Londinium, Lundenburh, Londres - London from the Romans to the Normans

Location

City of London

OutdoorLads shares the exact meeting point with people who have signed up, closer to the date. See the OutdoorLads listing for details.

About this event

Over 1000 years separate the oldest feature on this walk (the Roman amphitheatre of 70 AD) from the most recent we'll survey (St Bartholomew's Church of 1123), and although we won't see two key sights as they charge for entry (the Tower of London and Bishopsgate Roman Baths), we’ll still visit all of the Square Mile's surviving remains. Almost all of Saxon London has disappeared, but its churches, street pattern and place-names survive alongside much more substantial Roman remains. If Saxon London is mostly erased, Roman London is mostly buried and Norman London is mostly fragmentary, all the remnants make for the quintessential City look of ancient juxtaposed with modern. Timeline of Roman, Saxon and Norman London:43 AD: Roman conquest of Britain under Emperor Claudius.47–50: Londinium founded, becoming a major port and commercial centre.60–61: Boudica's rebellion: Londinium is burned and largely destroyed.c. 70: London rebuilt; Roman amphitheatre constructed at Guildhall, initially in timber.c. 100: Londinium reaches its greatest Roman prosperity. 120: Hadrian visits; amphitheatre rebuilt in stone; baths and temples built.120–150: Cripplegate Roman fort built; London reaches its Roman peak.120–130: Fire devastates much of Londinium; the city is rebuilt.190–225: London Wall constructed, enclosing the main city.240: Mithraeum built beside the Walbrook.250–275: Riverside wall completes the enclosure of the city.286–296: Carausius and Allectus overthrow Roman rule in Britannia.296: Emperor Constantius Chlorus invades and re-establishes imperial control.313: Christianity officially tolerated throughout the Roman Empire.350: Towers added to London Wall as Saxon raids threaten.400-410: Emperor Honorius gradually abandons Britannia. Londinium declines.C5–C6: Roman London largely abandoned; the walls become ruinous.C7: Anglo-Saxon trading centre Lundenwic develops where the Strand is.886: King Alfred refortifies London within the Roman walls (Lundenburh).994: Vikings under Sweyn Forkbeard begin raids.1012: St Alphege murdered by Vikings; commemorated by St Alphege church.1013: Sweyn captures London; King Æthelred forced to flee abroad.1014: Æthelred (assisted by King Olaf) regains control.1016: King Cnut the Great of Denmark conquers England.1042: King Edward the Confessor re-establishes Saxon monarchy.1042-1065: Edward the Confessor builds Westminster Abbey.1066: William the Conqueror invades and is crowned at Westminster Abbey.1066: William allows London to govern itself.1070–1100: White Tower built, and completed in stone under William II.1080: Undercroft and original church of St Mary-le-Bow.C11–C12: Norman London expands within the Roman walls; defences repaired.1123: Rahere founds St Bartholomew's Hospital and Priory.c.1150: Norman London established as England's capital and mercantile centre.The route and sights:Starting at Bank Underground Station, we'll go up Princes Street, then west along Lothbury and Gresham Street and turn right into...1. Guildhall Yard and Guildhall Art Gallery: amphitheatre. The Yard uses a dark grey ring to preserve the outline of London's Roman amphitheatre, built 74 AD in wood, 31 years after the Roman conquest. Subsequently enlarged, including in 120 AD when it was rebuilt in stone. The enlarged version could hold 6,000 spectators, over a quarter of the population. Spectators would watch displays of gladiatorial combat, animals fighting and criminals being executed. A vertically sliding wooden door, possibly to allow animals to enter, has been carbon-dated. The present Guildhall is medieval, with the Great Hall dating from 1411, but the site has much older associations. The word guildhall derives from the Anglo-Saxon gild. (Note to self: booking is for 12.00.)We'll then leave Guildhall Yard by its western side, and follow Love Lane and Oat Lane to Noble Street to see...2. Noble Street Gardens: Contains a substantial surviving section of London's Roman and medieval City Wall, incorporated into a small modern garden. The ancient Roman foundations were revealed when bomb damage from the Blitz was being cleared, revealing a fort in the northwest corner of the Roman walls (Cripplegate