Bermondsey

Bermondsey may be understood to mean Beornmund{{'}}s island; but, while Beornmund represents an Old English personal name, identifying an individual once associated with the place, the element "-ey" represents Old English eg, for "island", "piece of firm land in a fen", or simply a "place by a stream or river". Thus Bermondsey need not have been an island as such in the Anglo-Saxon period, and is as likely to have been a higher, drier spot in an otherwise marshy area.Ekwall, E., The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names, 4th edn., Oxford University Press, 1960, pp. 39, 161 (for "eg"). Though Bermondsey's earliest written appearance is in the Domesday Book of 1086, it also appears in a source which, though surviving only in a copy written at Peterborough Abbey in the 12th century, claiming "ancient rights" unproven purporting to be a transcription of a letter of Pope Constantine (708–715), in which he grants privileges to a monastery at Vermundesei, then in the hands of the abbot of Medeshamstede, as Peterborough was known at the time.See e.g. Stenton, F.M., 'Medeshamstede and its Colonies', in Stenton, D.M. (ed.), Preparatory to Anglo-Saxon England Being the Collected Papers of Frank Merry Stenton, Oxford University Press, 1970, and Blair, J., 'Frithuwold's kingdom and the origins of Surrey', in Bassett, S. (ed.), The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, Leicester University Press, 1989.

File:Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder - Festival at Bermondsey.png, with the Tower of London in the distance at left.]]

Bermondsey appears in the Domesday Book as Bermundesy and Bermundesye, in the Hundred of Brixton within the County of Surrey.[https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ3479/bermondsey/ Open Domesday Online: Bermondsey], accessed January 2020. It was then held by King William, though a small part was in the hands of Robert, Count of Mortain, the king's half brother, and younger brother of Odo of Bayeux, then earl of Kent. Its Domesday assets were recorded as including 13 hides, 'a new and handsome church', 5 ploughs, {{convert|20|acre|ha|abbr=off|0}} of meadow, and woodland for 5 pigs. It rendered £15 in total. It also included interests in London, in respect of which 13 burgesses paid 44d (£0.18).Williams, A. & Martin, G.H. (eds.), Domesday Book A Complete Translation, Penguin, 2002, pp. 72, 80.

The church mentioned in Domesday Book was presumably the nascent Bermondsey Abbey, which was founded as a Cluniac priory in 1082, and was dedicated to St Saviour. Monks from the abbey began the development of the area, cultivating the land and embanking the riverside. They turned an adjacent tidal inlet at the mouth of the River Neckinger into a dock, named St Saviour's Dock after their abbey. But Bermondsey then was little more than a high street ribbon (the modern Bermondsey Street), leading from the southern bank of the Thames, at Tooley Street, up to the abbey close.

The Knights Templar also owned land here and gave their names to one of the most distinctive streets in London: Shad Thames (a corruption of "St John at Thames"). Other ecclesiastical properties stood nearby at Tooley Street (a corruption of "St Olave's"), owned by the priors of Lewes, St Augustine's, and Canterbury, as well as the abbot of Battle.{{Cite book |last=Weinreb |first=Ben |url=http://archive.org/details/londonencycloped00ias |title=The London encyclopedia |date=1986 |publisher=Bethesda, MD : Adler & Adler |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-917561-07-8}} These properties are located within the Archbishop of Canterbury's manor of Southwark, where wealthy citizens and clerics had their houses.

King Edward III built a manor house close to the Thames in Bermondsey in 1353. The excavated foundations are visible next to Bermondsey Wall East, close to the famous Angel public house.Staff. [http://stage.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.8932 The London Borough of Southwark] English Heritage. ([https://archive.today/20110827210311/http://stage.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.8932 cached]) "This page provides an overview of the Borough's fascinating archaeology..."

File:AlaskaBuildingsBermondsey.jpg

As it developed over the centuries, Bermondsey underwent some striking changes. After the Great Fire of London, it was settled by the well-to-do, and took on the character of a garden suburb especially along the line of Grange Road and Bermondsey Wall East as it became more urbanised. A pleasure garden was constructed during the Restoration period in the 17th century, commemorated by the Cherry Garden Pier. Samuel Pepys once visited here.

