Southwark London England About Methodology

Southwark

From the Roman road at Borough High Street to the Victorian terraces of Camberwell, the story behind every street name in the borough.

172 streets published so far

Streets

172

Tier 1

69

Tier 2

80

Tier 3

23

Showing 172 streets

A

Abbey Street The road was cut through the standing walls of a medieval monastery in 1808 — and lo…

Addington Square A Georgian refuge named after a wartime Prime Minister, where Burgess Park and a legacy of…

Albany Road Named after a royal duke whose Scottish title stretches back to the Gaelic word for Scotla…

Albert Way A Peckham side-street most likely named after a Victorian antiquary who befriended Charles…

Albion Street Named for the oldest word ever recorded for Britain — an ancient name carrying two t…

Albrighton Road Named in 1934 after a famous fox hunt in Staffordshire, part of a distinctive cluster hono…

Alleyn Road Named after the Elizabethan actor and founder of Dulwich College, Edward Alleyn, this West…

Alsace Road A lost French province, remembered in Walworth brick — named after the territory sei…

Anchor Street Named for a brewery that stood on the ruins of Shakespeare’s Globe—where the s…

Angel Place A street erased and reborn as a churchyard path, marking the boundary of one of London&rsq…

Archdale Road Named in 1871 after a castle in distant Fermanagh, this quiet Victorian terrace reflects a…

Arnould Avenue A mid-century street named for a Camberwell-born barrister and judge, connected to Robert …

Attleborough Court Named in 1952 after the first Abbot of Bermondsey Abbey, one of three housing blocks honou…

Avonmouth Street A street renamed, its origins lost to history—transformed from Devonshire Street in …

Ayres Street A nursemaid’s heroic death in a Union Street fire left a name that has endured for n…

Aysgarth Road A Victorian street named after an English manor that briefly belonged to one of Shakespear…

B

Bank End A 65-metre street that marks the edge of London’s theatrical past—where the Globe Th…

Bankside Shakespeare built his Globe here because the Bishop of Winchester’s authority was to…

Barclay Way Named for Captain Barclay, the celebrated pedestrian who walked 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours…

Barker Way Named for an Irish painter who invented the panorama—a 360-degree spectacle that cap…

Barry Road Named for Sir Charles Barry, architect of the Houses of Parliament — developed in the 1870s–80s on East Dulwich farmland…

Bartholomew Street A Georgian terrace named after a medieval hospital, built by the hospital governors on the…

Bassano Street Named for Venetian painters at the edge of the Dulwich College estate, this Edwardian terr…

Battle Bridge Lane A medieval bridge over an abbey’s watercourse, later buried beneath Victorian wareho…

Bear Gardens A quiet cobbled alley on Bankside that preserves the name of one of Elizabethan London&rsq…

Bear Lane Shakespeare lodged yards from here in 1596 — and the bears his audiences knew by nam…

Beauval Road Named in 1894 for a Norman family whose ancestors held a French manor, this Camberwell str…

Becket Street Named for the murdered Archbishop who made Canterbury a pilgrimage destination, the street…

Bedale Street A compact market lane renamed to avoid confusion, taking its name from a Yorkshire town an…

Bergen Square Named for a Norwegian city whose timber ships once crowded the docks at Rotherhithe—…

Bermondsey Square The courtyard of a medieval abbey now pulses with Friday antiques traders and contemporary…

Bermondsey Street A thousand-year causeway built across marshland to reach a royal abbey — the oldest …

Besant Place A street named for a fearless reformer who fought for birth control, workers’ rights…

Bird in a Bush Road Once known as Carlton Street, this road was renamed in 1912 after the fields that once sur…

Black Horse Court An alley named after a historic inn that has served locals for over two centuries.

Black Swan Yard A small alleyway off Bermondsey Street hiding a celebrated speciality coffee shop, just ya…

Blackfriars Road Built as the elegant south approach to Robert Mylne’s masterwork bridge, then rename…

Blackwater Street Named in 1880 after the cottage and stream that shaped the area’s early geography.

