Editing Southwark (section)

====St Olaf====
This defensive role is highlighted by the role of the bridge in the 1014-1016 war between King [[Ethelred the Unready]] and his ally [[Olaf II of Norway|Olaf II Haraldsson]] (later King of Norway, and afterwards known as ''St Olaf'', or ''St Olave'') on one side, and [[Sweyn Forkbeard]] and his son [[Cnut the Great|Cnut]] (later King Cnut), on the other.

London submitted to Swein in 1014, but on Swein's death, Ethelred returned, with Olaf in support. Swein had fortified London and the bridge, but according to [[Snorri Sturluson|Snorri Sturleson's]] saga, Edgar and Olaf tied ropes from the bridge's supporting posts and pulled it into the river, together with the Danish army, allowing Ethelred to recapture London.<ref>Inwood, Stephen, ''A History of London'', Macmillan, 1998. {{ISBN|0-7867-0613-9}}, p. 45.</ref> This may be the origin of the nursery rhyme "[[London Bridge Is Falling Down]]".<ref>Hagland, Jan Ragnar, and Bruce Watson, [https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-457-1/dissemination/pdf/vol10/vol10_12/10_12_328_333.pdf "Fact or folklore: the Viking attack on London Bridge"], ''London Archaeologist'', Spring 2005.</ref>

There was a church, [[St Olave's Church, Southwark|St Olave's Church]], dedicated to St Olaf before the Norman Conquest and this survived until the 1920's. [[St Olaf House]] (part of [[London Bridge Hospital]]), named after the church and its saint, stands on the spot. [[Tooley Street]], being a corruption of ''St Olave's Street'', also takes its name from the former church.<ref>Weinreb and Hibbert, ''The London Encyclopaedia'', 1983.</ref>