A rare surviving building from this period is St Mary Magdalen Church in Bermondsey Street, completed in 1690 (although a church has been recorded on this site from the 13th century). This church survived the 19th-century redevelopment phase and the Blitz unscathed. It is an unusual survivor for Bermondsey as buildings of this period are relative rarities in Inner London in general.

In the 18th century, the discovery of a spring from the river Neckinger in the area led to the development of Bermondsey Spa, as the area between Grange and Jamaica Roads called Spa Road commemorates.[http://bermondsey.org/bermondsey-spa-gardens/ Bermondsey Spa Gardens], Sean Spurr, Bermondsey.org, Accessed 5 August 2012 A new church was built for the growing population of the area, and named St John Horsleydown.

File:Former Municipal Buildings, Spa Road (geograph 4986924).jpg]]

Bermondsey was one of London's major industrial centres.{{Cite book |last=Sheppard |first=Francis H. W. |title=London 1808-1870: the Infernal Wen |date=2022 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-32920-1 |location=Berkeley |pages=161}} It was the chief centre for the leather trade and tannery industry, food processing and manufacture, and the heart of the provisions trade in London. Colloquially the area has been known as "larder of London", "biscuits town", and the "land of leather" reflecting the influence of these industries. While many of these industries have declined, their factories, warehouses and wharfs, and institutions remain significant in the area's built heritage and local landmarks, and are reflected in street and building names.

It was from the Bermondsey riverside that the painter J. M. W. Turner executed his famous painting of The Fighting "Temeraire" Tugged to her Last Berth to be Broken Up (1839), depicting the veteran warship being towed to Rotherhithe to be scrapped.

By the mid-19th century factories sprang up, most notably the landmark factories of Alaska Factory (originally opened by fur merchants C.W. Martin & Sons Ltd in 1869 for the processing of the Alaskan sealskin fur), Salt, cheese and Hartley's Jam. Parts of Bermondsey, especially along the riverside, had become notorious slums with the arrival of industrial plants, docks and immigrant housing. The area around St. Saviour's Dock, known as Jacob's Island, was considered one of the worst slums in London. It was immortalised in Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist, in which the villain, Bill Sikes, meets his end in the mud of 'Folly Ditch', in reference to Hickman's Folly, which surrounded Jacob's Island.{{Cite news|url=http://www.danceshistoricalmiscellany.com/filth-disease-dickens-jacobs-island-london-slum/|title=Filth, disease and Dickens: Jacob's Island, a London slum|last=Dance|first=Caecilia|date=10 November 2013|work=Dances Historical Miscellany|access-date=4 August 2018|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.hsomerville.com/meccano/Articles/JacobsIsland.htm|title=Jacob's Island|last=Somerville|first=Howard|website=Howard Somerville's MECCANO Site|access-date=4 August 2018}} Dickens provides a vivid description of what it was like:{{Cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/730/730-h/730-h.htm|title=Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress|last=Dickens|first=Charles|year=1996|chapter=Chapter 50: The Pursuit and Escape|via=Project Gutenberg}}

{{Blockquote|text=... crazy wooden galleries common to the backs of half a dozen houses, with holes from which to look upon the slime beneath; windows, broken and patched, with poles thrust out, on which to dry the linen that is never there; rooms so small, so filthy, so confined, that the air would seem to be too tainted even for the dirt and squalor which they shelter; wooden chambers thrusting themselves out above the mud and threatening to fall into it—as some have done; dirt-besmeared walls and decaying foundations, every repulsive lineament of poverty, every loathsome indication of filth, rot, and garbage: all these ornament the banks of Jacob's Island.}}

Bermondsey vestry hall was built on Spa Road in 1881 but was severely damaged by bombing during the Blitz in 1941. It was demolished soon thereafter.{{Cite web |title=Search Research Reports {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/ |access-date=10 February 2024 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}} The original vestry hall was extended to create the Bermondsey Town Hall in 1930. The area was extensively redeveloped during the 19th century and early 20th century with the expansion of the river trade and the arrival of the railways. London's first passenger railway terminus was built by the London to Greenwich Railway in 1836 at London Bridge. The first section to be used was between the Spa Road Station and Deptford High Street. This local station had closed by 1915.

