South London

The author offers a series of illustrated chapters tracing the area south of the Thames from prehistoric marsh and causeway through medieval monasteries and royal houses to later civic life. Archaeological relics, the building of embankments and bridges, and the expansion of inns, markets, and palaces are described alongside episodes of bombardment, sanctuary, and popular pageantry. Attention turns to the borough's social fabric — fishermen, show folk, pilgrims, pleasure gardens, and debtors' prisons — before surveying eighteenth-century changes and the district's contemporary urban character, blending antiquarian detail with sketches of local customs and the built environment.