The Borough Market located on the southern banks of the river Thames is as haphazard and checkered as is its history. This rumbunctious market place, with its shops and eateries going willy nilly , changing with the season, jumbled together atop of each other catering to the crowds of shoppers as well as the curious, the visitors seeking an authentic London experience, a playing area for the slick fingered pickpockets and con artists if the times were a century ago.
Built by the Romans, the London bridge, as we know it today — was not like this-when it was built. Built over the river Thames which divided the city of London into the Northern (affluent London city) and the southern (poor, neglected, marshy Southwark). In the early days when the bridge was built it served as a marketplace with narrow houses (few feet) on each side, which had shops at the lower levels and residence on the upper floors. Subsequent centuries saw breakouts of fires which resulted in the burning down of the houses etc till finally the London Bridge Act 1756 gave the City Corporation the power to purchase all the properties on the bridge so that they could be demolished and the bridge improved, roads widened, the arches strengthened etc.
Back to the Borough Market in Southwark….
Back then the Southwark was an uninhabited marshy piece of land where the marginalized, unmentionable, denizens of London resided. In absence of regulated law and order , the bootleggers, the whores, the hawkers, the conmen, and the criminals thrived and made the area their own.
A wholesale market for daily needs and supplies, grains, livestock etc. came up on the southern banks of the River Thames in the early 10th century There was no order to the market and people set up stalls where they wanted often creating massive traffic jams and general chaos.. As the market grew and thrived “Londoners” from across the bridge started to frequent it, also baliffs of London had no jurisdiction over the criminals who escaped over the bridge to Southwark.
Furthermore around 1754 a fire broke out in the market razing it nearly to the ground. A parliament bill was passed to cease all trading. The citizens of Southward however petitioned to build another market at a distance away from the main high street and the Borough Market was born. Starting as a retail market, the advent of the railway with its enhanced connectivity turned it into a thriving wholesale market.
Post renaissance, the relentless growth of supermarkets and such killed the independent greengrocers, destroying the entire ecosystem in which fruit and vegetable wholesaling had thrived. The decline was swift and sad.
Borough Market’s current incarnation has its roots in the revival of interest in artisan foods which took shape in the 1990s, when independent– pioneering food businesses setup shop here as did the three-day Food Lovers’ Fair at the Market in November 1998, which gathered together some of the best food producers in Britain as part of the annual Southwark Festival. This further led to a weekly market being held and now the market is open 6 days a week attracting local and international vendors, large businesses as well as smaller home grown enterprises.
Today the Borough sells street food — local London staples as fish and chips, triple cooked chips (crisp and crunchy on the outside and so so soft inside with a sprinkling of truffle oil- delicious), sausage roll (Ginger Pig’s are a specialty- thick juice sausage rolled up in flaky pastry rolls) , strawberries dipped in chocolate, Cider (I’ve never really liked Ciders Ive had in the past- this one was fruity without being overly sweet and extremely pleasant to drink ), sticky toffee and so much more.
Street food of almost all nationalities, samosa and chaat from India, Gujrati farsan, Italian pizza, pasta, risotto, oriental hotpots and noodles, mushrooms, candied and savoury, flavoured nuts, exotic mustards and cheese, fruits, vegetables, meats, Portuguese pastéis de nata (custard tarts), baked fare and breads, exotic teas, plants and seeds, …the works
The whole marketplace is in a huge courtyard in the middle off which there are numerous cobbled alleys offshoots.
The alleys have exotic names like Three Crown Square, the Clink Street ( after the prison called Clink) , the Potters Street, Cathedral Street, Winchester Lane, Dirty Lane and such. Today these alleys sport trendy upmarket restaurants (most have long queues lining up outside at lunch times)
The above gives a general idea of the North-South divide of the city . The southern part had arenas for Bear- Bating — a popular blood thirsty sport where a chained bear fought with multiple dogs while the viewers betted on the winner. The same arena was also used for the enactment of Shakespearean plays when not used by the Bears. The Shakespear’s Globe still exists and offers tourist visits
The debtors’ prison called the Clinks is near the Market in one of the alleys. here as well — it was the first prison which allowed female inmates. Today it is a museum with a gibbet displayed at the entrance as a deterrent.
Inside amongst the shackles, the balls and iron the axes are also placards describing how debtors were punished — the water ordeal where prisoners retrieved objects out of boiling water. If they recovered from the burns they were found guiltless , or the boot ordeal where they were made to wear an iron boot which was filled with wood wedges the boot was alternately filled with water which made the wood swell up squeezing the foot inside or roasting it on fire making the foot burn, the ordeal of fire had the prisoners carry hot iron across nine paces and so on.
Apparently prisoners had to purchase items like a mattress, a room, light or fuel and food. If they did not have the blunt they begged for it out of the barred windows or had their relatives on the outside provide.
Interestingly, just behind the prison building was the huge residence of the Bishop of Winchester.
largest brothel owner in the UK back in 1161. (Remnants of the building still remain).
He called his prostitutes “Winchester Geese” named so due to the screeching and heckling they did to attract customers. Syphilis was a common side effect and contacting it was commonly referred to as being ‘bitten by a Winchester goose’ or getting ‘goose bumps’.
When these geese died, they suffered the final indignity of being buried in unconsecrated ground. The Cross Bones graveyard in Southwark has been preserved by local residents and a little memorial set up to commemorate the Winchester Geese. It exists today as well — with many coming to tie remembrance ribbons to the unwanted and the unrecognized.
Another interesting artifact is the full scale model of the Golden Hinde-(then called the Pelican) the ship that Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the earth way back in 1577 in a time frame of three years.
Starting as a profiteer he became a pirate, looting Spanish ships… and then was believed to be hired by the then presiding Queen Elizabeth to scrouge around the world finding countries which England could bring under their dominion.
Today, the Hinde can be rented for events or for an overnight stay to experience first hand the times of Sir Drake and hisescapades. Should be interesting.
For the religious there is a 1000 year old Southwark Cathedral — an imposing building built at the southern bank of the river Thames…initially a priory it was burnt down and rebuilt and is a functioning cathedral today Did not go inside but it sure looked impressive from outside.
That’s it folks
An abrupt ending — -but this was just to whet the appetite- the fun is for you to go visit and experience it on your own