City of London
The City of London refers to the "square mile" or the original area of the
walled town. Credit for its foundation is given to the Roman General Aulus Plautius in
AD43. He bridged the Thames, started the town, and in a few years it was a great trading
centre. Boudicca and her warriors destroyed it in AD60, but the town was soon rebuilt. It
continued to be an important town for the next 1000 years, and after the Norman conquest,
became the capital of England.
In fact the capital developed with two centres
- Westminster - the political centre
- the City - as the merchant or trading centre
The great Fire in 1666 destroyed 13,000 houses in the old town, but gave a marvellous
opportunity for rebuilding - note particularly St Paul's Cathedral. The area continued to
develop as a financial centre of the world
Bombing destroyed 20% of the buildings in World War II, but again re-building has
covered the scars
Places to note are
- Bank of England - founded in 1694, though the present building is a
between the wars construction. A detachment of soldiers guard the building every night.
For some inexplicable reason someone forgot to cancel an order made in 1780, when the
Gordon Riots were in full swing, and the Bank has been guarded ever since
- Barbican - gets its name from the word for a watch tower. Built on land
levelled by enemy bombing, it was designed to bring residents back into an area that had
become purely a business district
- Billingsgate - gets its name from a river gate into the walled town. It
developed into an important harbour, which imported fish. Hence the fish market grew up
here. This has now been moved further out, to the West India Docks
- Covent Garden - another of the old markets, this one for fruit and
vegetables, has now been moved out. The original market halls remain and have been
converted into an interesting shopping mall
- Fleet Street - named after the Fleet River, which has long since
disappeared into an underground culvert. Until the 1980's it was the centre of the UK
newspaper industry. Eventually computerisation arrived, and the press moved out to modern
buildings in the old Dockland
- Gray's Inn and the Temple - the legal profession (if they may be deemed
a profession) set up shop in the centre of things too. In the quiet inns, you can see some
of the richest men in Britain walk the alleyways. These lawyers have driven justice out of
the reach of most people in Britain today. As they charge around five pounds a minute for
their services, be wary of passing the time of day with them
- Guildhall - The seat of the Corporation, which governs the area. It is
also the centre for much of the pageantry, including the Lord Mayors banquet in November
each year, at which the Prime Minister traditionally makes a major speech. There is a very
comprehensive library, which has among other things a deed of sale for a house, signed by
one William Shakespeare
- Lombard Street - the very heart of the financial centre. Many banks
have their headquarters here. It was named after moneylenders from Lombardy in Italy, who
came here in the 12th century
- Mansion House - this 18th century building, just south of the Bank, is
the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London
- Queen Victoria Street - opened in 1871 to link the Bank with the
Thames. On it you will find the 17th century College of Arms (genealogy and heraldry) and
the 20th century Mermaid theatre
- St Paul's Cathedral has its own page
- The Strand - the thoroughfare that links the City to Westminster. It
contains the Victorian Gothic Law Courts, St Clements Dane Church, and Somerset
House (which held all birth, marriage and death records for England and Wales from 1837 to
1974
- Tower -William the Conqueror started construction and there has
been a very colourful 1000 year history
City of London