Blue Anchor Lane The lane that named a neighbourhood — and the 18th-century tavern that started it al…

Borough High Street Before Westminster Bridge opened, this was the only road from the south into London &mdash…

Borough Road Two centuries of free education began on this street in 1798, when Joseph Lancaster opened…

Bowling Green Place A short street named after the leisured past, when Southwark’s green invited bowlers…

Boyfield Street Named for an 18th-century clothmaker whose family gave their surname to the very ground th…

Braidwood Street A street named after the man whose death changed London’s approach to fire service f…

Bricklayers Arms Flyover A concrete flyover named for a coaching inn whose sign hung here for over six centuries &m…

Bridge Yard The medieval heart of London Bridge management, where the first guardians of the river cro…

Brisbane Street Named for the man who gave Australia’s third-largest city its name—a Scottish …

Brockham Street A Victorian terrace built on the Trinity House Estate, this quiet street retains its early…

Bromleigh Court A postwar housing block named in 1952 to honour a medieval abbot whose institution ruled D…

Brunswick Park Named after a queen George IV despised — Caroline of Brunswick, whose popular cause …

Burbage Close A street name that carries the weight of Anglo-Saxon fortifications—from castled bro…

Burbage Road A Victorian street in Camberwell named after the actor who first played Shakespeare’…

Bursar Street A quiet street named after a medieval bishop who left his fortune to an endowment that sha…

C

Calton Avenue A Victorian street named after the goldsmith and landowner who gave his name to Dulwich it…

Calvert’s Buildings An 18th-century brewer’s name marks a medieval alley that once answered to the Fishm…

Camberwell Church Street A thousand years of worship defined this route. The medieval parish church burned and rose…

Camberwell Green Once a village fairground rivalling Greenwich’s, now a formal park around the healin…

Camberwell Grove An avenue of Georgian townhouses on a hilltop that once afforded views of the City of Lond…

Camberwell New Road Built on ground where Surrey once hanged its criminals, this is believed to be the longest…

Camberwell Road The road to a Domesday village whose very name encodes the memory of a vanished well &mdas…

Canal Street Named for a waterway that once aimed for Portsmouth — the Grand Surrey Canal, author…

Canvey Street Renamed for an Essex island, a street that began as a pathway through cloth workers’…

Cardinal Bourne Street Named after a cardinal in an era of Catholic expansion, this Bermondsey street has been en…

Cardinal Cap Alley London’s narrowest public alley, squeezed between the Globe and Tate Modern, echoes …

Carver Road Named for the Master who transformed Dulwich College into one of England’s greatest …

Casino Avenue Named after the pleasure villa built in 1800 by Warren Hastings’ counsel — a Regency idyll that gave Herne Hill its distinctive address.

Castle Yard A short passage in Blackfriars where Norman castles once stood, centuries before the Domin…

Cathedral Street From medieval priory to present-day cathedral, this street takes its name from the oldest …

Chambers Street Named after a wharf that handled Thames cargo into the 1960s — a street that did not…

Champion Hill A Huguenot family’s surname became a hilltop, and that hilltop became a stadium that…

Chatham Street Built from scratch in 1876 by a single Walworth builder, this Victorian terrace street car…

Claude Road A short residential street in Peckham, well-placed between two railway stations and a neig…

Clifton Place A Rotherhithe address whose tranquil name — borrowed from an Old English word for a …

Clink Street A narrow cobbled lane named for a medieval prison that gave its name to every cell and loc…

Cluny Place A quiet street named after a medieval monastic order that shaped Bermondsey for centuries.

College Road London’s last surviving private tollgate still charges on this Dulwich road — …

Collinson Street Named for a family remembered for their local devotion, this quiet street in The Borough e…

Copperfield Street A Victorian terrace sheltering a community identity rooted in Charles Dickens’ most …

Counter Street A narrow passage named after a medieval debtors’ prison, now quietly lined with Vict…

Crown Street The birthplace of a Victoria Cross hero, and a quiet residential street in the heart of Vi…

Crucifix Lane A street that remembers a medieval cross long since destroyed, now dominated by Victorian …

D

Denmark Road A Victorian terrace built on a royal hunting ground — the street carries the name of…

Dickens Square From Union Square to a literary memorial, renamed to honour Charles Dickens and the Southw…

Dirty Lane A street name revived from the 1740s now runs beneath Victorian railway arches, connecting…