File:London Leather, Hide & Wool Exchange.jpg

The industrial boom of the 19th century was an extension of Bermondsey's manufacturing role in earlier eras. As in the East End, industries that were deemed too noisome to be carried on within the narrow confines of the City of London had been located here – one such that came to dominate central Bermondsey, away from the riverfront, was the processing and trading of leather and hides. Many of the warehouse buildings from this era survive around Bermondsey Street, Tanner Street, Morocco Street and Leathermarket Street including the huge Leather Market of 1833 and the Leather, Hide and Wool Exchange of 1878; virtually all are now residential and small work spaces or offices. Hepburn and Gale's tannery (disused as of early 2007) on Long Lane is also a substantial surviving building of the leather trade. The Exchange building had a fine private club, effectively a gentlemen's club for the leading merchants and manufacturers. In 1703 they had acquired a royal charter from Queen Anne to gain a monopoly of trading and training of apprentices for within {{convert|30|mi|km|sigfig=1|abbr=off}} of the ancient parish, similar to a City livery company, the Bermondsey tanners.

Peek, Frean and Co was established in 1857 at Dockhead, Bermondsey by James Peek and George Hender Frean. They moved to a larger plant in Clements Road in 1866, leading to the nickname 'Biscuit Town' for Bermondsey, where they continued baking until the brand was discontinued in 1989.{{cite web | title =Peek Frean's Biscuit Factory – The location of the old sweet smelling biscuit factory! | publisher =The Shady Old Lady | url =http://www.shadyoldlady.com/location.php?loc=764 | access-date =27 February 2012 }}[http://www.shadyoldlady.com/location.php?loc=764 Peek Frean's Biscuit Factory in Bermondsey, London]{{cite web | last =Hibbert | first =Colette | title =Biscuit factory makes 'comeback' | publisher =BBC News | date =8 February 2005 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4213787.stm | access-date =27 February 2012 }}[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4213787.stm Biscuit Factory Makes 'Comeback', BBC News, 8 Feb 2005]{{cite web | title =Bermondsey blue plaques | work =Blue Plaques | publisher =Southwark Council | url =http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200160/blue_plaques/2201/bermondsey_blue_plaques/1 | access-date =27 February 2012 }}

Bermondsey, specifically Blue Anchor Lane, was also the location of the world's first food canning business, established in 1812, by Donkin, Hall and Gamble.{{cite book|last1=Greenland|first1=Maureen|last2=Day|first2=Russ|title=Bryan Donkin: The Very Civil Engineer, 1768–1855|date=2016|publisher=Phillimore Book Publishing|location=England|isbn=978-0-9934680-1-8}}{{cite book | last = Robertson | first = Gordon L. | title = Food Packaging: Principles and Practice | publisher = CRC Press | year = 2005 | pages = 123 | isbn = 0-8493-3775-5}}

File:Bermondsey and Rotherhithe War Memorial.jpg.]]

During the Napoleonic Wars volunteer units were formed for home defence, including the 'Old' and 'New' Bermondsey Volunteers (existing in 1799)Major R. Money Barnes, The Soldiers of London, London: Seeley Service, 1963, Appendices. and the Rotherhithe Volunteers in 1803.War Office, A List of the Officers of the Militia, the Gentlemen & Yeomanry Cavalry, and Volunteer Infantry of the United Kingdom, 11th Edn, London: War Office, 14 October 1805/Uckfield: Naval and Military Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-84574-207-2. After another invasion scare, the 10th (Bermondsey) and 23rd (Rotherhithe) Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps were formed in 1860–61. Together they became a volunteer battalion of the Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) in 1883, with its drill hall in Jamaica Road. When the Territorial Force was created in 1908 this became the 22nd Battalion, London Regiment (Queen's).Ray Westlake, Tracing the Rifle Volunteers: A Guide for Military and Family Historians, Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2010, ISBN 978-1-84884-211-3, pp. 230–2.[https://www.steppingforwardlondon.org/22nd-county-of-london-battalion-the-london-regiment-the-queens.html '22nd Londons' at Stepping Forward: A Tribute to the Volunteer Military Reservists and Supporting Auxiliaries of Greater London.][https://www.steppingforwardlondon.org/400213.html 'Drill Halls' at Stepping Forward.] After the outbreak of World War I in 1914 it expanded to three battalions, of which the 1/22nd served on the Western Front and the 2/22nd in Palestine.

