Tudor & Stuart Industry in Southwark

Printing

Among the many creative industries in Southwark was printing - the Miles Coverdale Bible was published in the grounds of St Thomas'. This was the first officially approved bible printed in English since the days of King Alfred:

‘imprinted in Southwarke in Saint Thomas Hospitale by James Nycolson, 1537’.

Title Page of Miles Coverdale's Bible (by Holbein)

Kings College, Cambridge

Stained Glass

The Hospital was also the home of the famous workshops of the ‘Southwark School of Glaziers’. Here, between 1526 and 1531, were made the stained glass windows for King’s College chapel, Cambridge.

Professional Theatre

The presence of 4 Theatres - the Globe, the Rose, the Hope and the Swan; the bull and bear baiting pits and a host of Inns, Taverns and Brothels meant that the service industries continues to be important to Southwark.

Southwark School of Sculptures

Further along the river near the Cathedral was a group of foreign stone masons who could not obtain membership of the City Guilds. One of their commissions is thought to be the bust of William Shakespeare in the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-on-Avon.

Agas view of London Bridge

Riverfront Industries

The Wharves along the River began to develop with Hay's Wharf Company being founded in 1651, and the East Indian Company built Howland's Dock in Rotherhithe for repairing its huge fleet.

Below - Plan of Southwark 1542, redrawn

Wrong Side of the River: London's disreputable South Bank in the sixteenth and seventeenth century.
Jessica A. Browner