Coast

Customs Officers in Docklands

By the church in St. Marychurch Street you will find the Rotherhithe Picture Research Library. They have a large collection of old photographs, postcards and magazines of the local area and it is free to the public. It was opened in 1976 and is part of a major film company called Sands Studios. If you want to visit the library it can be found on the left as you enter the building, the café is for film staff only.

St Mary's Free School

They funded the school with the sum of £3 per annum and a brass plaque and other objects can be found in the church. The original school was founded in 1613 and later moved in 1797 to the building you see today. It is thought to be the oldest elementary school in London.

The Watch House next to the Free School

Bodysnatching was common in this area as surgeons at the local Guy's hospital required fresh corpses and body parts for medical research. This practice was common around London and ‘Resurrection Men’ would take bodies from graves and disguise them as merchandise. Legally, only bodies of convicted criminals could be taken. In 1832, The Anatomy Act was passed, making it an offence to rob a grave. It was only legal to dissect the unclaimed bodies of people who had died in hospitals or poor houses.