The White Tower is the oldest part of William the Conqueror's fortress. It was built between about 1077 and 1097 as the keep or citadel. St John's Chapel on the second floor is an impressive and complete survival from early in the Norman period, unlike many other Norman churches in England which date from the mid-12th century.

Limehouse was a hamlet in the parish of St Dunstan, Stepney, when it was first judged worthy of having its own church in the early 18th century. Within a hundred years, the view from the tower of St Anne's would encompass a scene of intense maritime activity, including the great shipbuilding yards of the Thames, where scores of East Indiamen, ships of the Royal Navy and merchant vessels were built and refitted.

Spitalfields was in ancient times part of the huge parish of St Dunstan, Stepney, which stretched from the City to Bow and from Hackney to the Thames. It now has a vividly Asian colour, largely Bangladeshi. London's suburban development in this direction began early, and already in the Middle Ages the hamlets of Whitechapel and Bow were given churches of their own.

St Mary's has a notable part in the story of the Mayflower, which took the Pilgrim Fathers to North America in 1620, for its master, Christopher Jones, lies buried there. He is not the only reminder of Rotherhithe's maritime past. Among the memorials there is one to Captain Anthony Wood, Jones's contemporary, which features a fine carving of a ship.

Ghosts of the past teem at the road junction in Borough High Street where St George the Martyr stands in an uncommonly fine position. Roman, mediaeval and modern roads of the first importance have all converged here for 2,000 years. King Henry V, for example, passed by in 1415 after his victory at Agincourt.

St Barnabas's is unusual because it is a fairly lavish new church building of the 1990s, sited within five miles of the centre of London. It was built in 1995-6 by Larry Malcic of the American firm of Helmuth, Obata & Kassabaum to replace a church which had been destroyed by fire in 1992. The modernity of the design ensured that there was determined opposition until planning permission was granted in 1994.

H.S. Goodhart-Rendel designed this Catholic church, which was built in 1957-60 near Bermondsey's waterfront just downstream of Tower Bridge. It occupies a prominent corner site. The previous church of 1834-5 stood in nearby Parker's Row in a much less conspicuous position; it was destroyed by bombing in 1940.

St George's Cathedral is an interesting Gothic work built by Romilly Craze in 1953-8. It is also a restoration of A. W. N. Pugin's bombed church of 1840-8. Pugin was the most forceful propagandist of the Gothic Revival in the first half of the 19th century.

The benefaction by which Thomas Guy founded the well-known hospital was one of the largest in London since the Reformation. His monument states that he 'rivalled the endowments of Kings'; for once, an 18th-century eulogy is no exaggeration. He founded his hospital in 1721.

The mediaeval nave was cleared away in 1838, but its roof bosses of 1469 survive. Sir Arthur Blomfield designed the present seven-bay nave in 1890-7. Its design is based on the 13th-century choir, but adds a few embellishments. It is a very worthy contribution to the whole and serves to remind us of the huge and costly effort that the Victorians put into the care of churches.