Southwark Cathedral: From the Edge to the Heart of London

Paul Campbell
5 hours ago
8 min read

Southwark Cathedral sits on the southern bank of the Thames in what is now the heart of London, but it did not begin in the heart of London. Though it is not as famous as Notre Dame of Paris, nor as tall as the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, nor as instantly recognizable as Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow (technically named The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat), Southwark Cathedral plays an important role in the Callahan Chronicles. Fortunately, this role is almost entirely fictional.

In fact, Southwark Cathedral wasn't even technically a cathedral until 1908, fifteen years after we're first introduced to it in Grayhound. Even worse, (so far as I know) there is not a secret Inquisition dungeon built below the church and used for the capture of the undead. Sorry to disappoint. While I delve briefly into the long and bloody history of the Inquisition here, the current article will focus only on Southwark Cathedral itself and the real history that inspired its depiction in the Callahan Chronicles.

The Beginnings of Southwark

Like the Hôtel Dieu hospital in Paris, (which you can read about here) the history of Southwark Cathedral goes back a long time. Exactly how long is a matter of debate. According to tradition, some chapel has resided on this stretch of the Thames since around 606AD, though as a simple wooden structure. The actual beginning is difficult to prove historically, but I find little reason to question the early origins. Five hundred years later, in 1106, two Norman knights rebuilt the ancient chapel in stone and founded a priory there for Augustinian monks. For those who aren't as familiar with the term, a priory is a monastic house for either monks or nuns, often combined with some form of educational outreach. Priory schools all have roots in these scholastic orders, and even Sherlock Holmes visits one in “The Adventure of the Priory School.” Though the church did not become “Southwark Cathedral” until 1908, the priory that existed until 1538 was known as Southwark Priory. The church itself, however, (like many churches) was originally named St. Mary's.

This original title quickly transformed to “St. Mary Overie,” a shortened version of “St. Mary Over the River” to differentiate it from nearby churches of the same name. Originally, St. Mary Overie was not in London at all, but sat opposite the city next to the only bridge into London from the southern bank. The name remained even after London spread to the southern bank of the Thames and enveloped the church at Southwark.

The Great Fire of 1212 nearly destroyed the church. Much of the earliest fabrics and decorations were consumed in the blaze, but a few fragments survive. Over the next few decades, the church was rebuilt, and though it went through multiple renovations in the centuries since, the basic layout has remained the same. The fire's destruction was tragic, but the period of its rebuilding make it the first truly Gothic church in London.

**St. Saviour's (St. Mary Overie), with London Bridge in the background. 1616**

Seeing the Church from a Different Anglican

In the sixteenth century, Henry VIII, then King of England, wanted a divorce, and he would have it. When the Catholic Church refused to sanction the divorce, Henry VIII divorced from the Catholic Church instead, forming the Church of England in his Act of Supremacy as an official state church with the king as its head. The priory school closed with the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 and the church reverted to the property of the king, who renamed it as St. Saviour's.

Six years after Henry VIII's death in 1547, his daughter, Mary I, also known as Bloody Mary, tried her best to turn England back to Catholicism in the worst way possible. While the mayhem that happened upon the death of Henry VIII is too large a topic to discuss here, a few points relate specifically to Southwark Cathedral.

It was here, in the retrochoir of St. Saviour's of Southwark, that Bloody Mary held her heresy trials, and where six clergymen were condemned to death on charges of heresy in 1555. Her attempts to return property to the church which her father had confiscated largely failed due to Parliamentary interference, but during her short, five year reign, more than 280 religious dissenters were burned at the stake. Just three years later, in 1558, Mary was dead, and her younger half-sister, Elizabeth I, had restored their father's changes.

Elizabeth's reign was short-lived as well, again only 5 years, and it was the son of her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots (who Elizabeth had executed previously), who gained the throne of Scotland at the ripe old age of thirteen months and the thrones of England and Ireland some thirty-seven years later, finally uniting the three kingdoms under one crown. And though his mother had been executed by his predecessor, James consistently advocated for peace. He is still the longest-reigning monarch of Scotland, though certainly not without faults.

**The Great Screen and Altar Piece, some of which dates back to 1520**

In 1605, a Jesuit group, including a man named Guy Fawkes, attempted to murder King James by blowing up the House of Lords. Though unsuccessful, it did inspire Guy Fawkes Day in England and, more recently, a graphic novel and movie both titled V for Vendetta. Both the graphic novel and the movie paint Guy Fawkes as a rather heroic figure, but history is never so simple. As Catholicism continued to fracture, persecution erupted on all sides. The Gunpowder Treason Plot was a violent response from Catholics in response to persecution from the Church of England. The response against those involved was quick and brutal. The Gunpowder Treason Plot only made James more suspicious of Catholics, shattering his earlier stance of tolerance and leading to stricter anti-Catholic laws. The number of reversals in religious policy under such different monarchs and the harsh treatment of dissenters made Protestants and Catholics alike yearn for a place where they could practice their faith in safety. It is no wonder that we find the founding of Jamestown only two years after the Gunpowder Treason, as both Protestants and Catholics flocked to the New World.

