Southwark Cathedral, London

Chaucer’s band of pilgrims set off from Southwark, which retains its position at the start of the northern Pilgrims Way, and is a stopping point on the London Royal Route.

• Ancient foundation of Southwark Priory
• Tomb of Lancelot Andrewes

Southwark’s stately church only became a cathedral in 1905, but it has a spiritual and cultural pedigree dating back in London’s history. It might not date quite as far back as the year 606, which used to be claimed as the cathedral’s date of foundation on rather scant evidence, but it certainly has medieval origins.

The cathedral marks the starting point for the famous literary pilgrimage of Chaucer’s cheerful band of travellers setting off from the Tabard Inn, which used to stand a short distance south of the cathedral. For all that, the building was never a pilgrimage destination in its own right – although it is now on the new Romero Way pilgrim route.

The association between cathedrals and shrines seems deeply etched in the imagination. The bishop of Southwark, Christopher Chessun, once told me that visitors had turned one of its tombs into a sort of informal shrine, carrying candles across the building and lighting them beside the last resting place of Lancelot Andrewes. He certainly merits the effort, a powerful bishop in the 17th century responsible for producing the famous King James translation of the Bible, also known as the Authorised Version. The cathedral has since quietly facilitated such acts of remembrance, installing a candle stand alongside.

There is much in the cathedral to give further pause for quiet reflection, including a memorial to the victims of the Marchioness River accident in which 51 people lost their lives when a leisure craft collided with a dredger in August 1989. The floor plaque is sited at the back of the cathedral’s nave.

Further influential names have left their mark on the building, including Edmund Shakespeare, the brother of a certain playwright whose Globe Theatre stands half a mile to the west along the river. A stained glass window depicts scenes from his plays, situated in the south aisle above a statue of him holding a quill.

John Harvard, the founder of the eponymous American university, was born in the parish and has a side chapel to his name.

A third honourable alumnus of this church with a memorial here is Isabella Gilmore, not a household name as such but hugely influential thanks to her work promoting the reintroduction of female deacons into the church at the start of the 20th century. Her brother was none other than William Morris, but it is for her achievements alone that she is remembered in some parts of the Anglican church on 16 April, a hard-working servant of the church who helped pave the way for women’s ordination.

Directions

Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge, London SE1 9DA

www.cathedral.southwark.anglican.org

W3W: grid.flats.enter

GPS: 51.5064N 0.0900W

London Bridge railway station 100m

The cathedral is next to London Bridge railway station and the popular Borough Market. It is open weekdays 9am–5pm, with shorter hours at the weekend around service times.