A part of London on the south side of the River Thames, right across from the City of London. Note the spelling trap first: it is said "SUTH-uk" — the middle 'w' is silent and the 'k' ending is soft, so it sounds nothing like it looks. Southwark is old. For centuries it sat just outside the control of the City authorities across the river, so it filled up with the things the City would not allow: theatres, bear-pits, inns, prisons. That is why Shakespeare's Globe Theatre stood there, and a modern copy of it stands there today. Southwark Cathedral is the other famous building — a large, important church, much older than the more famous cathedrals of central London. Today Southwark is one of London's official boroughs (a borough is an administrative district of the city, with its own local council), and it covers a bigger area than the old riverside district: the Tate Modern art gallery, Borough Market, and The Shard are all in it. So when someone says "Southwark" you have to listen for which one they mean — the historic patch by the river, or the whole modern borough. In everyday speech Londoners more often name the smaller neighbourhoods inside it (Bermondsey, Peckham, Dulwich) than say "Southwark" at all.