Walking with family: London Bridge to Bermondsey... and beyond

Sunday April 26, 2026.

A sunny day with occasional clouds 20°C (68°F) with light winds of 6.8 mph (11 km/h).

The weather was promising to make for the perfect for a walk in London, so off we all set. 

A taxi to Watford Underground station, where we boarded a busy train to Finchley Road, with many of the passengers disembarking at Wembley Park for the football at Wembley Stadium. The Jubilee line train, which would take us to London Bridge, was just as busy, this time with people holding placards ready to support family and friends running in the London Marathon.

Our walk was to follow the route of London's first passenger dedicated steam railway, The London and Greenwich Railway. The walk would take us from London's oldest train terminus to London's oldest continually used station.

Alighting from the train at London Bridge we made our way out to Tooley Street, where the streets were busy with people heading for Tower Bridge. So, we went along Stainer Street, where Erin played a short piece on a Victorian pipe organ, which was installed in 2022.

From here it was on to St Thomas Street. Here the paths and roads were fairly clear, so we began our walk eastwards. Keilyn stopped at 'Greggs' to grab herself an ice-cold drink and a pizza slice, before our walk began in earnest.

St Thomas Street brought us onto Crucifix Lane, below the mainline south out of London Bridge, and onto Druid Street. We followed Druid Street, crossing Tower Bridge Road, which was sealed off as this was part of the Marathon route. Erin, meanwhile, was checking the progress of her school form tutor, Miss Talbot, who was running her second London Marathon. Erin would continue to check her progress throughout the day. Further along Druid Street there was a 'car meet', with all sorts of vehicles in attendance, many with furry wolf masks sitting on many of the bonnets.

Here we headed through one of the railway arches, of which there were 878 when the viaduct was constructed, and walked through Malty Street Market. This is a wonderful little market offering food and drinks from around the world, all at reasonable prices. We meandered our way through the growing crowds and found ourselves on Millstream Road, which we followed, back beneath the railway, back onto Druid Street.

"Which was London's first railway?"

There are two possible answers to this question as there are two companies competing for the title.

Also, by answering this question we can also answer some others along the way. If we can work out which railway came first we can work out which is London's oldest station, too.

The Surrey Iron Railway

The first Act of Parliament for the authorisation of a railway in the London area was granted in 1801, to the Surrey Iron Railway. This railway was built in stages, between 1802 and 1803, from Frying Pan Creek, on the River Thames at Wandsworth, to Pitlake Meadows at Croydon, mostly following the Wandle Valley.

The Surrey Iron Railway used trains of ten wagons, which were horse-drawn along a narrow-gauge, double-tracked line. This line remained in use until 1846, but was only briefly profitable. 

However, all of this railway was within Surrey, parts of which wouldn't become part of London until 1889.

The London and Greenwich Railway

In 1831, following the success of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which had opened in 1830 as the world's first passenger railway to connect two cities, retired Royal Engineer Colonel George Thomas Landmann and George Walter, an entrepreneur, had the idea for a passenger railway service in London. 

The Surrey Chapel and The Ring

On the northern corner of Blackfriars Road and Union Street stood the Surrey Chapel, built in 1783. It then took on a completely different persona.

The Surrey Chapel was one of the first octagonal churches, in England, and was constructed in 1783, by Reverend Rowland Hill. The chapel had innovative features that included gas lighting, underfloor heating and an organ that used thunder and lightning effects, He chose the octagonal design so that the Devil would not be able to lurk in the corners.

Able to hold 1,200 people, the eccentric Reverend Hill preached here for nearly fifty years, usually to a full congregation, from his pulpit that was situated in the centre of the chapel.

In 1881 the chapel closed and, by 1910, was converted into a boxing arena, by Dick Burge, who was a former British lightweight champion between 1891-1897, and his wife Bella. They replaced the pulpit with a raised, roped-in enclosure, with a circular stage surrounded by seats for spectators.

Dick Burge renamed the building 'The Ring', which stems from early literal ground-drawn fight circles used in the early bare-knuckle boxing days under London Prize Ring Rules.

It would become the first indoor boxing ring for the working classes and would go on to become one of the most popular boxing venues, in London, famous as a proving ground for boxing talent, where well-known prize-fighters took on apprentice fighters. 

London's Crossroads Burials

This 1746 map shows the probable site of the burial of John Duke.

Walking along the streets of London, with its over 2,000 years of history, you can never know exactly what, or who, you are walking on.

Historically, in Britain, individuals who died by suicide, which was considered a crime, executed criminals or other 'outcasts' were often denied burial in consecrated church ground and interred at crossroads, with a stake through their heart. It was believed that the junction of roads would confuse the spirit of the deceased and prevent them from returning to haunt the living. 

The crossroads at which they were  interred were usually the closest to their home or the murder site.

Three high profile crossroads burials.

Although there were many burials at crossroads, records have been lost or destroyed, making a true count of how many impossible. Below are the three that I can find information about.

National Police Memorial

On a small patch of grassland, at the corner of The Mall and Horse Guards Road, stands the National Police Memorial. It was the first memorial to be placed in St James's Park in over a century.

On April 17, 1984, WPC Yvonne Fletcher was fatally wounded by a gunshot, fired by an unknown gunman in the Libyan Embassy, on St James's Square. Her murder sparked an eleven-day siege of the Embassy which, when it ended, resulted in the expulsion of those inside the building and the severing of diplomatic ties between the United Kingdom and Libya. 

Following her murder the film director Michael Winner founded the Police Memorial Trust. At first the Trust erected small monuments at the locations where Police Officers had lost their lives, but they wanted something more.

From the mid 1990s they lobbied and raised funds for a permanent memorial to all officers who had died in the course of their duties. Michael Winner gifted £500,000 to the fund, stating, 

"Memorials to soldiers, sailors and airmen are commonplace, but the police fight a war with no beginning and no end."