Lower Marsh Market London’s oldest and best-loved market streets

It is thought that London in prehistoric times was merely a collection of scattered rural settlements, but it was the Romans who founded the city of Londinium with a city wall to protect it from invaders. The area inside the defensive wall is now known as "The Square Mile", or "The City", and is the financial centre of the UK.

In the seventeenth century civil war raged in England. It was also the time of the great plague that killed 100,000 residents followed by the Great Fire of London, started accidentally in Pudding Lane in the City of London that wiped out eighty percent of London.

Britain was a very powerful nation in the 18th Century and London, with its trading capabilities, was the centre of its power. In the nineteenth century, London became the centre of world trade and had a large, powerful Empire. London continued to grow both in population and spread during the 20th Century and currently has a population of 8.6 million.

A short walk from Waterloo station and the Old Vic theatre, Lower Marsh is named after the site of the ancient Lambeth Marsh, first recorded in 1377, on which it stands. One of London’s oldest and best-loved market streets Lower Marsh is on London’s South Bank, next to Waterloo Station and a short walk from the Old Vic theatre. Founded in 1850, the historic Lower Marsh features some of the London’s most fascinating independent shops and other treasures in a growing and eclectic community.

Lower Marsh is one of London’s oldest and best-loved market streets, being home to a mishmash of fantastic street food traders and purveyors of fresh produce, gifts, jewellery and all sorts of useful household items.

In 1984 Lambeth council designated Lower Marsh and it's immediate surroundings a conservation area in recognition of its special character.

Lower Marsh Street pre-dates all the buildings now present. It is shown in the de la Feuille survey of 1690 as a lane lined with cottages and small holdings crossing Lambeth Marsh, on an almost identical alignment. It formed a link between Westminster Bridge (1750) and Blackfriars Bridge (1769). Leisure activities, including pleasure gardens, circuses, theatres which characterised the south bank in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were present in and around Lower Marsh. The opening of Waterloo Bridge in 1817 brought cheap development land for the expansion south of central London. The Marsh was drained, and soon covered with rows of small houses, wharves and workshops.

The building of Waterloo Station in 1848 and its subsequent expansion cut the street off from the riverside, creating a number of yards and cul de sacs from former streets. In the twentieth century war damage, and subsequent housing redevelopment significantly changed the historic street patterns, confining the street market to Lower Marsh.

The current buildings on Lower Marsh Street represent many different phases of development and several styles. Amongst the diverse buildings are some interesting examples of early nineteenth century vernacular architecture, continuing the Georgian vernacular patterns and layouts of the eighteenth century. Good examples of shop-fronts from different eras are present on the street and courts and alleyways and some original paving can still be seen on streets off to the sides. This variety gives the area great character, enhanced by the market.