Bermondsey Parishes

[Pennie]

Having failed to find the marriage I'm looking for in the PRs of St. John Horselydown, I now need to "work outwards"!

Could someone please tell me which parishes are immediately adjacent to this one (or is there any website that includes a parish map of the Bermondsey area)?

(I have tried the Parish Locator software, but the minimum radius of 1 mile brings up over 50 parishes!)

Any help would be most welcome.

Many thanks.

Pennie

[Stovepipe]

Pennie,

If I were you I'd try some of the other parishes in Southwark as a first port of call:

Southwark, Christ Church
Southwark, St George
Southwark, St Olave
Southwark, St Saviour
Southwark, St Thomas

List from:
http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/SRY/parishes.html#lcc

HTH,
Stovepipe

[Pennie]

Hi Stovepipe ...

Many thanks for your swift reply, and I shall definitely add these parishes to my "search list"!

However, could you please confirm (if possible) which are immediately adjacent to SJH.  I'm sorry to be so pedantic, but I have a friend visiting the LMA next week - with limited time to do my lookups - and I want to make sure that he starts with the adjacent parishes!

Pennie

[Heather D]

Pennie,

try this site which has some maps

http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/southwark/main/index.html

It also suggests that the metropoliton borough of Bermondsey pre-1965 consisted of the parishes of St Thomas, St John Horsleydown, St Mary Bermondsey and St Mary Rotherhithe.

It takes a bit of persistence with the maps but you should be able to figure the nearest parishes from that!

Heather

[Stovepipe]

One thing to bear in mind is that as London developed parishes fragmented into more numerous and smaller parts - a consequence of the population becoming too great for a single large parish in what was formerly a semi-rural area.

I've looked at a map of Horselydown dated 1865 and, apart from a couple of smallish chapels, the nearest church to St Johns seems to be St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey.  But I'm guessing that because you're looking at parish registers (rather than civil registration) the marriage took place before 1837.  I don't know whether St Mary Magdalen existed then or not - there was a lot of new church building in London around that time.

Basically, the date of the marriage is significant.  The earlier it is then the further away will be the church serving an adjacent parish.  (On average and up to a limit, of course.)

Here's a link to the map - there's also one dated 1830 that might be useful, but parish boundaries are quite hard to identify.

http://www.motco.com/map/

Stovepipe

[Pennie]

Hi Heather and Stovepipe ...

Again, many thanks for your help.  You've both supplied me with really interesting websites (which I've just "wasted" an hour having a look at!).

Using a combination of maps from both websites, I think I'll start the search with St. Olave, Southwark, and St. Mary Magdelen, Bermondsey, as these both seem to be about equidistant from St. John's.

(Incidentally, the marriage in question took place in the very late 1700s or very early 1800s.  The couple had children baptised at SJH between 1801 and 1812, but there's no sign of their marriage at that church after the mid 1790s.)

Thanks again for your time and trouble ...

Pennie