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Roman London
By David Nash Ford
Though there were prehistoric settlements throughout the vast area that we now call London, no evidence has yet been found for any such community at the northern end of London Bridge where the present city grew up. The
origins of London lie in Roman times. When the Romans invaded Britain
in AD43, they moved north from the Kentish Coast
and traversed the Thames in the London region,
clashing with the local tribesmen just to the
north. It has been suggested that the soldiers
crossed the river at Lambeth, but it was further
downstream that they built a permanent wooden
bridge, just east of the present London Bridge,
in more settled times some seven years later. As
a focal point of the Roman road system, it was
the bridge which attracted settlers and led to
London's inevitable growth. Though the regularity
of London's original street grid may indicate
that the initial inhabitants were the military,
trade and commerce soon followed. The London
Thames was deep and still within the tidal zone:
an ideal place for the berthing of ships. The
area was also well-drained and low-lying with
geology suitable for brickmaking. There was soon
a flourishing city called Londinium in the
area where the monument now stands. The name
itself is Celtic, not Latin, and may originally
have referred merely to a previous farmstead on
the site.
In AD 60, London was burnt to
the ground by the forces of Queen Boudicca of the Iceni tribe (from modern Norfolk), when she led a major revolt against
Roman rule. The governor, Suetonius Paulinus, who
You can see a bronze sculpture of Queen Boudicca by Thomas Thornycroft at Victoria Embankment at Westminster Bridge. It was cast in 1850 to commemorate her unsuccessful revolt against the Romans in AD 60-61. A local legend has it that Boudicca is buried beneath Track 10 at King's Cross Station. |
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was busy exterminating the Druids in North Wales,
marched his troops south in an attempt to save
London but, seeing the size of Boudicca's
approaching army, decided he could not mount an
adequate defence and evacuated the city instead.
Not everyone managed to escape though and many
were massacred. Though the governors' military duties kept them mostly on
the British frontier, it seems likely that they
spent the winter months in London, the most
convenient city from which to reach any part of
Britain or the continental Empire. From the 250s,
an altar inscription records that Governor Marcus
Martiannius Pulcher rebuilt the Temple of Isis in the
city; and a speculator, from his or a
subsequent governor's staff, was buried on
Ludgate Hill. An elaborate late 1st century
building, with large reception rooms and offices,
has been partially excavated beneath Cannon
Street Station. It may have been the Governor's
Palace. A second palatial building was recently
discovered in the smaller trading settlement at
Southwark, in the marshes south of the river.
The financial
and economic equivalent of the governor was the procurator
and there is clear evidence that the offices of
this official lay somewhere within the city of
Roman London. The Procurator, Gaius Julius
Alpinus Classicianus who rebuilt the city after
Boudicca's rebellion and promoted London trade,
died and was buried there. Parts of his
monumental tombstone have been dug-up and are on
display in the British Museum. Bricks and writing
tablets have also been found stamped with such
messages as 'issued by Imperial Procurators of
the Province of Britain'.
The major symbol of Roman rule
was the Temple of the Imperial Cult. Emperor
worship was administered by the Provincial
Council whose headquarters appear to have been in
London by AD 100. A member of its staff, named
Anencletus, buried his wife on Ludgate Hill
around this time. Pagan worship flourished within
the cosmopolitan city. A temple to the mysterious
Eastern god, Mithras, was found at Bucklersbury
House and is displayed nearby. Traditionally, St.
Paul's stands on the site of a Temple of Diana.
Other significant buildings also began to appear
in the late 1st century, at a time when the city
was expanding rapidly. The forum (market-place)
and basilica (law-courts) complex, at Leadenhall
Market, was erected and then quickly replanned as
the largest such complex north of Alps. The forum
was much bigger than today's Trafalgar Square.
Procurator Agricola encouraged the use of Bath
Houses and a grand public suite has been
excavated in Upper Thames Street. They were as
much a social venue as a place to bathe. There
was a smaller version at Cheapside and, in later
centuries, private bath houses were also built.
Another popular attraction was the wooden
amphitheatre erected on the north-western
outskirts of the city. It is possible that
gladiatorial shows were put on here, though
lesser public sports, like bear-baiting, may have
been more regular.
By the early 2nd century,
London had spread west of the Walbrook and a
military fort was erected near the amphitheatre
which itself was rebuilt in stone. This may have
been in anticipation of a visit from the Emperor
Hadrian in AD 122. He would not have approved of
soldiers being billeted with civilians. The
garrison was probably modest with
responsibilities restricted to ceremonial, escort
and guard duties. The amphitheatre may have been
used for their military exercises.
By about AD 200, the
administration of Britain was divided in two.
York became the capital of Britannia Inferior
& London of Britannia Superior. Around
the same time the city also acquired its famous
walls (probably about 20ft high). This protective
measure may have been due to Civil War, initiated
when Governor Clodius Albinus tried to claim the
Imperial Crown in Rome.
A century later, the Emperor
Diocletian again reorganised Britain to improve
administrative efficiency. London became the
capital of Maxima Caesariensis, one of the
four newly created provinces. It remained the
financial centre of Britain, home of the
treasury, and the usurping British Emperor
Carausius established
a mint there
in AD 288. Carausius was soon murdered by his
finance minister, Allectus. The latter employed
Frankish mercenaries who besieged London and then
proceeded to plunder it. Just in time, the true
Emperor's general, Constantius Chlous, arrived,
with a fleet of ships, to save the city &
reunite Britain with Rome.
Details of late Roman London,
and Britain as a whole, are few. Christianity
appears to have reached the province at an early
date and, only a year after the religion became
officially tolerated in the Empire, London had
its own Bishop, Restitutus, who is known to have
attended the Imperial Council of Arles. Less
welcome newcomers may have led to the addition of
catapult towers along the city defences around AD
350. Picts and Irishmen were certainly invading
Southern Britain eighteen years later. The
Emperor Julian sent his general Theodosius to
expel them and he used London as his
headquarters. Soon afterward, the city's prestige
was increased by its renaming as Augusta.
Another British usurper, Magnus Maximus, claimed the Western Imperial throne in
AD 383. He is also known to have set up a mint in
London and it was probably from the city that he
left, with much of the Roman army stationed in
Britain, for his lengthy campaigns on the
Continent. Five years later, Maximus was dead and
Imperial power was waning in the extreme Western
provinces. Germanic style buckles, of circa AD
400, found in the city indicate that, as in other
British towns, London officials were employing
Saxon Mercenaries. London was arranging its own
defence and, only ten years later, the Emperor
Honorius renounced his responsibility for the
British Provinces.
Next: Dark Age
London
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