"Rotherhithe" Bermondsey by Jackiekg

Bermondsey Travel Guide: 7 reviews and 48 photos

Southwark Park - Rotherhithe - Bermondsey

Rotherhithe is in Bermondsey. This is the place I grew up in. I lived at 212, 288 and another number I can't remember, but opposite 212, all in Jamaica Road. I lived with my parents and my twin sister Gillian. Number 288 Jamaica Road was a house and the garden backed onto Southwark Park, which even in those days (I left in 1965), was a lovely park. It was lovely in winter when it would snow as our garden and all the trees in the park would be white. To get to our junior school in Southwark Park Road we would walk through the park, so it has lots of memories for us. We used to go to the swimming pool there (this was pulled down just a few years ago), and we would sing on the stage of the Bandstand. Neither of us could sing, but we did because everyone got a small prize, usually a colouring book or such! When we were grown up a friend's father told us that he remembered us singing the song "On a Slow Boat to China" in the park.

Rotherhithe has a lot of history connected to it. Only now can I appreciate what an interesting past it has had.

The place has changed tremendously since I lived there. It seems to have a lot going for it now. A lot of buildings have gone up and now it is a very 'in' place - so different from the 1960's when I left there. Luckily, I have only good memories from Rotherhithe and believe it or not, I am still in touch with school friends from there - a few have made contact during the last year or two, so I haven't actually seen most of them for over, dare I say it, close to 50 years.

Rotherhithe Tunnel

This is Rotherhithe Tunnel and is very near to where our house stood. It was built by Sir Marc Brunel (and was his son's (Isambard Kingdom Brunel) first project. It was begun in 1825 and finished 17 years later. The tunnel is one of the world's great engineering feats overcoming many obstacles and gave Britain a world lead in tunnelling techniques for 100 years.

Last visit to Bermondsey: Jul 2003
Intro Updated Jul 25, 2003
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Comments (7)

nancyellen8949 May 26, 2010 at 9:49 AM Report Abuse

Jackie, thank you so much for the wonderful memories of Bermondsey. My grandfather was born there but left in the early 1900's so it was a treat hearing your recollections. My great granddad was a porter on the railroad there.
rainbowisland Dec 18, 2008 at 6:45 AM Report Abuse

Such lovely photo's, this is my fave statue in the whole of London, it was so sad reading about the fact that Dr Salter's daughter died aged 9.
carteki Jun 14, 2006 at 7:37 AM Report Abuse

Amazing to find a WHOLE page on vt dedicated to Bermondsey. I lived there for 9 months and loved the area, its aspect and history.
piglet44 Apr 26, 2005 at 10:06 AM Report Abuse

hey Jackie do I detect a note of nostalgia in your text?? know what you mean!
benazer Apr 11, 2004 at 9:07 AM Report Abuse

Yes a very nice page you have here. I myself live very close to Tower,waiting for a sunny day to take some pictures if ever it will get sunny.11April.04.
paradisedreamer Jul 26, 2003 at 11:15 AM Report Abuse

Great page, we sometimes walk down to Tower Bridge for lunch and the Angel is the perfect place to stop for a drink on the way. Great views of towers bridge!
navaros Jul 25, 2003 at 10:52 PM Report Abuse

Welocom back, Jackie! Thanks for sharing with us your experiences and memories... I am waiting for more :-)