Everyone knows that London is a city of villages, but it sometimes comes as a surprise to visitors and residents alike to find that the villages themselves are often collections of historic hamlets.  Many of these hamlets have been absorbed so completely into the larger local neighborhoods that even their names have been lost to history.  Some have survived, though sometimes you have to look hard to find them.  Wandering recently around Bermondsey (near London Bridge station), I came across one of these places: Snowsfields.

Bermondsey itself is an area with an ancient history.  There’s evidence of settlement in Roman times, and from the 11th century onward its importance grew as a center of ecclesiastical and political power.  From medieval times, it was the heart of London’s tanning and brewing industries, and even today you’ll find some great pubs in the area.  In recent years, it has become more gentrified, with galleries such as White Cube moving in, followed by restaurants, shops, and so on.  It’s a long way from the slum housing that plagued the neighborhood for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, leading to charitable projects in Snowsfields such as the Guinness Trust estate and Arthur’s Mission, both of which can still be seen.

I would have known none of this without the small plaque I found on the street outside the Guinness Trust estate as I walked around the area on a quiet, sunny Sunday afternoon.  Thank goodness for local history enthusiasts, proud of their neighborhoods, who remind of us of the rich history beneath our feet and protect the monuments – religious and secular – that would otherwise be wiped away by the rush to the future.