London guide

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History of London

London was founded by the Romans around AD 43, and the Roman town occupied roughly the same area as the "square mile" of the "City" today. The Romans built their town here as it was the furthest point up the Thames that ships could easily reach on the tide, and the geological conditions also meant the the river could be bridged here too.

The Romans were temporally removed when Queen Boudicca sacked their town in AD 60. However the Romans returned and strengthened their settlement with a wall about 2 miles in perimeter, 20 feet high and 9 feet thick. Remains of this wall can still be seen today in Coopers Row and Roman coins are found here too

Not surprisingly, little is known of London in the period widely called the Dark Ages. However, archaeologists have given us a small glimpse of life at this time. The city was largely ruinous; yet at least one large Roman house, with an underground heating system and private bath-suite, was still being lived in, probably well into the late 5th century. The occupants used (or at least hoarded) Roman coins from previous decades and imported large amphora jars from the Eastern Mediterranean. This trade with the distant Empire may indicate a brief revival of London as a commercial centre. It has even been suggested that, due to the troubled nature of the times, the return exports may have been slaves. The city appears to have been known by the late Celtic name of 'Caer-Lundein' and, may possibly, have been at the centre of a small kingdom also encompassing St. Albans. However, tales of King Arthur holding court at Westminster and pulling the Sword from the Stone in St. Paul's Churchyard are merely apocryphal.

The Roman wall still was large enough to contain the city 1000 years later, when William the Conqueror arrived in the town, fresh from his victory at the Battle of Hastings. By now the city of Westminster was developing to the west of the City of London. Edward the Confessor has built his palace there and had established Westminster Abbey.

William the Conqueror set about building a great castle, the Tower of London. The White Tower, in the centre of the present complex, is the oldest and most impressive buildings from this period. In its time it has been fortress, palace and prison. It has seen many famous prisoners and many executions

The strength of the Mayoralty in London was confirmed under Richard the Lionheart and even more during his absence on crusade, under the future King John's regency. The mayor's authority, supported by his aldermen and ouncilmen was given such a firm basis that it still continues in much the same form. London was made the first municipal corporation in England, later emulated by 28 edieval towns in their own charters.

Londoners were always willing to take the opportunities presented by power struggles within the national government. John, brother of Richard I, was able to win unaccustomed support in his opposition to Longchamp, Richard's ruthless representative, by accepting the ''commune'' of London. This was ultimately to lead, in 1191, to the meeting of the English Barons with the Citizens of London and their removing Longchamp in order to bring John to power. At this point John kept his word and publicly recognised the commune, agreeing to respect the rights of all those involved. It is not entirely clear what led to this exceptional event, but civil unrest is widely suspected. At this time many individual territories, or sokes, with their own jurisdiction would have existed within the area and the transition for these would have been particularly problematic

By 1616, when the scene below was painted, London was a busy capital city. Old St Paul's can be seen centre left, and old London Bridge centre right, with the houses and shops built on the bridge itself. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre had recently opened. Most of the buildings were made of wood. And being made of wood was the problem when a bakers oven overheated in Pudding Lane on 2nd September 1666. The fire quickly spread

Only Staple Inn in Holborn (below left) survives today as an example of what London looked like then. The contemporary painting shows the Great Fire at is height, with Old St Paul's burning in the centre. Rremarkably only 4 people were killed, but 13,000 houses were destroyed. And a new law was immediately passed decreeing that all new buildings had to be in stone or brick!

And by the late 17th century an entirely new city had arisen on the site of the old. Sir Christopher Wren created the new St Paul's, on the site of the 7th century cathedral. 20 more of Wrens city churches survive today

London's population now started to grow rapidly. Developers like the Grosvenor family began to build in Mayfair and St James. The main innovation of this period was "the square". Also the Royal Parks, once royal hunting grounds, were gradually opened to the publicSt James Square has only altered today in that the fountain (below left) has been replaced by a garden in the centre. Next came the fashionable terraces of the 18th century. You can see, below left and right, that these too have stood the test of time

The arrival of the railway created another wave of development in the late 1800's. St Pancras then and now looks more like a Gothic castle than a railway station. Other large railway stations were built all round the edge of the main town. And in 1939 to 1945 war, another great change to the landscape took place as German bombing removed much of the old housing. Remarkably St Paul's survived the incendiary bombing .

In the post-war period heavy immigration from countries of the old British Empire changed the character of the city. Notting Hill acquired a large Caribbean population, Honk Kong immigrants settled in Soho, Sikhs in Southall, and Cypriots in Finsbury.

London in the sixties had its own unique atmosphere, a heady hallucinogenic gas that induced a feeling of well-being and sensitivity to colour. People flooded in and the tourist industry prospered. The sixties saw people crowding with equal enthusiasm to both open-air rock concerts and political demonstrations. With the decline of the docks, much building has been going on in the East End of London, and whole complexes of housing and commercial buildings have appeared on those sites which had been virtually unchanged since the days of Victoria. The most significant of these is the Canary Wharf development, with its own light elevated railway.


Introduction | History | Famous tourist attractions | Transport