Dolben Street Renamed in 1911 after a seventeenth-century archbishop, yet built barely a century before&…

Dorrit Street Named after Charles Dickens's novel and the neighbourhood's links to the author's most aff…

Dowson Close A Victorian poet’s name preserved in a mid-20th century estate that honours the lite…

Druid Street A street beneath the viaduct that marks the gateway to Bermondsey’s craft brewery re…

Duke Street Hill A short street marked by fragments of London’s most famous bridge, laid out in 1824 …

E

East Lane Charlie Chaplin called it East Lane — and the name that only south Londoners used ma…

East Street Market Locals have called it “The Lane” for generations — a street market whose…

Edmund Street Named in all probability after Sir Edmund Bowyer — the Camberwell manor lord whose f…

Elephant & Castle The name that conquered a whole district of south London came from a single pub — an…

Elephant and Castle A major junction named after an eighteenth-century coaching inn, transformed from the &lsq…

Elephant Road Named for a coaching inn whose sign came from the ivory trade—this short Walworth ro…

Elland Road A Yorkshire mill town’s name transplanted to a Victorian terrace in Peckham — …

Elm Grove Carved from Peckham’s market-garden fields in the 1830s, Elm Grove was one of a trio…

Emerson Street Named after a 16th-century charitable founder whose property shaped the streets of Banksid…

English Grounds A short lane named for railway workers who forged London’s transport network in the …

F

Fair Street A street named for the fair that once drew crowds to Horsleydown, before buildings transfo…

Fleming Road Named after a Victorian barrister who governed eleven colonies — a Walworth street c…

Fort Road Every house on this Bermondsey street stands where Parliament’s soldiers dug earthwo…

Frederick Road A short Walworth side street planted on ground that was open Canterbury manor farmland les…

G

Gallery Road The only road in London named after England’s oldest public art gallery — a bu…

Gambia Street A pedestrianised corner of The Borough where Victorian railways overhead give way to commu…

Gaza Street A Victorian backstreet in Walworth that started life as plain Green Street — then wa…

George Inn Yard London’s last galleried coaching inn, where travellers once gathered for coaches to …

Gipsy Hill A queen of fortune-tellers once held court on this wooded ridge — and the name she l…

Glasshill Street Named for the glassworks that once defined this Southwark lane, where industrial craft gav…

Glengall Road The waste ground where factory workers from Aberdeen kicked a football in 1885 — and…

Globe Street A modest lane in the heart of Southwark’s theatrical quarter, where Shakespeare&rsqu…

Grange Road The road is named after a medieval monastery’s farm — and the monks of Bermond…

Grange Walk The iron gate-hooks of a medieval monastery still protrude from the wall at number 7 …

Great Guildford Street Named after a Tudor noblewoman’s mansion, this street was born from a Victorian impr…

Great Maze Pond Named for a medieval manor, this street witnessed the livestock drovers of the 16th and 17…

Great Suffolk Street Once called Dirty Lane, this Southwark thoroughfare owes its grander name to a Tudor duke …

Green Dragon Court A narrow passage beneath the railway viaduct, named after a medieval tavern that has vanis…

Grosvenor Park Named for a Norman huntsman whose descendants became the Dukes of Westminster, this mid-Vi…

Grotto Court A street named after an 18th-century pleasure garden that promised mineralised waters and …

Guildable Bridge Street A small street in the shadow of London Bridge, where medieval lanes still follow patterns …

H

Hankey Place Named for a missionary writer who served the local community before the Great War, this sh…

Hanover Park Named for a German royal dynasty that never set foot in Peckham — but whose patronag…

Hardwidge Street A hidden turning in Bermondsey, named after an 18th-century needlemaker whose trade once d…

Harper Road A street that remembers the gallows and the gaol—and hides 1,800 years of buried Roman his…

Harris Street A Victorian terrace row pressed into Peckham’s expanding grid — named, most li…

Hay's Lane Named after a merchant who leased a brewhouse here in 1651, this lane connects to the hist…

Holland Street Bankside's most infamous street name traces back to a scandalous establishment that King J…

Holly Grove The street has carried three names in two centuries — and its pocket park was born f…

