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Meeting Point for the start of the walk
Well loved pub with decent food and good ales. It takes its name from the Beehive Tea Gardens and was adjacent to the Montpelier Cricket Club. On the 9th and 10th of August 1796, a cricket match took place here between a team of one-legged pensioners and a team of their one-armed counterparts. The two teams were drawn from among war veterans at the Greenwich Hospital, and the match between them was arranged by two "noble lords" who had a bet of 1000 guineas on the outcome. The one-legged Greenwich Pensioners (93 and 104) defeated their One Armed counterparts (41 and 53) by 103 runs. A note in Frederick Lillywhite's "Scores and Biographies" adds: "This match is inserted merely as a curiosity, and to show that such matches were played even at this early period. It afterwards came off at different times at the Beehive, Walworth, Kennington Oval, etc, but the scores are not inserted in this book because not of sufficient merit."

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Edward Cross moved his menagerie from the Strand to Walworth in 1831. Among the novelties, 5 African giraffes were displayed here, the first to be seen in public in England. A model of them is in the Cuming Museum.

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The Cuming Museum is home to the rich and unusual collection of the Cuming family and a museum of Southwark's history. Henry Syer Cuming left the collection when he died in 1902. His will stated that "My Museum illustrative of Natural Hisory, Archaeology and Ethnology with my coins and medals and along with all other curios" be exhibited in "a suitable and spacious gallery or apartments...in connection with Newington Public Library".

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but moved away in his childhood

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The Cuming Museum has some Faraday family items and the memorial Library set in up 1927 is now in the Southwark Local Stuides Library.

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In the 18th century, the land here belonged to the Temple West family. The earliest surviving houses in the square date from 1794, when the garden was laid out. The garden now consists of four segments of lawn with three old mulberry trees and rose beds. It is surrounded by plane trees and enclosed by railings with entrance gates north and south and a through path.


John Newlands was born here on 26th November 1837. He was educated by his father at home rather than at school then studied for a year (1856) at the Royal College of Chemistry which is now part of Imperial College London. Later he worked at an agricultural college trying to find patterns of behaviour in organic chemistry. Four years later Mendeleev, unaware of Newlands' ideas, formulated an improved Periodic Table which gained acceptance, particularly because he left spaces for undiscovered elements, some of which were soon found with properties he predicted. As the Periodic Table became accepted, Newlands, understandably, claimed its first publication. However the Chemical Society disredited him until 1884 when he was invited to give a lecture on the Periodic Law. However its full recognition of his discovery waited until 1998, the centenary of his death, when the Royal Society of Chemistry oversaw the placing of a blue commemorative plaque on the wall of his birthplace.

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Excellent Boozer - the multiple award winning sole Harveys pub in London.

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The discovery in early 2004 of one of the most important Roman inscriptions found in London, famed for its reference to 'Londoners'. Archaeologists have found what looks like a major religious complex, complete with two Romano-Celtic temples, a “pilgrims' rest-house”, and a wealth of apparent offerings, including an unopened pot of moisturising cream.

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The Museum is found the roof-space in St. Thomas's Church - built by Wren's master mason Thomas Cartwright. Britain's oldest surviving Operating Theatre has been restored with much original furniture, including a 19th Century operating table.

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Originally erected in 1771, travellers could find the direction and distance from Westminster, Fleet Street and London Bridge inscribed on 3 sides. It had lights hanging from each corner so it could be seen and read at night.

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A refuge booth, one of several erected on the Bridge pavements after the widening in 1760, is preserved in the quadrangle of Guys Hospital, having survived the 1831 demolition.

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1897 was the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, and there is a whole cluster of buildings from that date in this area. The Guinness Trust was a housing block to built to re-house people living in unsanitary conditions . The buildings have flat roofs. The horseshoe pub round the corner from these buildings was also built in the same year.

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The London City Mission was built on the base on the bombed church. On the west of this site was the St Olave’s Workhouse

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Grim and imposing, the now abandoned hotel has unhappy recent history. It is due to be demolished soon, as part of the E&C redevelopment.

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To the north of Kennington Park
(between Braganza Street and
Penton Place) stood Surrey’s
zoological gardens, where
throughout the Victorian era lions,
giraffes, elephants and alligators
roamed in enclosures amidst
amusement stalls and concert
halls. The only remains of this
are the name of the Giraffe pub
on Penton Place (currently being
demolished) and the eccentric
street lay-out of Doddington
Grove – this wide road – bounded
by botanical gardens was once
part of the avenue approach to
the zoo.

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According to SE1 Forums... "Interestingly www.southlondonguide.co.uk/walworth/history.htm says that part of Penton Place was built over part of the old Surrey Gardens Music Hall in 1873, but this site: http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Surreyhall.htm shows that Penton Place did exist in part beforehand as there was an entrance to the hall when it existed"

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The Metropolitan Tabernacle was built for the ministry of Charles Spurgeon in 1861 and was dedicated on March 18. The church has a long history dating back to about 1650. The Tabernacle moved to this site because of its prominent location. It is also believed to be the site of the burning of the Southwark Martyrs. The Tabernacle left the Baptist Union in 1887 because of theological liberalism. The building burnt down in 1898 with only the portico and basement surviving. It burnt down again after being hit by a incendiary bomb in May 1941. The portico and basement survived again and it reopened in 1957. Worship services, Sunday School and many other activities continue to this day. The Auckland Baptist Tabernacle in New Zealand is modelled on the Metropolitan Tabernacle and was constructed when Thomas Spurgeon (a son of Charles Spurgeon) was the minister.

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Read the 3rd post in the thread linked above for a fascinating glimpse into the fates of the 'Winchester Geese'

This is a MUST READ

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Bankside was the centre of London’s brewing industry from the 17th century onwards. The Hop Exchange, opened in 1867 and designed by R.H Moore, stands on Southwark Street with carvings above the main entrance showing hop gatherers at work.

Dried hops, harvested in the fields of Kent by hundreds of Southwark families, were brought to either London Bridge Station or by river. The Exchange provided hop growers, merchants and dealers with a single market centre, and it had a glass roof to allow potential buyers to view the hops by natural light.

Extensive damage to the Hop Exchange was caused by fire in 1920 leading to the two upper floors being removed and the rest restored as offices.