Bermondsey

a traditionally working-class area of south-east London, on the south bank of the Thames near Tower Bridge, where formerly many people worked in the docks, loading and unloading ships. The character of the area has changed and the old dock buildings have been developed as expensive flats, restaurants, etc.

* * *

▪ neighbourhood, London, United Kingdom

      area in the London borough of Southwark. It is located east of Newington, southeast of London Bridge, and west of Rotherhithe. The name Bermondsey, probably meaning “dry ground in a marsh,” was first recorded (as Vermundesei) in the early 8th century AD, and it was written as Bermundesye in Domesday Book (1086).

      Bermondsey was a centre for leatherworking in the Middle Ages and was granted a virtual monopoly of the trade in 1703. A typical district of the London Docklands, it was built up into an industrial and warehousing area in the 18th and 19th centuries. After suffering large-scale destruction in the aerial bombings of World War II, it underwent residential and commercial redevelopment in the latter half of the 20th century. Bermondsey was the site of the second tunnel under the River Thames (Thames, River) (completed in 1869), and it has been a railway terminus since the 1830s. London Bridge Station stands in its northern section along with the London Dungeon, the George Inn (1677), and Guy's Hospital. Also notable is the St. Mary Magdalen Church (1680).

* * *