Southwark, London: Tate Modern, Borough Market, Southwark Cathedral and Dulwich Picture Gallery

The riverside strip from Blackfriars Bridge to Tower Bridge, and the medieval high street behind it, hold the borough's cathedral, its market, its playhouses and its power station within a few hundred metres of one another. Tate Modern occupies the former Bankside Power Station at Bankside, SE1 9TG. Tate's own history records that Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's architectural plans were unveiled with construction beginning the following year, that the building opened on 7 March 1962 and that the power station shut down on 31 October 1981 after oil price rises. The gallery opened on 11 May 2000 and Tate states that entry to the collection is free for everyone. The Blavatnik Building extension, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, opened to the public on 17 June 2016 and increased display space by 60 per cent. Tate Modern opens Sunday to Thursday 10.00 to 18.00 and Friday and Saturday 10.00 to 21.00.

Southwark Cathedral stands at London Bridge, SE1 9DA, listed at Grade I on 2 March 1950 as NHLE 1378460 under the name Cathedral Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie. Wikidata gives an inception of 1150 and records the building as Gothic. The church opens Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm and Sunday 8.30am to 5pm, with separate weekly hours published for its shop and its café. Borough Market trades from 8 Southwark Street, SE1 1TL, Tuesday to Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm, closed on Mondays; the market's own timeline dates its Sunday trading to 2021. The Floral Hall portico standing over the market, brought here from Covent Garden, was listed Grade II on 14 April 2008 as NHLE 1392690. The Hop Exchange on the same street is Grade II, NHLE 1385923, listed 13 February 1970, and The George Inn is Grade I, NHLE 1378357, listed 2 March 1950. Cathedral, market, palace ruin and operating theatre all stand inside the Borough High Street conservation area.

Three playhouse sites in these streets are scheduled monuments, and the working reconstruction on Bankside is not one of them. Shakespeare's Globe at 21 New Globe Walk, SE1 9DT, is a reconstruction that opened in 1997, with the indoor candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on the same site; the archaeological remains of the original Globe are a scheduled monument on a separate site off Park Street, NHLE 1012806, scheduled 13 December 1989 over 0.169 hectares. The Rose Theatre is scheduled as NHLE 1012707, on 28 February 1992, and the Hope Playhouse with three further bear gardens as NHLE 1433280, on 20 September 2016. Winchester Palace on Clink Street, SE1 9AG, carries two designations over the same fabric: a Grade II* listing, NHLE 1378484, made 2 March 1950, and a scheduled monument, NHLE 1002054, scheduled 8 May 1951 over 0.557 hectares. Its surviving west gable carries a rose window and the ruin stands in the open, visible from the street at all times.

The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret occupies the garret of St Thomas' Church at 9a St Thomas Street, SE1 9RY, listed Grade II on 6 December 1949 as NHLE 1385873. It opens Thursday to Sunday 10.30am to 5pm, with last admission at 4.15pm, and admission quoted with a donation included is £10 for adults, £8 concession, £22 family and £6.50 for children aged 16 and under. Guy's Hospital main building, wings and chapel on the same street are Grade II, NHLE 1385877. The View from The Shard is entered from Joiner Street, SE1 9QU; Wikidata records Renzo Piano as the tower's architect and a floor area of 127,000 square metres, and the operator publishes opening times day by day rather than as a weekly schedule.

East of Tower Bridge the borough is nineteenth-century tanning and warehouse country, running out to the Rotherhithe peninsula. The Fashion and Textile Museum is at 83 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3XF, in a building designed by Ricardo Legorreta. It was founded in 2003 by Dame Zandra Rhodes and states that since 2007 it has been operated by Newham College, London. It opens Tuesday to Saturday 11.00 to 18.00 with last entry 45 minutes before closing, and states that it will be open for the final Sunday of each exhibition. The building stands inside the Bermondsey Street conservation area, and listed fabric on the same street includes 173 Bermondsey Street, Grade II, NHLE 1376564, and 187 and 189 Bermondsey Street, Grade II, NHLE 1376565.

