South London (County Book Series)

The Score. Thames divides the metro-polis of London into two parts with ruthless efficiency. On the North Bank is to be found everything which stands for the word " London " in the minds and hearts of people all over the world. The South Bank, on the other hand, is terra incognita to all but its inhabitants.

Over the past hundred years a swift tide ot mean and ugly buildings inundated the plains and foothills of Surrey and Kent bordering the Thames, in a phase of industrial expansion and housing development unequalled in history. Lovely villages and hamlets were sub. merged and all but lost beneath the lumber of an industrial revolution.

Palaces of kings and cardinals, an abbey second only to that of West-minster, the monasteries and fine mansions of a past age, all have vanished, leaving no trace. In some cases their very sites are unknown, while hardly a monument remains to mark the birthplace of English literature and drama, or the maritime greatness of Deptford.

Yet in this book the author is by no means solely concerned with recapturing the past. Indeed, he provides a mirror to reflect the mess, muddle and mediocrity which so largely constitutes the South London of to-day, and he calls insistently for a recovery of the lost spirit of comradeship and faith; for it is only by these that the vital task of rebuilding this " despised cobweb " may leave the realm of pious hopes and enter the sphere of practical reality.