Following the success of the recruitment campaign for 'Kitchener's Army' in 1914, Lord Kitchener asked the mayors of the Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London if they could raise more 'Pals battalions' drawn from their localities. Despite Bermondsey already supporting the 22nd Londons, the Mayor and Borough Council agreed to form another infantry battalion, which became the 12th (Service) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment (Bermondsey). The men wore the coat of arms of Bermondsey as their collar badge. A number of them were recruited from the 'Black Hand Gang', a notorious Bermondsey street gang of the era, and they proved so skilful at Trench raiding that 'Black Hand Gang' became a nickname for the whole battalion. It served on the Western Front: when the first tanks went into action at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette on 15 September 1916, an aircraft saw the 12th East Surreys following one to attack the village and sent back the famous report: 'A tank is walking down the high street of Flers with the British Army cheering behind'.J. Aston & L.M. Duggan, The History of the 12th (Bermondsey) Battalion East Surrey Regiment , Union Press, 1936/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-845742-75-1.

After World War I, the 12th East Surreys were disbanded and the 22nd Londons were reformed in the Territorial Army (TA). The London Regiment was abolished in 1937 and the battalion reverted to being the 6th (Bermondsey) Battalion, The Queen's. During World War II it again formed a second battalion, and both served in the Battle of France and North Africa. The 1/6th was at the Battle of Alamein and then served with the 7th Armoured Division (the 'Desert Rats') in Italy and North West Europe, while the 2/6th were with the 56th (London) Division in Italy.Lt-Col H.F. Joslen, Orders of Battle, United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939–1945, London: HM Stationery Office, 1960/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, ISBN 1-843424-74-6, pp. 282–3, 316–7, 570. In 1961 the 6th Queen's amalgamated with the other TA battalions of the Queen's Regiment.

File:Courage Brewery, Horseleydown - geograph.org.uk - 1411712.jpg, 1971]]

To the east of Tower Bridge, Bermondsey's {{convert|3+1/2|mi|km|1|abbr=on}} of riverside were lined with warehouses and wharves, of which the best known is Butler's Wharf. They suffered severe damage in World War II bombing and became redundant in the 1960s following the collapse of the river trade. After standing derelict for some years, many of the wharves were redeveloped under the aegis of the London Docklands Development Corporation during the 1980s. They have now been converted into a mixture of residential and commercial accommodations and have become some of the most upmarket and expensive properties in London. In 1997, US President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair visited the area to dine at the Le Pont de la Tour restaurant at Butler's Wharf.

At the same time more everyday housing was constructed in the areas north of the Old Kent Road, including several council estates.

File:Bermondsey fashion museum 1.jpg

Bermondsey was served by London's first railway, from Spa Road railway station, as part of the London Bridge to Greenwich line, and the junction of lines from Croydon and Kent at South Bermondsey. However, reorganisation of lines and temporary closure of stations left Bermondsey's transport links with the rest of London poorer in the late Twentieth Century. This was improved in 2000 with the opening of Bermondsey Underground station on the London Underground's Jubilee Line Extension and the East London Line extension as part of the London Overground.

The Blue serves as the central market place for Bermondsey as a whole.

Wee Willie Harris, known as "Britain's wild man of rock 'n' roll", came from Bermondsey[http://www.rockabillyeurope.com/artists/weewillieharris.htm Wee Willie Harris, Rockin' At The Two I's] and had worked as a pudding mixer at Peek Freans.{{cite book

| first= John

| last= Tobler

| year= 1992

| title= NME Rock 'N' Roll Years

| edition= 1st

| publisher= Reed International Books Ltd

| location= London

| page= 49

| id= CN 5585}} He is usually credited as the first British rock and roll player.R. Unterberger, [{{AllMusic|class=explore|id=essay/|pure_url=yes}} "British Rock & Roll Before the Beatles"], AllMusic retrieved 24 July 1209.

