Londinium – The Accidental City

How London Got Started

My next novel is taking me far beyond the limits of my usual historical range.  It’s set around the Thames, and takes the reader on a journey through history, from the pre-historic settlers up to the present day.  Just now, I’m concentrating on the Roman section (it’s early days!), which means I’ve been reading a lot about Londinium: Roman London.

London is one of my favourite places.  I lived there for nearly twenty years, and worked in central London for most of my twenties.  I spent many hours walking around and I got to know its streets, parks, squares, architecture, museums, galleries, theatres, pubs, nightclubs, shops, buses, underground, bridges – and, of course, the river.

Being a lover of history, of course, then, I am fascinated by the history of London.  Hence, a lot of its history will be in my novel (and it has featured large in some of my other novels).

But, for this article, let me take you back, if you will, just two thousand years.  It’s not that long ago in relation to the whole history of mankind.  Just a fraction of the time that human beings have been living on this planet.

But two thousand years ago, if we came to the bank of the Thames, around about the place where London Bridge is now, we would find a wide, shallow river (wider than it is now), and a place of forests and marshes.  There are no settlements here.  If we walk for a while to the west (being careful not to get stuck in a bog), we will find a place where the water is shallow enough to cross on foot – though it will come up to our necks – and this is exactly what Caesar’s Roman army did upon their first visit to conquer the native barbarians a few years ago in 55 BC.  We’re now in a boggy area containing two small islands, which will later be known as Westminster.

The barbarians (the iron age people who lived in tribes scattered across the country) took a little more conquering than the Romans had anticipated, though this may have been more to do with local weather conditions than the military prowess of the locals.  Anyway, having come, seen, and apparently conquered, Caesar and his army went back home again to their nice, dry and warm homeland, having proved that Rome could extend its empire to the edges of the known world.  There seemed very little other reason for bringing such a cold and damp little island into its fold.

But now, nearly a century later, in around AD 50, if we return to a more easterly part of the river, we might see another approaching Roman army led by Claudius, this time with artillery and elephants.  The locals had been causing a bit of trouble by aiding the Gauls, so it was decided that they needed seeing to again.  This time, the Romans decided to stick around a while, and so, being civilised, they needed a city.  But not here – this was just a place to cross the river.  They had decided on an already existing Celtic settlement in the east – Camulodunum, which would later be known as Colchester.

But something needed to be done about that river.  It was no good for armies having to wade across each time, leaving them vulnerable to attack.  The river needed a bridge, so to start with they built a temporary pontoon, basically a platform supported by floats.  But something more permanent was needed, and so the first proper bridge across the Thames was built, not too far away from where London Bridge is now.  They called the river, Tamesis, ‘Dark River’.

A camp was settled here, presumably to guard the bridge and provide a stopping place for armies.  People started to trade, and small shops and stalls sprang up.  Merchants came from near and far, even the natives started to trade here, and buildings started to go up rapidly to accommodate the little trading town that was developing.  Ships came up the Thames, bringing goods and people.  Within just ten years, this small camp that started as a stopping place for the armies as they crossed the Thames had turned into a thriving market town.

All that was to change suddenly and violently in AD 60 with the wrath of Boudica and her army.  After the extremely unpleasant treatment of her family by the Romans in East Anglia, she swept down across the east and south of England, leaving a bloodbath of utter destruction in her wake.  Londinium, with no property military defences, did not stand a chance.  Its people, both Roman and native, men, women and children, were slaughtered mercilessly, and its buildings burnt to the ground.

The town was no more.  But by then it had been realised that the location of this town was strategically so much better situated than Colchester that had been intended as the main city.  Londinium had better access from ships coming up the Thames, and for the convergence of armies and merchants, whereas Colchester was awkwardly tucked away in the east.  So Londinium was quickly rebuilt, this time with more formal planning, with better buildings and better defences.  London, as a city, was born.

I love the fact that one of the best cities in the world was a kind of accident.  I suppose, if history had been different and the Romans had not invaded, there would still have eventually been a city here at some point.  Its location is just too convenient, but it would have been a slightly different city, at least the actual ‘city’ part.  For those who are willing to look, there are some fascinating bits of the Roman city still in existence, including parts of the Roman wall here and there. 

I recommend a visit to the Museum of London to find out more about London’s beginnings.

Thanks to Simon Webb for his excellent book, Life in Roman London, which has helped with much of the research for this article and this chapter of my novel!