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St. Mary Overie Stairs and its adjoining dock functioned as a large wharfe and landing place
on the southern bank of Thames, which provided river access to Winchester House and the Priory of St. Mary Overies (Stow 1598, sig. Y7v). While the stairs were commonly known as either Winchester Stairs or St. Mary Overie Stairs, they were sometimes referred to as St. Saviour Stairs after the Dissolution of the Monasteries (Rendle 203; Cave 225). This location is visible on the Agas map, though it is not labelled.
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St. Mary Overie Stairs and its adjoining dock functioned as a large wharfe and landing place
on the southern bank of Thames, which provided river access to Winchester House and the Priory of St. Mary Overies (Stow 1598, sig. Y7v). While the stairs were commonly known as either Winchester Stairs or St. Mary Overie Stairs, they were sometimes referred to as St. Saviour Stairs after the Dissolution of the Monasteries (Rendle 203; Cave 225). Howard and Godfrey note that in
St. Mary Overie Priory likely derives its provocative name from the necessary activity of crossing over the Thames in order to reach it. But the stairs more aptly evince that meaning since they would be the main point of accessing their religious namesake after crossing the river. Either way, the emphasis on crossing over to this location was very likely due to the constant traffic into the south bank in Southwark where these stairs were built. This location ironically abetted immoral permissiveness because it fell out of the jurisdiction of the City of London and into the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Winchester, whose manor, Winchester Palace, stood adjacent to St. Mary Overie Stairs. The Diocese would have collected rents and fees from the many brothels and gaming houses in that district (Livingstone and Cross,
Though these stairs do not carry any significant literary references, a plaque near the present location of the stairs, tells of the legend of St. Mary Overie, which challenges the Legend suggests that before the construction of London Bridge in the tenth century a ferry existed here. Ferrying passengers across the River Thames was a lucrative trade. The ferryman’s distressed daughter This became the priory of Saint Mary Overie, crossing over
designation:
traverse ferrie over the Thames
, made such a good living that he was able to acquire a considerable estate on the south bank of the river.thinking to kill the Devil at the first blow, actually struck out his brains
.
Aside from the rumor and legend linked to these stairs, some extant tradesman coins, which were small private tokens used for paying watermen at locations specified on the coin, hint at the popularity or necessity of these stairs for river navigation and access to Southwark. Guild regulations often dictated that no whyrrye take for his fare from
numerous nearby locations to Sayncte Marye Oueryes stayres
(Watermen’s Company 2), hence the trade tokens were used to either circumvent or maintain that restriction.Obverse inscription:
) and R.NN19814 (Reverse inscription: In / Southwarke / His. halfe / Penny / I.S.S. [in cursive script with triad of initials in Roman capitals below, in field]
).