Holyrood Street A medieval holy cross once commanded reverence here. Five centuries after its destruction,…

Honor Oak Park A single oak tree on a south London hill — said to have sheltered Elizabeth I o…

Hopton Street Renamed in the 1930s to honour a wealthy merchant’s charity, Hopton Street preserves…

Horsemongers Mews A 19th-century mews built to serve the horse fairs and trades that gave the neighbourhood …

I

Ivanhoe Road Named for a fictional Saxon knight, this Victorian street carries the echoes of Sir Walter…

J

Jennings Road Named after a churchman in a neighbourhood built from scratch in under a decade, this quie…

Jubilee Walkway Opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 9 June 1977 to celebrate her silver jubilee, the Jubilee W…

K

Kelly Avenue A surname carried forward from Victorian land development—laid out when Peckham&rsqu…

Kennington Park Road Roman legions marched this tarmac — Kennington Park Road has followed the line of St…

Kentish Buildings A narrow Georgian court that carries the name of a 17th-century property owner and the mem…

Keppel Row An alleyway transformed from industrial decay into a sustainable urban corridor, named aft…

Keyworth Place and Keyworth Street A Victoria Cross hero’s name on streets where Dantzic was once the address—and where…

King’s Court A short court in The Borough whose royal name echoes a neighbourhood once crowded with the…

King’s Grove Kings hunted this land for centuries before a single terrace was built — and the str…

King's Bench Street Named for a medieval debtors’ prison burned in the 1780 Gordon Riots and rebuilt in …

Kipling Street A quiet residential lane named for one of the Victorian era’s greatest writers, stan…

L

Lant Street A quiet Southwark street named after its eighteenth-century landowners — and remembe…

Leigh Hunt Street London’s shortest street is named after a Romantic poet imprisoned for defending fre…

London Road The road that pointed toward London — before Southwark became part of it.

M

Mint Street Where a royal coining house became a Dickensian slum, then a park. A street named after 16…

N

Nunhead Green A medieval pub name that became the identity of a Victorian neighbourhood.

O

Old Kent Road Roman legions marched it. Chaucer’s pilgrims walked it. Henry V paraded down it afte…

P

Pardoner Street Named for one of Chaucer’s most unforgettable pilgrims—a medieval con artist who sol…

Peckham Rye The road that carries an Anglo-Saxon stream in its name — and the common where an ei…

Pioneer Street A Victorian working-class street born of the Surrey Docks’ insatiable hunger for lab…

Portland Street A Walworth street that bore a ducal name, then a concrete estate, and is now rising again …

R

Redcross Way A short Southwark street with a medieval burial ground, a Victorian philanthropist’s…

S

Shad Thames The Victorian spice-port beside Tower Bridge whose name has baffled historians for three h…

Shand Street A Victorian bureaucrat’s quiet immortality on the edge of London’s most devast…

Spa Road The street that names itself after Georgian mineral springs now lost beneath the viaduct t…

Spurgeon Street The street named after the ‘Prince of Preachers’ whose voice drew tens of thou…

St. George's Road A Victorian residential street in Walworth whose name origin remains uncertain, carrying t…

Stamford Street The engineer who designed Waterloo Bridge lived here for nearly three decades — and …

Stoney Street When stone paving was a luxury, this 17th-century street through a bishop’s garden w…

Swan Street A Georgian street named after a lost inn, standing atop layers of Roman Londinium. Swan St…

T

Talbot Road A signwriter’s blunder in 1676 turned Chaucer’s legendary Tabard Inn into the …

Tanner Street A street named for the leather workers who made Bermondsey the centre of London’s hi…

Trinity Street A Georgian street named after a maritime charity, born from farmland in 1813 and built ove…

W

Wanley Road Named for a 17th-century clergyman whose work shaped the poetry of Robert Browning.

Warner Road A Victorian street in Camberwell whose Samuel Lewis Trust Dwellings carry a blue plaque ho…

Weavers Lane A riverside lane in Bankside whose name echoes London’s textile heritage. The street…

West Lane A boundary lane on the western edge of Bermondsey’s old parish, pressed against one …

Weston Street A 19th-century landlord’s name on the frontage of a building that once traded a thir…