Dickens in Borough

I have been reading Claire Tomalin's biography of Charles Dickens.  He was born on 7 February 1812, so he has just had his 200th birthday.  There is a wonderful exhibition all about him at the Museum of London.  You can almost smell the filth in the streets.

Dicken's father was unfortunately not good with money and when Dickens was twelve his father was imprisoned in the Marshalsea Debtors' Prison which stood by St. George's Church in Borough High Street.  Debtors stayed in prison until their debts were paid.  Young Charles Dickens went into lodgings in an attic in Lant Street and was sent to work in a blacking factory by Hungerford Stairs.  He walked to work through Mint Street and past the workhouse, probably wondering if that was where he would end up.  Dickens described the Borough area in Pickwick Papers and Little Dorrit.   King's Bench Prison, where Mr. Micawber was imprisoned, was nearby, and also Horsemonger Gaol.  People living in Bath Row used to let their rooms out to spectators of public hangings.  Dickens saw these and was a strong supporter of abolition
 of public executions.

All that is left of the Marshalsea is one long wall, at the back of St. George's Churchyard.  The streets around are named for Dickens characters, and the park is Little Dorrit Park.  But walk along Borough High Street from St. George's Church towards London Bridge and on the right hand side there are still the old entrances to the coaching inns which lined the road when London Bridge was the only roadway across the Thames.  The George Inn still has its galleries looking over the inn yard, just like the inns where strolling players performed before Shakespeare's Globe and the other old theatres of the area were built.



Down by London Bridge is the entrance to Borough Market, go there on Thursdays, Fridays or Saturdays to enjoy the speciality foods, the cheeses, the breads, the sausages and pies.  Sample currys cooked in enormous shallow pans over gas stoves.  Then go down to the Thames and see the replica of the Golden Hind, so small it is impossible to imagine Sir Francis Drake and his crew sailing round the world in her.