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The first 'Bermondsey' is that known as the location of an Anglo-Saxon monastery, and known from later charters to be the area around the post-Conquest Bermondsey Abbey and its manor, which was in turn part of the medieval parish. References in the Parliamentary Rolls describe it as "in Southwark".[en Bermondeshey en Southwark entry 1381- 82 referring to location of a tenement in Rotuli Parliamentorum III, 130: and in John Stow's Survey of London II, 142, 66–68 he describes St Mary Magdalen Church, Bermondsey as lying in the borough of Southwarke] A later, Victorian civil parish of Bermondsey did not include Rotherhithe or St Olave's; this was the arrangement under the Metropolis Management Act 1855. The Southwark parishes of St Olave's and St John's Horsleydown (the latter a 'daughter' of the former) with St Thomas's formed a parish union ('District Board of Works') known as 'St Olave's' from that date. This was the arrangement within the London County from 1889. In 1899 St Olave and St Thomas's District was created as a single civil parish and the next year, following London government reorganisation, this was merged with Rotherhithe and part of Deptford to form, with Bermondsey civil parish, the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey. The Borough's first Mayor was Samuel Bourne Bevington (1832–1907), leather producer and one of the area's largest employers; his statue still stands in Tooley Street.Farrell, Jerome: Big in Bermondsey: Colonel Sam Bevington, in the Leathersellers' Review, 2009–10, pp 16–17 This borough was incorporated into the London Borough of Southwark, in the Greater London reorganisation of 1965. For elections to the Greater London Council, Bermondsey was part of the Southwark electoral division until 1973 and then the Bermondsey electoral division until 1986.{{cite web |last1=Boothroyd |first1=David |title=Greater London Council Election results: Southwark |url=http://www.election.demon.co.uk/glc/glcsw.html |website=United Kingdom Election Results |access-date=17 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324195057/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/glc/glcsw.html |archive-date=24 March 2016}}

File:Bermondsey Met. B Ward Map 1916.svg

Southwark London Borough Council has divided the borough into a number of community council areas. The wards of London Bridge and West Bermondsey, North Bermondsey and South Bermondsey form the Bermondsey Community Council area.{{ cite web |url=http://www.southwark.gov.uk/YourCouncil/communitycouncils/YourCommunityCouncil/Bermondsey.html |title=Welcome to your Bermondsey Community Council |publisher=Southwark London Borough Council |access-date=3 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090810042451/http://www.southwark.gov.uk/YourCouncil/communitycouncils/YourCommunityCouncil/Bermondsey.html |archive-date=10 August 2009 }}

Bermondsey's parliamentary representation has fluctuated with its population. Since at least the 13th century, it had formed part of the Surrey County seat until the 1868 Reform Act when it became part of Southwark constituency. From 1885 to 1918, a separate Bermondsey constituency existed, which included part of the older Southwark constituency. 1918 saw the seat split between two new constituencies: Rotherhithe and Bermondsey West, both of which were in place until the 1950 general election when the old Bermondsey seat was recreated.

In 1983, the area played host to a famous Bermondsey by-election in which Labour's Peter Tatchell lost the previously safe Labour seat to the Liberal Simon Hughes on a swing of 44%, which remains the largest by-election swing in British political history.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/25/simonhughes |title=Guardian Simon Hughes |work=The Guardian |access-date=25 March 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140510060351/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/25/simonhughes |archive-date=10 May 2014 }} Hughes represented the area until 2015 when he was defeated by the Labour candidate Neil Coyle. At the 1983 general election that took place several months after the by-election, a new Southwark and Bermondsey constituency was created, becoming North Southwark and Bermondsey in 1997, and in 2010 Bermondsey and Old Southwark (although a small part of south east Bermondsey is transferred to Camberwell and Peckham in the 2010 changes).

Millwall Football Club was originally formed in 1885, in Millwall on the Isle of Dogs, East London. They retained the name, even though they moved across the river to New Cross, South East London in 1910. In 1993 they moved to their current stadium, The Den. The team has a strong local following, but has never been based in Bermondsey. The stadium lies right on the border of Southwark, but falls under the Borough of Lewisham. The nearest railway station is at South Bermondsey, which is a five-minute walk away.