Thankfully, the history of Southwark Cathedral is not quite so complicated as that of the English monarchy, though equally long. In 1607, Edmund Shakespeare, brother to the far more famous William Shakespeare, was buried at Southwark. Another important personage tied to Southwark Cathedral is John Harvard, who was born in the parish and baptized at St. Saviour's the same year of Edmund Shakespeare's death. He later went on to found a Christian university in America that grew to be one of the most famous in the country, though it has now largely abandoned its Christian roots in favor of lesser gods.

Just four years later, King James commissioned the first official English translation of the Bible, known then as the Authorized Version, and later as the King James Version. Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, and one of the contributors to the Authorized Version, was also buried on the grounds of Southwark Cathedral, then St. Saviour's.

King James was also responsible for releasing Southwark back into the ownership of her parishioners. After Herny VIII confiscated it from the Catholic Church seventy-five years earlier, the parishioners had been required to pay rent to the crown for use of it. An enterprising group of businessmen grew tired of this arrangement and offered to purchase the property back from the crown. After some negotiation, James agreed. In 1614, the ownership of Southwark transferred back to the people for a hefty ₤800, (around ₤280,000 today, or around $380,000). The name of St. Saviour's remained.

The Victorian Renovation

By 1820, St. Saviour's was in dire need of repair. Plans to construct a larger London Bridge nearer to the church placed the church in greater jeopardy, as the bridge committee felt the church should be torn down and rebuilt elsewhere. It was saved, however, largely due to the efforts of George Gwilt, a local architect. Gwilt wanted to restore the church to its more Gothic roots from the 13^th century and set about an entire restoration effort. Without any records as to the church's original appearance, Gwilt found it difficult to restore the church with much accuracy. Many of his restorations were his own designs, though firmly rooted in reference to Gothic architecture of the time.

**An ariel view of Southwark Cathedral. Much of Gwilt's work remains.**

The roof above the nave (the main area where the congregation sits) was in terrible repair and deemed unsafe. Under Gwilt's instructions, the roof was removed and the walls demolished down to within seven feet of the ground. During the renovations, congregants held services in the transcepts (to either side of the pulpit) and choir (behind the pulpit). Though Gwilt's work on the outer portions of the structure were praised, the work within the sanctuary was widely criticized.

Further concerns for the church arose soon after, when the London railway made plans to construct a viaduct between London Bridge Station in Southwark to other stations on the north side of the Thames. Again, the church stood in danger of demolition, but with the recent renovations, timing was not on the railroad's side. They agreed to deviate from a direct line—but only slightly—and in 1852 the railway viaduct finally landed only 60 feet from the Cathedral. This significantly cut into the church's grounds, and no more burials were allowed on the grounds after the following year. All save one: George Gwilt, the original architect who saved the church from destruction not so long before. He was buried there in 1856.

Though most of Gwilt's renovations survived him, the nave was again renovated by Arthur Blomfield in 1890 with the hopes of more accurately representing the 13^th century architecture. The final result, completed in 1897, present a unique blend of architecture from differing periods that can still be seen at Southwark Cathedral today.

**Blomfield's interior renovations to the nave.**

The Meaning of a Name

These final renovations were not technically done to Southwark Cathedral, but St. Saviour's, for it was under the name of St. Saviour's that the church would have been known in 1893, when Grayhound takes place—not Southwark Cathedral, as it is usually called in the Callahan Chronicles.

The difference between a church and a cathedral is not simply one of size or importance—though these often play a role in the choice—but one of church structure. A cathedral, by definition, is the principle church of a diocese over which a bishop presides. A church becomes a cathedral when it has a cathedra, or bishop's seat.

Interestingly enough, there was another St. Saviour's in London at the time—indeed, several. These were often referred to by their location, and it is for this reason that Sherlock Holmes, in A Case of Identity, mentions a wedding that was “to be at St. Saviour's, near King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. Pancras Hotel.” Rather than being needlessly verbose, this was to denote a specific church of several, all by the name of St. Saviour's. Given this fact, it is plausible that “St. Saviour's of Southwark” was shortened to simply “Southwark,” or “Southwark Cathedral” for those not well-versed in the nuance of religious institutions. This anachronism is, then, only a minor one, and makes it easier for the reader to instantly know the location and learn more about it if they so choose, and the many renovations which the church saw over its vast existence provided the perfect opportunity for me to add in certain underground renovations as well.

Southwark officially became a cathedral in 1908, shortly before the first World War. Miraculously, it survived both World Wars largely untouched. Some 1,600 bombs were dropped on the neighborhood of Southwark between October of 1940 and June 1941, but the cathedral suffered only minor damage. Some damage from shrapnel is still visible today, but the church remains.

Southwark Cathedral has seen much of Christianity's long history, including the ugly and the beautiful. It has seen Christianity twisted to the will of the state, used as justification to murder enemies rather than love them—yet it has also seen scripture reborn in the common tongue, seen the revivals of the 19^th century, and though corruption and decay still chew upon the Church's supports, yet Southwark Cathedral remains, a symbol of persistence in the face of destruction, a remembrance of renewal in years past, and a promise of renewal to come.