Fort) that had a garrison of 1000 soldiers and predates the wall. We'll then continue from Noble Street on to London Wall, then go round the Rotunda and south down St Martins-Le-Grand to then cross Postman's Park heading west to Little Britain which we'll go up towards Cloth Fair where we'll find...3. Church of St Bartholomew the Great: Founded in 1123 by Rahere, courtier to Henry I as an Augustinian priory. Rahere was so distressed by the White Ship Disaster (which killed 300 people including Henry I's heir William Adelin, leading to The Anarchy) that he went on pilgrimage to Rome. Attributing his recovery from malaria to St Bartholomew, he founded a priory and a hospital in gratitude. St Bartholomew the Great is one of London's finest medieval survivors. Austere and dark but satisfying, its astonishing Norman fabric provides our walk's clearest architectural encounter with C12 London, and is the best example of Norman architecture outside of the Tower of London. Only the chancel remains, the nave destroyed by Henry VIII's wreckers.We'll then follow Middle Street and Cloth Street to Aldgate. At The Rotunda we'll enter the Museum of London Car Park where we'll be astonished to find...4. Fragment of the City Wall, Bay 52: Just a small piece, but shows history erupting into the drab surroundings. We'll emerge and proceed along London Wall, where we'll soon find...5. City Wall Bastion 14: Mostly medieval, not Roman, but it preserves the footprint and foundations of the earlier Roman defences. Illustrates exceptionally well the continuity and adaptation of London's defensive circuit.Going into the Barbican Complex (itself named after the Roman Fort), we'll see...6. Cripplegate Roman Fort Wall: Dating from 120 AD. The tower is medieval.Going along Monkwell Square and east along St Alphage Gardens, we'll find...7. Roman Wall, Salters Garden: Wall constructed AD 190–225. The Roman masonry here is now largely buried, having been truncated by later medieval rebuilding. Cripplegate Fort is buried beneath the northern wall here. The medieval wall is most of what shows here consisting of ragstone, flint and tile, with a battered outer face. The crenellations and brick diaper pattern is from 1477, added during the Wars of the Roses - the only surviving crenellations on the wall. St Alphage was the Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered by the Vikings in 1012 at Greenwich.Emerging back on to London Wall (itself loosely following the Roman wall), we'll go east to Wormwood Street and then turn south down St Mary Axe to see...6. Roman Girl's Grave, 30 St Mary Axe: At the foot of the Gherkin is a memorial marking the grave of an unidentified Roman girl, 13-17 years old. Her remains were discovered during construction and date from approximately AD 350–400. It is one of the walk's most poignant sites: unlike the amphitheatre, baths and temples, a direct reminder of an individual who lived and died in Roman London.Heading southeast down Brown's Buildings and Mitre Street, we'll go up St James's Passage to... 7. Aldgate Square: By the medieval period, the city had outgrown the Roman wall that mostly defines the City of London. By the C18, the Roman gatehouses were is disrepair and impeded traffic, so like Ludgate, Cripplegate and others, Aldgate was pulled down, Aldgate in 1761. The church (1744, by George Dance the Elder) is St Botolph Without Aldgate, 'without' meaning outside of the city wall. St Botolph was a East Anglian saint associated with travellers, hence its location at an exit to the city when it was built originally in 1115. We'll have lunch in the gardens here.We'll head south down Jewry Street, east down India Street and then turn right down Vine Street to...8. Vine Street Roman Wall: A substantial section of the city wall, together with the foundations of the only extant Roman bastion (375 AD) and later houses. This portion is in the basement of a modern building, carefully preserved and in 2023 made available for the public to view along with many historic objects. The surviving masonry also illustrates how Roman London continued to shape the medieval and modern city. We are booked in to view the wall and exhibition. (Note to self: booking is for 14.00.)Continuing down Vine Street, we'll turn right down The Crescent to...9. Roman Wall, Coopers Row: A hidden but huge portion, 10.6 m high, although only the lower 6 m is Roman.Emerging on to Trinity