Southwark Cathedral or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge.

It is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. It has been a place of Christian worship for over 1,000 years, but a cathedral only since the creation of the diocese of Southwark in 1905. The church was in the diocese of Winchester until 1877, when the parish of St Saviour's, along with other South London parishes was transferred to the diocese of Rochester The present building is mainly Gothic, from 1220 to 1420, although the nave is a nineteenth-century reconstruction in a thirteenth-century style.

Borough Market is immediately to its south and the Hall of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass is on the riverside part of Montague Close on its north.

The earliest reference to the site was in the Domesday Book survey of 1086, wherein the "minster" of Southwark seems to be under the control of Bishop Odo of Bayeux (William the Conqueror's half-brother). It is unlikely that this minster pre-dates the conversion of Wessex in the mid-seventh century, or the foundation of the "burh" ca AD 886. There is no proof of any claims, as presently made by the Cathedral authorities, that a convent was founded on the site in 606 nor of the claim that a monastery was founded by St Swithun in the ninth century. The Old English minster was a collegiate church servicing a south Thames area. In 1106, Henry I's reign, the latter became an Augustinian Priory: this was founded with the patronage of the Bishops of Winchester which relationship was re-inforced by the establishment of their London palace immediately neighbouring the Priory to the west in 1149; a remaining wall and rose window of the refectory of the Palace survives on nearby Clink Street. Norman stonework can still be seen, and Thomas Becket preached here before departing to Canterbury, days before his murder in 1170.

Coordinates: 51°29′56″N 0°05′24″W / 51.4988°N 0.0901°W / 51.4988; -0.0901

Southwark (pronounced /ˈsʌðərk/ SUDH-ərk) is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north. It historically formed an ancient borough in the county of Surrey, made up of a number of parishes, which increasingly came under the influence and jurisdiction of the City of London. As an inner district of London, Southwark experienced rapid depopulation during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is now at an advanced stage of regeneration and is the location of the City Hall offices of the Greater London Authority.

The name Suthriganaweorc or Suthringa geweorche is recorded for the area in the 10th century Anglo-Saxon document known as the Burghal Hidage and means "fort of the men of Surrey" or "the defensive work of the men of Surrey". Southwark is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as Sudweca. The name means "southern defensive work" and is formed from the Old English sūth and weorc. The southern location is in reference to the City of London to the north, Southwark being at the southern end of London Bridge. The name has been used for various areas of civil administration, including the ancient Borough of Southwark, the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark and the current London Borough of Southwark. The ancient borough of Southwark was also known simply as The Borough —or Borough— and this name, in distinction from 'The City', has persisted as an alternative name for the area. Southwark was also simultaneously referred to as the Ward of Bridge Without when administered by the City (from 1550 to 1900 and as an Aldermanry until 1978.