Stephen Porter - The Story of London: From its Earliest Origins to the Present Day

First published 2016

Amberley Publishing
The Hill, Stroud
Gloucestershire, GL5 4EP

www.amberley-books.com

Copyright Stephen Porter 2016

The right of Stephen Porter to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781445645858 (PRINT)
ISBN 9781445645902 (eBOOK)

Typeset in 9.5pt on 12.5pt Sabon.
Typesetting and Origination by Amberley Publishing.
Printed in the UK.

1. A section of the Roman wall of the early third century was uncovered when Newgate Prison was demolished in 1903, and recorded by Philip Norman. (Stephen Porter)

London was created by the Romans following the invasion of Britain by Claudiuss army in AD 43. Julius Caesars incursions in 55 BC and 54 BC had been short-lived, and no settlement had been formed on Londons future site over the following decades, although the tribal societies of pre-conquest Britain had developed oppida at Colchester, Verulamium, close to the future St Albans, and Silchester, in Hampshire. But within a few years of the Claudian conquest a town came into being on the north bank of the Thames, at the rivers lowest bridging point, which was known as Londinium. The name was not a Latin one, and perhaps derived from pre-Celtic elements which referred to a place at the navigable river. It was retained, in various forms, throughout the Anglo-Saxon period, and subsequently became standardised as London.

On the north side of the river the two low hills of Ludgate Hill and Cornhill, separated by the Walbrook, provided a suitable site for a settlement. The army may have established a camp on Cornhill soon after the invasion, and streets were laid out there by around AD 47. Across the Thames from Cornhill was a peninsula, or possibly an island, which projected into the river among the mudflats, and the two dry sites were connected by a bridge by around AD 50. The settlement which then grew up on its south side was to develop as the suburb of Southwark.

Londinium grew rapidly as a trading town, and by around AD 60 its population may have reached 10,000. A grid of streets was set out around a marketplace on Cornhill; the historian Tacitus described it as an important centre for business-men and merchandise. The main street ran from east to west across the two hills and the Walbrook valley, continuing to the west along Newgate Street and becoming Watling Street, which connected Londinium with Verulamium and had a branch that led to Silchester, and to the east along the line of Fenchurch Street to Colchester. The street from the bridge continued northwards on the line of Bishopsgate and became Ermine Street, connecting Londinium with York and Lincoln; across the bridge it ran through Southwark and on to Canterbury and Richborough. The steep descent to the river was terraced and landing places were formed and warehouses built, while on the south side of the river timber piling was used where necessary to raise the roadways above the marshy surface.

Development was abruptly halted by the revolt of Boudicca, the queen of the Iceni, in East Anglia. This erupted in AD 60 and continued into the following year. After her army had burnt Colchester the Romans prudently withdrew from Londinium: The inhabitants were allowed to accompany them. But those who stayed because they were women, or old, or attached to the place, were slaughtered by the enemy. Boudiccas followers burnt both Londinium and Southwark and then moved north, torching Verulamium, before being defeated at a battle in the Midlands. Londiniums recovery initially was sluggish, but after ten years or so the town was rebuilt and again began to grow. During the last few decades of the first century it prospered, serving as an important port for the province and as the focus of its developing road network. It also had an important administrative role, with the procurator, who was the principal tax collector, based there, and that was enhanced when the headquarters of the governor of the province was moved to the town from Colchester. By the early second century its population may have been as high as 30,000 and Londinium was the provinces most significant town. Its merchants traded not only with northern Europe but also with ports in the Mediterranean, from where imports included olive oil, wine and fish sauce; bronze lamps were brought in from Italy and emeralds in a necklace found at Cannon Street came from Egypt.

A forum and basilica constructed on the site of the market on Cornhill were soon replaced by a much grander complex which took thirty years to build. In around AD 70 a wooden amphitheatre was erected, on the site of Guildhall Yard, and public baths were built close to the river. A temple erected during the period was also west of the Walbrook, suggesting that building density on Cornhill prevented the construction of large complexes in that area. The amphitheatre was rebuilt in stone and to a larger plan in the early second century; it then had space for as many as 8,000 spectators.

The majority of houses, shops and workshops were built of timber and roofed with thatch; their water supply came from wells. Craftsmen using the workshops included goldsmiths, coppersmiths, leather workers (especially shoemakers), potters, enamellers and iron forgers. Fires occurred from time to time and a major blaze at some point in the years AD 12530 destroyed buildings from Newgate Street in the west almost to the edge of the built-up area in the east. A fort covering twelve acres was constructed in the Cripplegate area; it may have been built before the fire and was untouched by the conflagration, or its erection could have been prompted by the disaster to provide a secure base separate from the towns flammable buildings. It housed a garrison and possibly the governors staff.

In the aftermath of the fire, and with changes in trading patterns, Londinium experienced a decline that lasted for much of the second century. Its public buildings were not only left unrepaired but in some cases were demolished completely, while the riverside embankments were neglected. The population may have fallen by as much as two-thirds after around AD 150, and some districts were all but abandoned. Political instability within the empire and struggles for power by rival claimants backed by sections of the army may have contributed to Londiniums malaise.

In the early third century a defensive wall was built to encircle the town, incorporating the Cripplegate fort. The wall was two miles long, nine feet thick and twenty-one feet high and enclosed 330 acres, with gates at Ludgate, Newgate, Bishopsgate and Aldgate; Cripplegate was the northern gate of the fort and Aldersgate was made later. The cemeteries lay outside the gates, following the customary Roman practice. Skeletal remains show that the citizens typically were of good physique and had an adequate diet, but only roughly one in ten were more than forty-five years old when they died.