I have had a fascination with Southwark Cathedral and the area around it, for many years. The Globe Theatre, Old London Bridge and the South Bank in general had a reputation for being lawless and outside the restraints of the city. It was a place of bawdy pleasure, hospitality and creativity.

Today’s Cathedral was once the Collegiate Church of St Saviour and prior to that, before the dissolution on the monastries, the abbey of St Mary Overie (over the river). It stands next to the oldest crossing-point on the River Thames at what was, for many centuries, the only entrance to the City of London from the south side of the river.

Now, the Cathedral is boxed in by modern development, Borough Market, London Bridge railway station etc. and I wondered what it may have looked like when it stood as the largest building in that area.

For this period to be depicted a 3D digital model was constructed with reference to contemporary engravings and maps with a notional date of 1650. The short video below is a work in progress but does, I hope, provide a glimpse into a time when the building stood head and shoulders above the rest.