File:MandelaWayT34.jpg]]

File:Church of Saint James, Bermondsey (Southwest View - 03).jpg

• Maltby Street Market
• Bermondsey antiques market
• Fashion and Textile Museum
• Shad Thames
• Mandela Way T-34 Tank
• Miloco Studios
• Bermondsey Spa Gardens
• Kagyu Samye Dzong, Tibetan Buddhist Centre
• Millwall F.C.
• The Shard
• London Bridge
• HMS Belfast
• Rouel Road{{cite web| url = http://www.net-trix.net/wikiproject/maps.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120426003951/http://www.net-trix.net/wikiproject/maps.html| archive-date = 26 April 2012| title = Untitled Document}}
• Tower Bridge

• City of London
• Whitechapel
• Borough
• Peckham
• Canary Wharf
• Deptford
• Poplar
• Rotherhithe
• New Cross
• Wapping
• Camberwell
• Walworth

File:Violet Alice Tritton Drinking Fountain, Bermondsey (I).jpg

There are several railway stations in and around Bermondsey. Bermondsey is in London Zone 2, but nearby London Bridge and Borough stations are in travelcard Zone 1. Oyster Cards can be used for travel from stations in Bermondsey to other stations in the London region.

The Jubilee line passes through Bermondsey, calling at Bermondsey and Canada Water stations. London Bridge station on the Jubilee and Northern lines, and Borough on the Northern line are also nearby.

The Jubilee line provides a direct link from Bermondsey to Canary Wharf and Stratford in London's East End, and to Waterloo, the West End, Baker Street and north west London towards Willesden and Stanmore. The Northern line from London Bridge links the area to Kennington, Clapham and Morden in the south west. Northbound services travel through the City of London, King's Cross St Pancras and Camden Town, towards Edgware or High Barnet.{{Cite web|url=http://content.tfl.gov.uk/london-rail-and-tube-services-map.pdf|title=London's Rail & Tube Services|website=Transport for London (TfL)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228202323/http://content.tfl.gov.uk/london-rail-and-tube-services-map.pdf|archive-date=28 February 2019}}

The East London line, South London line and South Eastern Main Line all pass through Bermondsey, providing frequent rail connections to Central London and South East England.

London Bridge is the busiest station in the locale, and fourth busiest station in the UK, with 48.5 million passenger entries and exits in 2017–18.{{Cite web|url=https://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/image/0009/39951/station-usage-2017-18-top-10-gb-stations.png|title=Top 10 stations in Great Britain|website=Office of Rail & Road|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407173206/https://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/image/0009/39951/station-usage-2017-18-top-10-gb-stations.png|archive-date=7 April 2019}} Services from London Bridge are provided by Southeastern, Thameslink and Southern. London Bridge connects Bermondsey directly to destinations in Central London, including Waterloo, Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Farringdon and St Pancras International. Beyond London, trains travel direct to Gatwick and Luton airports, and destinations including Bedford, Brighton, Cambridge, Dover, Peterborough and Sevenoaks.

South Bermondsey is served by Southern trains from London Bridge to South London, with direct connections to Beckenham Junction, Crystal Palace and Croydon.

Rotherhithe, Canada Water and Surrey Quays are all served by London Overground trains. These stations link Bermondsey with Dalston and Highbury & Islington to the north. To the south, Bermondsey is linked directly to New Cross, West Croydon, Crystal Palace, and Clapham Junction.

Queens Road Peckham & Peckham Rye stations, just south of Bermondsey, Peckham Rye is also an interchange served by London Overground, Southeastern, Thameslink and Southern, with direct trains to London Victoria. While Queens Road Peckham station is in-between Peckham Rye and South Bermondsey stations providing London Overground and Southern services.

London Buses routes 1; 42; 47; 78; 188; 381; C10 and P12 and night routes N1; N47; N199 and N381 all serve the Bermondsey and South Bermondsey area.

