St Saviour's Dock is an inlet-style dock in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, on the south bank of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

, 420 metres east of Tower Bridge. It forms the eastern end of the Shad Thames embankment that starts at Tower Bridge. The east side of the Dock is Jacob's Island.

Geography

The Thames is highly tidal at this point and the intertidal range within the dock is substantial, with a rise and fall of four metres since the construction of a system of winter flow-regulating locks and weirs on the River Thames culminating in Teddington Lock and of the Thames Barrier. During tidal surges the water level has risen just above pavement level of adjacent buildings on Shad Thames and Mill Street. The rectangular inlet opens to the river 420 metres east of Tower Bridge. St Saviour's Dock is the point where the River Neckinger enters the Thames. The Neckinger is a subterranean river that rises in the south of Southwark, near Walworth and flows to the Thames underground.

History

A community of

Cluniac Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saint Peter, Saints Peter and Saint Paul, Paul. The abbey was constructed ...

monks resided at Bermondsey Abbey south-east of the site from 1082 onwards. The community began the development of the marshes surrounding their abbey at Bermondsey, cultivating the land and embanking the riverside into a Priory Close spanning 140 acres of meadow and digging dykes. They turned the adjacent tidal inlet at the mouth of the River Neckinger into the priory's dock, and named it Saint Saviour's Dock after their abbey's patron. This provided a safe landing for Bishops and goods below the traditional first land crossing, the congested stone arches of London Bridge. According to the Winchester Episcopal Register, the Bishop of Winchester when returning from abroad was expected to land at Bermondsey shores.Winchester Episcopal Register, Pontoise, fol. 155a John Stow, a 16th-century English historian and antiquarian had the following to say about the area, ''"In the south end whereof was sometime a priory or abbey of St. Saviour, called Bermond's Eye in Southwark, founded by Alwin Childe, a citizen of London, in the year 1081."''

In popular culture

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

set portions of his novel '' Oliver Twist'' in the area of Shad Thames, at a time when it was an area of notorious poverty known as Jacob's Island. He set

Bill Sikes William Sikes is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists (alongside Monks) in the 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. Sikes is a malicious criminal in Fagin's gang, and a vicious robber and murderer. Throughout much o ...

's den at the east of Shad Thames in buildings adjacent to St Saviour's Dock. It is here that Sykes falls from a roof and dies in the mud, probably of St Saviour's Dock. St Saviour's Dock was featured in the 2002 video game '' The Getaway'', serving as the final area in the game for both characters' campaigns - however the area is inaccurately portrayed as more modern industrial dock, large enough to moor a cargo ship and bearing almost no resemblance to the real area. St Saviour's Dock is also featured as a more faithful recreation in the 2020 video game Watch Dogs: Legion, depicted as 'Butler's Wharf Houseboats'.

Notes and references

;References ;Notes {{coord, 51.5022, -0.0710, type:landmark_region:GB-SWK, display=title Geography of the London Borough of Southwark London docks Port of London