One bridge explains why South London grew so differently
For centuries, getting south of the Thames meant crossing a single bridge. That bottleneck shaped South London, from a Saxon fort named after the men of Surrey to a sprawl that swallowed Croydon and Bromley. Even now the area has more than thirty links westward but only one eastward: Tower Bridge.
South London grew out of Southwark, clustered at the southern foot of London Bridge, the first permanent crossing of the Thames. Its old name, Suthriganaweorc, means fort of the men of Surrey, and it appears in the Burghal Hidage, the network of strongholds Alfred the Great built against the Viking Great Heathen Army. From 1295 Southwark was an incorporated borough, which is why locals still call it the Borough, and between 1550 and 1899 the City governed it as a ward called Bridge Without.
In his 1720 Survey of London, John Strype treated Southwark as one of four distinct parts of the capital, alongside the City, Westminster and the area east of the Tower. North London as a recognised district came later. Until the mid-18th century no other bridge existed, so the south expanded far more slowly than the north. Westminster Bridge and its successors eventually pushed growth into the south-west, while the south-east lagged until the Surrey Commercial Docks were dug.
Railways changed the pace. A dense web of lines laid in the mid-19th century drove rapid building, and in 1899 the new County of London absorbed districts such as Lambeth, Battersea, Camberwell, Deptford and Woolwich. During the early 20th century Kingston, Croydon and Bromley merged into the spreading city, and Greater London was created in 1965. Today the area covers all or parts of 12 boroughs, from Bexley in the east to Richmond in the west.
Getting around remains distinctive. Difficult ground has kept most of the Underground north of the river, so South London depends on an extensive overground rail network, and every one of London's trams runs within it. Cheaper modern tunnelling has revived hopes for new lines, including the proposed Crossrail 2 and extensions to the Northern and Bakerloo lines.
Source: South London