Square, we'll soon see more huge fragments of the Roman wall at...10. Roman Wall, Wakefield Gardens: One of the most substantial portions remaining. Most of the building above the red tiles is medieval. The statue is of the Emperor Trajan (ruled 98-117 AD) - a strange choice as he never visited the city unlike his adopted son and first cousin Hadrian.Then, going under Tower Hill, we'll emerge at...11. The Tower of London: William the Conqueror began the White Tower around 1078, transforming this part of the eastern City into a major Norman royal fortress consolidating his power at the corner of the Roman fortifications and the growing mercantile centre. His son, William Rufus (William II) completed the rebuilding of the White Tower in stone. The most important Norman remains on the walk (the chapel of St John the Evangelist is sublime) charges £37 and we won't have time. We'll walk around the Tower's western side towards Tower Hill, then continue north-west along Gloucester Court to...12. All Hallows By The Tower: The church is from the 1950s (by Lord Mottistone) to replace an earlier one destroyed in the Blitz, but the C14 undercroft contains a remarkable survival: a Roman mosaic pavement of a private house, and one what's more which is overlain with a replacement when the original became too wet. The pavement is 7 m below street level, illustrating the accumulation of detritus over time. The undercroft also contains a model of Roman London of 400 AD made in the 1920s. An exhibition of the history of Christianity in the city includes some C11 Saxon stone crosses - the only Saxon remains on the whole walk.Going southwest down Byward Street and Lower Thames Street, we'll reach...13. Billingsgate Roman House & Baths: At 101 Lower Thames Street are the remains of a Roman house and bath complex, first constructed around AD 150. The baths were subsequently enlarged and used for several centuries. The surviving hypocaust illustrates the sophisticated underfloor heating technology of Roman London. Unfortunately, this charges £15 to enter and visiting is by guided tour only.We'll then walk northwest up Monument Street, north up King William Street, west along Cannon Street, them up Walbrook to...14. Forgotten Streams: By sculptor Christina Iglesias, ‘Forgotten Streams’ is located at Bloomberg’s new European Headquarters. It evokes the lost rivers of London, namely the Walbrook along which the Romans built the Mithraeum, and the erasure of features and recycling of space in London.Further up Walbrook is...15. London Mithraeum: Beneath Bloomberg's European headquarters is the London Mithraeum, a reconstructed Roman temple dedicated to the cult deity Mithras. The original temple was built in the C3 AD, beside the lost Walbrook River. The atmospheric reconstruction and associated archaeological displays make this one of London's best introductions to Roman religious life. (Note to self: booking is for 15.45.)Going northwest up Bloomberg Arcade, then crossing Queen Victoria Street and proceeding up Watling Street, we'll turn right up Bow Lane and go through Bow Churchyard to go to...16. St Mary-le-Bow: Known for its bells, which feature in the nursery rhyme 'Oranges and Lemons', called back Dick Whittington in 1392 to become Lord Mayor, and define anyone born within earshot of them as true Londoner or Cockney. Wren's magnificent church of 1673 (tower finished 1680) is the third on the site. The earliest remains are a Norman undercroft of 1080. now a cafe.Walking along Cheapside, we'll either go west to St Paul's or east to Bank Underground Stations to conclude our walk.My many thanks go to ODL leader Alex Young for introducing me to the Guildhall amphitheatre, Vine Street Roman Wall and the Mithraeum on his excellent walks in the city, and letting me use his photos of the same.(Picture credits: Panorama of the outer curtain wall of the Tower of London and St Bartholomew the Great, Altar, London, UK  are both from Wikipedia. Roman (London) Wall, Barbican: Photo © D M Wilmot (cc-by-sa/2.0); Remains of London's Roman Wall: Photo © Philip Halling (cc-by-sa/2.0); Roman Wall, London: Photo © Peter Trimming (cc-by-sa/2.0); Guildhall, Gresham Street: Photo © Stephen Richards (cc-by-sa/2.0); Statues, All Hallows by the Tower, Great Tower Street, London: Photo © Christine Matthews (cc-by-sa/2.0). Other photos by OutdoorLads member and leader Alex Young, and used with his permission.)