Several of London's arterial routes pass through Bermondsey, including:

• the A100 (Tower Bridge Road) – the London Inner Ring Road towards the City and Tower Bridge;
• the A101 (Rotherhithe Tunnel) – to Limehouse, Canary Wharf, the A13 and destinations in Essex;
• the A2 (Great Dover Street/Old Kent Road) – to the M25, destinations in Kent and the Channel Tunnel;
• the A200 (Jamaica Road/Lower Road) – to London Bridge and Deptford;
• the A202 (New Kent Road) – the London Inner Ring Road towards Elephant & Castle and the A3;
• the A2206 (Southwark Park Road);
• the A2208 (Rotherhithe New Road).

Bricklayer's Arms is a busy road junction between the London Inner Ring Road (A100/A202) and the A2, where routes from London Bridge meet with routes towards the East End, Surrey and Kent.

The southern portal of the Rotherhithe Tunnel (A101) is in Bermondsey. The Tunnel was completed in 1908 and carries vehicle traffic from Bermondsey directly to the East End. In 2003, the Tunnel was rated the tenth most dangerous tunnel in Europe, owing in parts to its age and lack of safety features.{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2970901.stm|title=UK's 'dangerous' road tunnels|date=24 April 2003|access-date=8 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114185308/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2970901.stm|archive-date=14 January 2018|language=en-GB}}

The London Borough of Southwark maintains most roads, particularly residential streets, but Transport for London (TfL) manages certain routes: the A100; the A101 (Rotherhithe Tunnel); the A2; the A200; the A202.{{Cite web|url=http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-base-map-master.pdf|title=TfL Base Map – Master|website=Transport for London (TfL)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219015547/http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-base-map-master.pdf|archive-date=19 February 2018}}

The local authority say that vehicle exhaust fumes are the main source of air pollution in Southwark.{{Cite web|url=https://www.southwark.gov.uk/environment/air-quality/the-main-causes-of-air-pollution|title=The main causes of air pollution|website=Southwark Council|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408123439/https://www.southwark.gov.uk/environment/air-quality/the-main-causes-of-air-pollution|archive-date=8 April 2019}} Roadside air pollution levels are monitored by the local authority in Bermondsey.{{Cite web|url=https://www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/7491/Nitrogen%20Dioxide%20data%202012%20-%202017.xlsx|title=Nitrogen Dioxide Data, 2012-2017|website=Southwark Council|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408125304/https://www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/7491/Nitrogen%20Dioxide%20data%202012%20-%202017.xlsx|archive-date=8 April 2019}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20190408125304/https://www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/7491/Nitrogen%20Dioxide%20data%202012%20-%202017.xlsx Results] from 2017 suggest that Bermondsey has some of the highest nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) levels in the Borough. NO₂ concentration was particularly high near the Rotherhithe Tunnel, along Jamaica Road and on Old Kent Road:

All the above sites failed to meet national air quality objectives.{{Cite web|url=https://www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/7490/Air%20Quality%20Annual%20Status%20Report%202017.pdf|title=Air Quality Annual Status Report, 2017|website=Southwark Council|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408130636/https://www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/7490/Air%20Quality%20Annual%20Status%20Report%202017.pdf|archive-date=8 April 2019}}

A monitoring site on Old Kent Road registered an annual mean 22 μg/m-3 in 2017 for PM10 (particulates often found in exhaust), which meets national air quality objectives.

Bermondsey is well connected to the London and National Cycle networks, with several signed routes passing through the area. With several routes passing through Bermondsey, cycling infrastructure is maintained by both Transport for London (TfL) and Southwark Council. Most routes run through Bermondsey in an east–west direction.

Santander Cycles bicycle sharing was extended to the area in 2020 with five new docking stations, serving the Cycleway 4 route that will connect Tower Bridge and Greenwich.{{Cite web|url=https://www.southwarknews.co.uk/news/southwark-locations-santander-cycles-boris-bikes/|title=Find a docking station|website=Transport for London|language=en|access-date=8 April 2019}}

• List of people from Southwark
• List of schools in Southwark
• Bermondsey Market

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20031207165455/http://southwark.gov.uk/YourCommunity/Bermondsey/ Southwark London Borough Council – Bermondsey]

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{{Areas of London}}

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Category:Areas of London

Category:Districts of London on the River Thames

Category:Districts of the London Borough of Southwark

Category:Port of London