History of the City
There’s nowhere quite like the City. Not only is it the oldest, most historic part of London, it is the world’s leading international financial and business centre with the unusual ratio of 33 times more workers than residents; it also has its own unique system of administration and, unlike all other parts of London, is not classified as a “borough”, but is a small and distinct district at the heart of this thriving metropolis. How has history made it this way?
- Watch an animated timeline through the City's past, Ticking through Time (Quicktime movie)
- View a timeline of the City's major events
- Go to the experts - see 45,000 years of history at the Museum of London
Established in around AD50, seven years after the Romans invaded Britain, the City, or Square Mile as it has become known, is situated at the very
heart of London and is the place from which modern-day London grew.
There are still some vestiges of Roman occupation here – the remains of the City’s wall can be seen in various locations, the
foundations of the Roman Temple of Mithras have been unearthed near Queen Victoria Street and London’s only Roman Amphitheatre was
discovered under Guildhall Art Gallery in 1988. These mark the start of a great architectural heritage – while the rest of London was countryside
and villages, the City was building.
But it’s not just the Roman remains and medieval structures that make the City’s buildings so unique; it is their extraordinary juxtaposition with cutting-edge contemporary architecture designed to house the global business giants that have located here. This is where ancient and modern sit side by side; where historic churches snuggle up to soaring glass neighbours.
What made the City so attractive to big business is not attributable to a single act or deed but probably more to a series of factors. Londinium (as the Romans called this place) was ideally located. Situated on the north bank of the Thames, it soon became a bustling port and trade thrived. As business increased, tradesmen came together to form livery companies or ‘guilds’ – bodies that regulated their respective professions to protect both customers and their members.
Many of the City’s street names such as Milk Street, Bread Street, Ironmonger Lane, Poultry, Cloth Fair and Mason’s Avenue mark the sites where the companies began. People following the same craft or trade tended to live and work near one another and began to make informal arrangements amongst themselves for regulating competition and keeping professional standards high for mutual benefit.
These early guilds controlled the provision of services and the manufacture and selling of goods in the City, and so prevented unlimited competition and helped to keep wages and working conditions steady.
Ultimately, the guilds came to yield great power and influence and the City developed a reputation as an important centre for commerce. By the early
17th century (when exploration began to open up the world and new markets were there for the picking) many guilds invested money in setting up
Merchant Venturer Companies. Seeking exclusive rights of trade with different parts of the world, the most famous of these companies was the East
India Company whose power lasted until well into the 19th century.
In the 17th century, at the time the guilds were establishing the new markets discussed above, the coffee house arrived. With no formal communications systems, coffee houses soon became the place to pick up news and gossip and were a lifeline for those wanting to stay ahead of the game. Different houses began to attract different occupations and businessmen started to keep regular hours at their chosen tables. Inevitably, some houses became the makeshift offices of the trades they served, giving birth to some of the world’s greatest financial institutions – the London Stock Exchange started in Jonathan’s Coffee House in Change Alley and Lloyd’s of London takes its name from Edward Lloyd, the proprietor of a coffee house in Tower Street.
This, coupled with the founding by Royal Charter of the Bank of England in 1694, was the catalyst for the development of the City as a financial and business centre. In 1631, the residential population of the City was put at 130,163; by 1901, it had dwindled to 26,923 with people moving out to make way for the huge influx of office buildings – the giants of the financial services sector that still dominate. Today, the number of City residents is estimated to be 9,200 (although this number is beginning to grow again) while the City’s workforce is around 330,000.
An area with such a unique community needs a unique system of administration and it is the City of London Corporation that provides it. With its constitution rooted in the ancient rights and privileges enjoyed by its citizens before the Norman Conquest, the City developed a form of government which finally emerged as the first independent local authority in Britain. To discover more about the City Corporation’s history and development visit the City of London website.
The second image is courtesy of Collage.