St Saviour's War Memorial

The war memorial is situated at the north end of Borough High Street, just before Southwark Street, on a small, triangular piece of land.  The war memorial provides a focus for the community in the 20th and 21st centuries, but this pocket of land has provided a religious and later a civic focus that dates back to the 12th century.  

 

The medieval St Margaret’s Church was located here and where the War Memorial now stands once stood a cross.  The section of road that ran south from the church was named St Margaret’s Hill.  The church was owned by St Mary Priory (forerunner to Southwark Cathedral) and served as a parish church from the early 12th century.  It was a small church with private pews, tiled floors, a steeple an a belfry with three bells.

 

The Priory was surrendered to Henry VIII during the Reformation in 1539.  The congregation of St Margaret’s joined together with that of St Mary Magdalen, another parish within the bounds of St Mary Priory, and petitioned the King for the use of the Priory church.  An Act of Parliament in 1540 ratified the union of the two parishes and a grant of the Rectory and Priory Church made at an annual rental of £49.5s.4d.  The former priory church was renamed St Saviour’s in remembrance of nearby Bermondsey Abbey, also surrendered to Henry VIII during the Reformation, that had been dedicated to St Saviour.  

 

The former church of St Margaret was converted into a session house and gaol and became known as St Margaret’s Hall or Justice Hall but was destroyed in the Great Fire of Southwark in 1676.   A new session house and gaol were built and the new building had a statue of Charles II, who had received the freedom of Southwark, situated in an external alcove at the first floor level.  The Sessions House was replaced by a Town Hall in 1793 but this building gradually deteriorated and was demolished to make way for a bank.