Located close to London Bridge on the south bank of the River Thames, the church was known in the 12th century as St. Mary Overie (‘over the river’), renamed St. Saviors in the 17th century, and became Southwark Cathedral as recently as 1905. Southwark Cathedral is the oldest cathedral church building in London, and it is believed that there has been a church on the site since AD 606. In the north aisle of the current nave, visitors can see remains of the former medieval nave, the Norman Doorway, as well as the elaborate medieval canopied tomb of John Gower, court poet to Richard II and Henry IV, and close friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. The church established a strong connection with the great Elizabethan dramatists with its location along Bankside close to the Rose and Globe theatres. William Shakespeare’s brother, Edmund, was buried in St Saviour’s in 1607, and a large stained glass window and monument dedicated to William can be found in the nave’s south aisle. The Cathedral’s Harvard Chapel is dedicated to John Harvard, the first benefactor of America’s Harvard University, who was born in Southwark and baptised in St Saviour’s in 1607.
- Southwark Cathedral
- London Bridge, London SE1 9DA
- www.cathedral.southwark.anglican.org
- Underground: London Bridge