Southwark Cathedral
London Bridge
London
SE1 9DA
T: 020 7367 6700
E: cathedral@southwark.anglican.org
W: www.southwark.anglican.org/
Visitor Information
Monday to Friday
8.00am Morning Prayer
8.15am Eucharist
12.30pm Midday Office
12.45pm Eucharist
5.30pm Evensong/Evening Prayer
Saturday and Bank Holidays
9.00am Morning Prayer
9.15am Eucharist
4.00pm Evensong (sometimes sung by visiting choirs)
Sundays
8.45am Morning Prayer
9.00am Eucharist
11.00am Choral Eucharist
3.00pm Choral Evensong
6.30pm – 6.30 at Southwark
First Sunday of the month:
Traditional Rite Choral Eucharist
Second Sunday in the month:
Service of Light incorporating music from Taizé/Iona
Third Sunday of the month:
Service of Healing & Wholeness including the laying on of hands
Fourth Sunday of the month:
Compline & Eucharistic Devotions
A convent is said to have been established in 606, then a Minster, Priory, Parish Church, and finally a Cathedral in 1905.
For the majority of its history this area was part of the Diocese of Winchester, with the Bishops’ of Winchester establishing a palace nearby. The remains of the Great Hall of this palace can still be seen today.
St Swithun, Bishop of Winchester 852 – 867, is traditionally believed to have set up a college of priests on the site. The first conclusive proof of a church comes in the Domesday Book of 1086. This records that a monasterium was present during the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042 – 1066) with its own wharf for the profitable unloading of goods brought up the river. After the Norman Conquest control of the church passed to Odo, Bishop Bayeaux and then William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey.
In 1106 a new church, St Mary Overie (over the river), was founded by two knights, William Pont de l'Arche and William Dauncey. This church was served by Regular Canons of St Augustine. Part of their duties was to give relief to the sick and needy. To do this they built a hospital and dedicated it to St Thomas of Canterbury.
In 2000 additional buildings were built on the north/riverside of the complex, recalling the monastic precincts of the past. These house modern conference rooms, an education centre for schools, shop and refectory/restaurant.