London as we know it today is a sprawling, gigantic metropolis that occupies hundreds of square miles in the southeast of England. For over a thousand years, however, the name “London” referred to a single square mile of land on the banks of the Thames. Indeed, this is still officially designated as The City of London, known to locals as “The City” or “The Square Mile.”
Mainly known as the Financial District—for which “The City” is also a synonym—the Square Mile is the geographic center of London. It’s also the major part of the city’s skyline, where notable skyscrapers like the Heron Tower and “The Gherkin” (30 St. Mary Axe, the most distinctive modern building in London) are located. But it’s also the location of much of London’s Old World history—including the most famous building on the London skyline, St. Paul’s Cathedral.
It was the City of London that was once Londinium, the trading post founded by Romans in the first century AD. Within fifty years of its founding, the post had grown to the point that it became the capital of Roman Britain. Sections of The London Wall from that period still stand within the Square Mile.
The Roman city was abandoned during after the fall of the Roman Empire, and beginning around 450 the Anglo-Saxons began settling in the areas outside the Wall (what we now know as Greater London). Viking raiders are believed to have occupied the City in the mid-9th century, and again in the early 11th (which may be the genesis of the famous rhyme “London Bridge is falling down”). After the Norman conquest of 1066, however, it has never again fallen to any other conqueror. Around 1200, however, nearby Westminster (then a separate city) became England’s fixed capital, with London instead becoming the center of trade and finance.
Most of early London, however, has been wiped out—in particular, the Great Fire of 1660 destroyed almost two thirds of the city. Much of London as we now know it is what was rebuilt in the aftermath of that fire. There are still a few important remnants, though. In addition to the London Wall there is the London Stone, a piece of limestone that may have marked the center of the Roman city, and the remains of what was once the Roman Amphitheater. The latter was on the spot of the most important surviving building from Medieval London, the Guildhall. Built in 1411, it has since served as the town hall for the City of London (not to be confused with the seat of Greater London’s government, which lies across the river in Southwark). It is now primarily used for official functions, but is invaluable for its history. The Guildhall courtyard also features a circular line of black stone, which marks the spot where the Amphitheater sat.
It was the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire, however, that gave the city and the world Sir Christopher Wren—one of the greatest architects in history. Wren was commissioned to redesign and rebuild 52 of the churches destroyed by the Fire, including St. Benet Paul’s Wharf; St. Martin, Ludgate; St. Michael, Paternoster Royal; and Christ Church, Greyfriars. Wren also designed the 200-foot tall Monument to the Great Fire of London, a stone column topped with a flaming urn of gilt bronze. It was long the tallest and most prominent structure in the City…second, that is, to Wren’s masterpiece, St. Paul’s Cathedral. It replaced a gothic cathedral, which had been begun in 1087, with a design that incorporated both Gothic and Renaissance elements and a dome inspired by that of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Standing 365 feet high—the tallest building in London from its completion in 1710 until the BT Tower was constructed in 1962—St. Paul’s has for 300 years been perhaps the iconic symbol of the city. The church’s crypt contains the remains of none other than Christopher Wren—with an epitaph that sums up his architectural and civic legacy: “Reader, if you seek his monument - look around you.”
St. Paul’s has the rare good fortune of surviving the London Blitz in World War II, despite being a major target for the German Luftwaffe. Most targets were not so lucky—like the Great Fire, the Blitz demolished much of the City’s historical legacy. One of St. Paul’s contemporaries that did survive is Dr. Johnson’s House, the home of the 18th century poet, critic, and scholar Samuel Johnson. Situated in Gough Square, a courtyard well off the major thoroughfares, the house was built in 1700; Johnson lived there from 1748 to 1759, and completed his Dictionary of the English Language there. Also from the era is Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London since its completion in 1752.
But if the Square Mile currently serves as the financial center of London and the United Kingdom, there is also an important historical building that is connected with that modern use. For a century, the Royal Exchange served as Great Britain’s stock exchange, built (in its current incarnation) in 1844. An exchange had stood on those grounds since 1571, however, notable enough that one of Christopher Wren’s churches, adjacent to the building, is called St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange. Now, however, the Royal Exchange is a high-end retail plaza; trading occurs several blocks west at the London Stock Exchange.
One famous historical site that is still used for its original purpose is the Old Bailey, well known as the central criminal court. This, too, has gone through several structures, the first built in 1585 and the current one in 1902. It has been severely damaged several times since, most notably by the German Blitz in 1940 and by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1973, but was spared destruction. Although it is a functioning criminal court, it is also a popular tourist attraction, used frequently in the backgrounds of news reports and movie shoots, and immediately recognizable by the bronze statue of Lady Justice atop its dome.
The landmark in the city that is universally known, however—even to the smallest children—is London Bridge, the subject of the aforementioned nursery rhyme. Though the existing bridge was only opened in 1973, there has been a bridge at that location since about 50 AD. The structure completed in 1209 stood for over 600 years, and remained the only river crossing of the Thames (connecting the City with the borough of Southwark) until 1729. Even the new bridge, though, remains an internationally celebrated landmark of London and of all British history.
The City of London is only a tiny part of what we now regard as London, but is ground zero for the rich history and prestige of the United Kingdom. For conference attendees with even a passing interest in that history and prestige, it is not to be missed.