Rotherhithe keeps the tunnel. The Brunel Museum on Railway Avenue, SE16 4LF, occupies the engine house and chimney built to pump Brunel's Thames Tunnel, listed Grade II on 31 January 1974 as NHLE 1386007 and scheduled on 14 December 1976 as NHLE 1005556 over 0.013 hectares. The tunnel itself is separately listed Grade II, NHLE 1242119, on 24 March 1995. The museum opens Friday to Monday 10.30am to 3.30pm with last entry at 3pm, and its admission, which the museum states includes a Gift Aid donation, is £10 for adults, £7 concession, free for under-16s and £2.50 for SE16 and SE8 postcodes. The Church of St Mary the Virgin stands on St Marychurch Street, SE16 4HZ, listed Grade II on 6 December 1949 as NHLE 1385867; the war memorial in its churchyard is Grade II, NHLE 1450153, and the Rotherhithe Norwegian Seamen memorial is Grade II, NHLE 1449959. Numbers 99, 101, 103 and 105 Rotherhithe Street beside the church are each listed Grade II, NHLE 1385827 to 1385830. Museum and church both stand inside the St Marys Rotherhithe conservation area.

Southwark Park lies between the two: a Grade II registered park and garden, NHLE 1000838, registered 1 October 1987 and covering 26.18 hectares. No source states its opening hours, so none are given here. Other designated fabric in these streets runs from the Leather Market, Grade II, NHLE 1386046, and the Butlers Wharf Building, Grade II, NHLE 1385896, to the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Grade II, NHLE 1376567, the Church of St James, Grade II, NHLE 1385962, and 67 Grange Walk, Grade II*, NHLE 1385574. The Southwark half of Tower Bridge is Grade I, NHLE 1385980, listed 6 December 1949, and the half on the north bank is a separate entry, NHLE 1357515. Scheduled ground here includes the Bermondsey Abbey buildings, NHLE 1001984, over 2.108 hectares.

Inland Southwark runs away from the river through the Walworth Road and Rye Lane shopping streets and the Camberwell art schools. Imperial War Museum London stands on Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ, and the address is misleading: the site lies in the London Borough of Southwark. The building was listed Grade II on 27 September 1972 as NHLE 1385640 and its lodge on the same date as NHLE 1385641, and it stands inside the West Square conservation area. It opens 10am to 6pm every day except 24 to 26 December, and the museum states that entry is free and that no booking is needed.

The South London Gallery works from two buildings on Peckham Road, SE5 8UH. The main gallery at 65–67 was listed Grade II on 27 September 1972 as NHLE 1385776, its forecourt wall and railings separately as NHLE 1385777; the second site at 82 is the former Peckham Fire Station, listed Grade II on 17 November 2008 as NHLE 1392995. The gallery states that it is free to visit and opens Wednesday 12pm to 9pm and Thursday to Sunday 12pm to 6pm, and that its Main Building and Fire Station spaces close between exhibition installs. It stands inside the Sceaux Gardens conservation area.

Peckham Rye Park, at Peckham Rye, SE22 0SH, was registered at Grade II on 1 October 1987 as NHLE 1000825 and covers 20.66 hectares. It holds the Sexby Garden, an enclosed formal garden with a pergola. No source states the park's opening hours, so none are given here. Peckham Rye station, at the north end of Rye Lane, was listed Grade II on 31 January 2008 as NHLE 1392389; it stands about 750 m north of the northern edge of Peckham Rye Common and about 1.6 km from the registered park. Rye Lane itself is a conservation area, as is the Walworth Road.

More designated fabric is spread across these streets. The Church of St Peter is Grade I, NHLE 1385662. Southwark Central Library and the Cuming Museum on the Walworth Road are Grade II, NHLE 1386027, listed 17 September 1998, and the Walworth Clinic is Grade II, NHLE 1393674. The former Camberwell Public Library and Livesey Museum is Grade II, NHLE 1385739. Two Piece Reclining Figure Number 3, the sculpture standing outside the sub station on the Brandon Estate, is itself listed Grade II, NHLE 1385448, on 15 April 1998.

A college estate laid out from 1619 shaped the southern end of the borough into a village, a park and a purpose-built picture gallery, with a Victorian garden cemetery on the ridge to the east. Dulwich Picture Gallery is at 14 Gallery Road, SE21 7AD. Wikidata records John Soane as its architect, an inception of 1811 and an opening in 1817, and cross-references list entry 1385543. The gallery and its mausoleum were listed together at Grade II* on 30 June 1954 as NHLE 1385543, and the cottage to the south east is separately listed Grade II, NHLE 1385544. The gallery opens Tuesday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closes on Mondays. It stands inside the Dulwich Village conservation area.

