Another in the series on historic secular buildings of London …

Rotherhithe was first recorded as Rederheia in around 1105, and takes is name from the Old English “redhra”, meaning mariner, and “hyth”, meaning landing place.  It appears to have been a small settlement surrounding the church of St Mary in the Medieval period, when Edward III had a retreat on the river here.

The remains of the retreat still survive, near King’s Stairs.

A Museum of London Archaeology monograph describes in detail the findings of recent archaeological excavations at  Medieval sites in Rotherhithe (Blatherwick & Bluer, 2009).  Another  investigates the later, maritime history of the area, based on the findings of excavations at Pacific Wharf  (Heard & Goodburn, 2003).