Leslie (Daily Mail columnist)

Alfred Marshall (economist)

Philip Massinger (playwright)

★ Sir John Major of asthma U.K. (former prime-minister)

Keith Murdoch (journalist)

Cathy de Monchaux (artist)

Harold James Ruthven Murray (chess historian and educator)

Florence Nightingale (nurse)

Colin Niven

Samuel Palmer (visionary English artist)

Charles Peace (burglar and murderer)

William Penn (founder of Pennsylvania)

Pilgrim Fathers (religious separatists; see also ''Mayflower'')

Robert Recorde (physician and mathematician)

Jasper Richard Rosenau (Writer)

John Ruskin (art critic, social critic, author, poet and artist.)

Giles Gilbert Scott (architect)

William Shakespeare (playwright)

Ernest Shackleton (explorer)

Hartley Shawcross (lawyer and politician)

Charles Spurgeon (pastor and author)

John Stainer (organist and composer)

Donald Swann (humorist)

Henry Thrale (brewer and politician)

Hester Thrale (diarist)

Mary Wollstonecraft (author)

External links



Historic Southwark

Walk Southwark, walk guides with extensive explanation and commentary

Labour in Southwark

This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.

psst.. try this: add to faves