Southwark writer John Constable performs poems and songs from The Southwark Mysteries and talks about the amazing history explored in his Secret Bankside – Walks In The Outlaw Borough. Both books have just been reprinted in new editions by Oberon Books and signed copies will be available at this event. To book your place, please use the form at the bottom of this page.

The Liberty of the Clink dates back to 1107 when the Bishop of Winchester was granted a stretch of the Southwark Bankside, which lay outside the law of the City of London. Here, the Bishop controlled the brothels, or stews. The whores of The Liberty were known as Winchester Geese. The Vision Books of The Southwark Mysteries were first revealed by The Goose to John Crow, trickster-familiar of the poet and playwright John Constable, on 23rd November 1996. In these apocalyptic verses, John Crow encounters The Goose at Crossbones, the whores’ graveyard unearthed during work on the Jubilee Line Extension. She initiates him into a secret history spanning 2,000 years – a vision of the Spirit in the flesh, the Sacred in the profane, Eternity in time. This vision informs The Mystery Plays, a contemporary “Southwark Cycle” rooted in the medieval mysteries, retelling sacred stories in the earthy language and context of our own time and place. This epic drama was first performed in Shakespeare’s Globe and Southwark Cathedral on Easter Sunday, 23rd April 2000. A new production was presented in Southwark Cathedral in 2010. The third part of the work is a Glossolalia of local history and esoteric lore to be read in conjunction with the poems and plays.

‘Past and present, sacred and profane jostle and collide in a glorious tumult in this anarchic drama, inspired by the medieval Mystery Plays... couched in verse that is muscular, ribald, and often dazzlingly rich...’ The Times

On the south bank of the Thames, outside the jurisdiction of the ancient City of London, Bankside has long been known as a hotbed of creativity, dissent and loose living.With its brothels and bear-pits, its prisons and its pubs, the area has inspired the nation’s greatest writers – Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Keats and Blake – and been home to its most famous theatres – The Globe, The Rose, The Old Vic and The National. These same south London streets have given sanctuary to immigrants and refugees, to tradesmen, craftsmen and Thames Watermen, to the workhouse poor and the criminal underclass. Writer, performer and local historian John Constable is well known for his walks around this fascinating area. The eight walks collected here are among his most popular. Packed with social history and local lore, they are witty, insightful and hugely entertaining. Each walk is easy to follow, accompanied by maps and clear directions, and illustrated with period prints and contemporary photographs. Together, they tell the extraordinary and, until recently, largely forgotten story of London’s anarchic, irrepressible ‘Outlaw Borough’.

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