The original name of the church of this parish was St. Mary Overy, or over the river. On the dissolution, about Christmas, , the inhabitants of the parishes of St. Margaret and , petitioned the king for a grant of the church which had belonged to the priory here, and being seconded by Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, obtained it by purchase, by which means the conventual church has been preserved to this time. In , these parishes were, by an act of parliament, made into , by the new name of St. Saviour. The church of St. Margaret was pulled down, and that of , which stood by the priory church, and was originally a chapel to it, was added to that building, and formed a portion of the south aisle until the late repairs.

This parish is large, extending from London-bridge east, to west, and is divided into liberties; that of the Borough and that of the Clink. Its particular bounds are as follows: commencing at the south foot of new ; thence south to a little below , where it turns east by to the south side of , thence to , to the north side of , and after a short distance to the south side of the same street to Little , behind the houses on the south side of , to to the Falcon dock.