A HISTORY OF SURREY 



thickly on the river marshes were an obvious 

 inducement for the existence, probably at an 

 early date, of a considerable basket-making 

 industry. Such in the main were all the 

 special conditions afiForded by the natural 

 features for the development of industrial 

 activity in the northern parts of the county. 



But the great factor which was to deter- 

 mine the ultimate character of north-east 

 Surrey, where it fringes the Thames, was its 

 close proximity to the great capital which 

 over-awed it from the opposite side of the 

 river. What the condition of this part of 

 the county would have been to-day if it 

 had not been for London it is idle to con- 

 jecture. That Southwark, if left to itself, 

 would by virtue of its geographical position 

 have developed into a great city is more than 

 likely. But that it is to-day, with its adjoin- 

 ing Surrey suburbs, one of the busiest indus- 

 trial centres of the kingdom, is due firstly and 

 lastly to London. 



The influence of London, however, was not 

 wholly salutary on the growth of its southern 

 suburbs. Indeed for a long time the jealous 

 fears entertained by the citizens of any exten- 

 sion of their trade beyond the city borders, 

 and their powerful position in the kingdom, 

 which could procure for them effective assist- 

 ance for the removal of any just grounds for 

 these fears, continued to act as a check upon 

 any material progress on the part of the 

 neighbouring Surrey villages. It is less than 

 two centuries ago that London Bridge with 

 its narrow gateway, through which but one 

 horseman at a time could pass, was the only 

 means of land communication between the 

 two banks of the Thames east of Kingston. 

 The completion of Putney Bridge in 1729 

 was accomplished in the face of the strong 

 representations of the Londoners to Parlia- 

 ment that the bridge would mean the waning 

 and decay of their trade. Similar opposition 

 was raised and ultimately proved abortive 

 against the erection of Westminster Bridge, 

 which was opened in 1750. It is only since 

 this latter date that all the remaining bridges 

 which now span the tidal Thames have been 

 constructed. 



London, unable to confine its growing 

 trade within the narrow limits of its walls, 

 had recourse to gaining control over all the 

 neighbouring markets. This naturally led 



beds were the property of their respective parishes, 

 and the rents for them were paid to the church- 

 wardens (vide Allen, Hist, of Lambeth, 305 ; 

 Hammond, Bygone Battersea, 25 ; Davis, Indus- 

 tries of Wandsworth, 29). The osiers at Wands- 

 worth are mentioned as early as 1490 (Davis, 

 loc. cit.). 



to friction, especially in Southwark, on whose 

 commercial development we must for a while 

 focus our attention. Other reasons, how- 

 ever, first prompted the city authorities to 

 win from Edward III. powers of administra- 

 tion over this Surrey town. For Southwark, 

 with its many palaces of high ecclesiastical 

 dignitaries and rich monastic houses and the 

 liberties or immunities from legal process 

 which grew up in consequence about their 

 precincts, had become the haunt of all the 

 law-breakers of London, and was a standing 

 menace to the peace of the city. Long after 

 the Reformation had swept away the religi- 

 ous houses, the privileged districts or liberties 

 to which they had given birth continued to 

 remain open to all who sought immunity 

 from criminal and civil process, and must 

 have constituted the greatest obstacle to the 

 material prosperity of Southwark itself. 



This is not the place to discuss the gradual 

 absorption of Southwark by London from 

 the first grant to the citizens of the vill in 

 1327 until Edward VI. 's confirmation in 

 1550 of all the preceding concessions and his 

 further grant of the two great manors in 

 Southwark, the Great Liberty Manor and the 

 King's Manor — a grant which led to the con- 

 version of the annexed territory into the ward 

 of Bridge Without, a ward, however, that was 

 an anomaly amongst those of the city, being 

 without the power of electing its alderman 

 and unrepresented in the Common Council. 

 The steps by which this change was brought 

 about have been already briefly set out in 

 this history, as have those by which Southwark 

 from being first an ecclesiastical became a 

 theatrical suburb of London, and finally one 

 of its busiest industrial quarters.* The whole 

 subject moreover will call for fuller considera- 

 tion in the Topographical section of the 

 present work. The early development of 

 Southwark as a place of great trade and the 

 economic condition of its inhabitants will 

 fall also to another section for discussion, but 

 inasmuch as these have no little bearing on 

 the question of the origin of some of the 

 principal manufactures carried on in the 

 town, some few points in connection with 

 the subject claim notice here. 



For long, as we have pointed out, the 

 citizens of London were actuated in their 

 trade policy by the desire to secure the fullest 

 measure of protection for their own markets 

 by means of the severe curtailment of the 

 privileges enjoyed by the markets which 

 existed just outside their city's bounds. They 

 went so far as at one time to prohibit 



248 



» V.C.H. Surrey, i. 395-7. 



