England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Southwark St John

The Parish

Southwark lies in the extreme northeast of the county of Surrey, indeed it forms part of the boundary with the City of London which sits just across the Thames from Southwark. Southwark was divided into 6 parishes of which St John was the fourth largest by population and the most easterly. Southwark sits at the southern end of London Bridge and today is an integral part of the capital, a city, having been granted that status in 1905 and a thriving business centre. Southwark owes its origins to the Romans where a small settlement grew up at was when the first, forded, crossing of the Thames long before there were bridges. Granted Royal Burgh status in the 10th century, it grew substantially once London Bridge was constructed about 1200 (this was the only bridge until the middle of the 18th century). Southwark has had something of a chequered past, homes to wealthy dignitaries and merchants, it also had a seedier side with inns and theaters as well as prisons & prostitution. Southwark's population grew rapidly during the period of this transcript, in 1801 it stood at 66,000 yet by 1831 it had reached 91,000 and peaked in 1901 at 206,000. St John parish would have held around 10% of that population. The impact of World War 2 bombing was severe as London's blitz wrecked homes, businesses and not least the churches of the area. Today Southwark is a thriving community, home to Borough Market and refreshed as part of the wider South Bank redevelopment. As a riverside community no obvious surface drainage channels to the nearby Thames all being subsurface. St John's parish is sited at less than 5 metres above sea level, it being almost beyond Brixton before one crosses a 10 metres contour. St John's parish covered a tiny area of a few city blocks yet was packed with a population rising to almost 10,000 folk by 1831. In Domesday times Southwark was held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux but not specifically detailed as to its assets

The Church

St John's church is sadly no more having been demolished as part of a 1970s redevelopment scheme. The church stood alongside the road at the junction of Tower Bridge Road and Tooley Street within sight of Tower Bridge, itself. St John's parish was a new creation from St Olave when the church was built between 1727 & 1733 from a Hawksmoor design. Described in early Pevsner editions as a "all stone-faced stately building" but with a "silly but lovable spire". That spire was a noted south London landmark. Sadly the church was badly damaged by a bomb in 1940 and following the end of the 2nd World War there was some continued use but also prevarication and delay in a decision to restore the building. Inactivity became neglect and the redevelopment saw the church's final demise. Today there is little sign of the church in an area of offices and other commercial buildings.