Dulwich Park on College Road, SE21 7BQ, was registered at Grade II on 1 October 1987 as NHLE 1000416 and covers 30.63 hectares. It has a boating lake. Four of its gates are listed Grade II — Old College Gate NHLE 1385424, Court Lane Gate NHLE 1385453, Queen Mary Gate NHLE 1385473 and Roseberry Gate NHLE 1385474 — with two park lodges also Grade II, NHLE 1385425 beside Old College Gate and NHLE 1385475 beside Roseberry Gate. No source states the park's opening hours, so none are given here. Dulwich College's main building is Grade II, NHLE 1385418, listed 27 September 1972; Bell House is Grade II, NHLE 1385409; Dulwich Old College is Grade II, NHLE 1385420; and Belair is a Grade II registered park and garden, NHLE 1000791, registered 1 October 1987 and covering 10.53 hectares.

Nunhead Cemetery is entered from Linden Grove, SE15. The Friends of Nunhead Cemetery state that the burial ground opened in July 1840 and that the site is a designated nature reserve. It was registered at Grade II* on 1 October 1987 as NHLE 1000824 and covers 20.25 hectares. Thirteen structures inside it are listed at Grade II: the chapel NHLE 1385646, East Lodge 1385647, the entrance gate piers, gates and railings 1385648, the monuments to Henry Daniel 1385649, John Allan 1385650, Maria Proom 1385651, Oppenheim and Schroeter 1385652, Sophia Kimpton 1385653, Thomas Humphreys 1385654 and Vincent Figgins 1385655, the Stearns Mausoleum 1385657, the Scottish Martyrs Memorial 1385658 and West Lodge 1385659. The cemetery is open to the public daily, and the published times are November to March 8.30am to 4pm, March 8.30am to 5pm, April to September 8.30am to 7pm and October 8.30am to 5pm. North Dulwich station is Grade II, NHLE 1385811, including its attached bridge and platforms.

Southwark has no single centre, and two interchanges act as gateways. London Bridge is in the north of the borough: the Underground station carries the Jubilee and Northern lines, and the rail station is served by Southeastern, Southern and Thameslink. Elephant & Castle is in the middle of it: the Underground station carries the Bakerloo and Northern lines, and the rail station, about 190 m from it, is served by Southeastern and Thameslink.

For Bankside and Borough, take the Jubilee or Northern line to London Bridge, about 70 m from Southwark Cathedral and about 160 m from Borough Market; the rail station is about 60 m from the Joiner Street entrance to The View from The Shard. Take the Northern line to Borough for the high street, about 500 m from the market. Take the Jubilee line to Southwark, about 540 m from Tate Modern, or Thameslink or Southeastern to London Blackfriars, about 560 m from it. Bankside Pier takes river-bus routes RB1 and RB6 and is about 230 m from Tate Modern and about 60 m from Shakespeare's Globe; London Bridge City Pier takes the same two routes and is about 340 m from the cathedral.

For Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, take the Windrush line to Rotherhithe, about 110 m from the Brunel Museum, or to Canada Water, about 460 m from it, where the Jubilee line also stops. Surrey Quays on the Windrush line is about 520 m from the centre of Southwark Park, and South Bermondsey, on Southern, about 730 m. Bermondsey on the Jubilee line is the station for Jamaica Road; for the Fashion and Textile Museum, London Bridge is nearer at about 710 m.

For Walworth, Camberwell and Peckham, take the Bakerloo line to Lambeth North, about 420 m from the Imperial War Museum, or the Bakerloo or Northern line to Elephant & Castle, about 570 m from it. Peckham Rye is the station for Rye Lane, served by Southeastern, Southern, Thameslink and the Windrush line, about 870 m from the South London Gallery; Denmark Hill, served by Southeastern, Thameslink and the Windrush line, is about 950 m from the gallery. Queens Road Peckham takes Southern and the Windrush line.

For Dulwich and Nunhead, take Southeastern to West Dulwich, about 680 m from Dulwich Picture Gallery, or Southern to North Dulwich, about 960 m from it. Nunhead, served by Southeastern and Thameslink, is about 480 m from the centre of Nunhead Cemetery; Brockley, on Southern and the Windrush line, is about 980 m, and Crofton Park, on Southeastern and Thameslink, about 1,310 m. The Friends of Nunhead Cemetery add that buses P12 and 78 pass the far end of Linden Grove and that the 343 and 484 run near the Limesford Road gate. Every distance above is a straight-line approximation, not a walking measurement.