South Bank

On Monday we had administrative things to do on campus in the morning--getting our student IDs (good for concessions at places that charged admission), being briefed on safety procedures, things of that nature--and a general introductory talk.  In the evening there was a welcome party of a multitude of good British finger foods in the department's graduate common room, and the hours between were free to help us get over our jetlag.  For my part, I hurried off to the Underground to make my way to London Bridge station, on the south side of the Thames.

Southwark is one of London's boroughs, of which there are 32 (not counting the City of London, a strange beast with its own rules in many regards); of those 32 there are 12 Inner and 20 Outer boroughs, and Southwark is among the former, making it part of the core of historic London.  The borough is home to landmarks like the Globe Theatre, the Tate Modern, the Shard, and Borough Market.  Not far from the theatre is a replica of the Golden Hind, Sir Francis Drake's ship that sailed all the way to California during Elizabeth I's reign.  The ship is tucked into a small dock at St Mary Overie.  Golden Hinde II is parked between a few buildings and next to a pub, and may be toured for a fee.  In my brief perusal of it I was struck by how awful a position it's in for good photos, since the buildings around it must cast awkward shadows over it during much of the day, but more importantly how small it is.  I can't imagine that circumnavigating the Earth in a ship only 120 feet long was much of a picnic.

My main goal in Southwark was to visit the cathedral.  One of the first things I saw on the grounds was a monument to a Mohegan chief, Mahomet Weyonomon, who traveled to London to petition King George II for the return of his tribe's lands.  While awaiting an audience Mahomet died and was buried near the cathedral, then outside of the city boundaries. 

Though Westminster Abbey has Poets' Corner, one might argue that Southwark Cathedral has more authentic ties to some of the writers who founded English literature.  The cathedral includes a monument to Shakespeare, a sometime congregant, in which he lounges before a relief of the area's skyline, and the tomb of medieval author John Gower.  There are also stained glass windows with scenes from famous works, including the Canterbury Tales, and some of the stalls in the choir are named for authors associated with the area.  As if all of this literary glory isn't enough, the cathedral was also the site of the baptism in the 17th century of a boy named John Harvard.  A photocopy of the page that records the event hangs outside the chapel named after him, given by grateful alumni of his college in the other Cambridge.

Once again, the question of 'What makes a building mediæval?' reared its head on this trip, since castles and cathedrals especially often went through several stages of development.  I suppose the most accurate wording would be to call these things buildings that originated in the Middle Ages, but brevity's sake demands less precision.  I bring this up because several elements of Southwark Cathedral aren't mediæval, from the aforementioned Harvard Chapel to much of the stained glass--though it seems more common to see replacement than original stained glass anyway.  The eastern end of the cathedral features a few modern windows, including one commissioned to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012.  It was designed by Leifur Breidfjord.  When the sun shone through it, it was especially beautiful.

The cathedral's grounds now include a café, gift shop, and conference centre in modern buildings.  The corridor between the old and new is covered a glass roof.  At its far end is a space where some excavation work was done, and labels point out everything from the Roman paving to the 19th-century lead pipe.

Near Borough Market you might notice a wall with the tracery of a rose window just below its jagged top.  I say might, because despite the rose window hanging out in the middle of nothing, you might also miss it while you're looking at other stuff.  This wall, along with some adjoining bits and the garden below, is what remains of the Palace of Winchester, once home to the area's bishops.  It's odd to see the window devoid of glass, and the stonework of the wall so much older than the surrounding ones.  The garden looks to be fairly new; I hope they've planted kitchen herbs and vegetables appropriate to the original building's time period. 

London Bridge has good views up and down the river; it might not be the best place from which to photograph Tower Bridge, though, because HMS Belfast is anchored between the two.  I thought of Neverwhere a lot while I was in London, from looking for signs of a floating market on the Belfast to expecting to hear Neil Gaiman's voice over the loudspeakers telling Underground passengers to mind the gap.

Instead of taking the Underground back the same way I came, I decided to cross the river and catch a train on the north side.  Using the Millennium Bridge was the obvious choice; I believe it's the only pedestrian-only bridge in the area, and it's so distinctive.  From either side it's difficult to see the bridge against the larger ones behind it, giving it an insubstantial feel.  The bridge lines up almost perfectly with St Paul's Cathedral on the north side of the Thames, so that the dome is framed between the buildings on either side as you approach.  It makes one wonder why there was no bridge in that location before.

Though I didn't know it at the time, it turns out that in searching for a Tube stop whose line would take me close to UCL I walked through Vintry Ward, where Chaucer was born.  I arrived at our party only a few minutes late and very satisfied with my afternoon's exploration.