Birthplace of London: Secrets of the Square Mile

Welcome to the City of London, which covers roughly one square mile. While many people associate this district with finance, banking and skyscrapers, this is actually the birthplace of modern day London. It's home to hidden gems, centuries-old churches and plenty of history. It's also one of my favourite districts of London because of a beautiful blend of old meets new. So let's head out and discover the story of a city. This city that we all know and love today as London has quite a storied past, and one of the most important chapters of its history was when the Romans came here. Now, the city was originally founded as Londinium in around 47 to 50 common era. London began life as a commercial trading port, but less than a century later, a permanent military fort was installed. Just a few decades later, it was surrounded by walls, some of which can actually still be seen today. So that's a great place to start our day in the City of London. Just behind me is part of the remaining walls of what was once a huge fortification. Now, before we get into the rest of the video, I have to acknowledge that the Tower of London isn't technically a part of the City of London. And so that will be for another video, even though we're starting this video right by it. Now, a great place to see the story of London mapped out in front of you is at the Tower Hill Sundial. This 3.7 meter sculpture details the history of London from 43 common era when the Romans invaded right up until 1992. When you're looking at the dial, there are a few particular important things, which I'm going to point out now. There's a pretty famous mistake actually in the bronze, and that is that the Peasants' Revolt didn't take place in 1387 as it says here, but actually took place in 1381. And now we need to zoom in even closer because you'll see this little effigy of a woman in a cloud holding a bag called Maggie. Now, lots of people believe that this is an artistic reference to Margaret Thatcher, whose reforms of the 1990s were very reminiscent of what happened during the Peasants' Result of the 14th century. The more you look at this sculpture, the more details you'll find. For example, just down here, it says 190 to 220. The city walls were built. Now, these walls were actually built in several stages, including the one that we just saw. Parts of the wall that you see right behind me date all the way back to around 200 common era. At this time, Londinium was the most important city in Roman Britain. However, by around 450, the Romans had abandoned London, but that didn't mean that the city stopped being a walled one. In fact, London was a walled city for around 1500 more years, and the walls would have been around 10 meters in height. They even helped ward off Viking invasions in the 10th century. One of the curious things about this particular part of London is that it's actually way busier during the week than at the weekend. And so if you come here on the weekend, you'll find that you have many of the streets yourself. Today, there's actually a tube strike, which means many people are working from home, which is why it's a bit quieter than normal. Perfect for filming. Although it doesn't look like much today, this is the Old Gate Pump, and it was probably in use from around the 16th century. It was even mentioned by Charles Dickens. Now, originally famed for its sparkling water, it eventually fell out of use in the 1860s, 1870s. Hundreds of people are thought to have died after drinking here because the water had been contaminated by nearby cemeteries. After it stint as the pump of death, it was moved to this current location and features a 19th century spout of a wolf's head, because this is said to have been the last place in London where a wolf was killed. After the 19th century contamination was discovered and it was moved here, it was connected to Maine's water, although I don't think it works today. Let's try it. Nothing's happening. There are around 50 churches in the City of London, and so obviously we won't have time to see them all. However, one that you definitely should visit is called All Hallows by the Tower, and it's allegedly the oldest church in the City of London. The church itself claims to date all the way back to 675 Common Era, though recent studies kind of cast doubt on this claim. Nevertheless, it did survive the Great Fire of London. It was badly damaged during the blitz of World War II, though has now been completely restored. You can go in and have a look for free, and you can even go into the basement, so let's go and check it out. When the church was originally built, it was All Hallows Barking, and it was connected to Barking Abbey, which is about 15 miles downriver in Essex. Built by the Bishop of London, Irkenwald, fabulous name, for his sister, Ethelberger, who was the Prioress of Barking Abbey. We're standing here at the Saxon Arch, so the church was first built here in 675 in wood. Around 700, we get a rebuild in stone, and this is what we've got left of that building. The tiles going around the top are Roman floor tiles, and the reason for that, of course, there's no natural stone in London, so when they came to build this, they're looking around the Saxons at what they can recycle. In the 1400s, we get a big medieval rebuild, which are the walls that we've got here. However, we don't know at what point this was closed up. It was in fact only found after Second World War bombing. Originally, it was thought that the whole of the Saxon church had been taken down when the church was rebuilt, so this was a fabulous find. I think it's something that says you get Second World War bombing, you get something out of something. Have you been downstairs yet? Yes, it's so beautiful, and there's such an interesting museum down there. I know, it's a really eclectic mix of things, things that have been gifted to the church, things that have been found close to the church, things that were found during the renovation of the church after the Second World War bombing. I mean, the pillars all had to be replaced. Some of the Saxon carvings that are downstairs apparently were found within the pillars, so when they took down the medieval pillars to replace them, they've got these marvellous bits of Saxon carving that the medieval builders have just gone, bit of Saxon rubbish, you know. But what I particularly like is this altar which is in the columbarium, which is where all the ashes are kept. This was gifted to the church by a missionary who'd been out in Palestine for 40 years. She was deported back to England in around 1936 by the British administration because she was becoming such a nuisance to them. She was always taken apart, particularly of the Palestinian women. She wore trousers, she smoked small cheroots. She brought this back and gifted us to the church. It's quite heavy, I don't know. It would have been really heavy, so I'm not sure how it got moved here, but it did. We now find ourselves just across the road on Seething Lane. Now we've come to a rather unassuming garden, but here you'll find a bust of Samuel Peebs. Now he was a 17th century writer and politician, but he's probably best known for his personal diary, which he kept between 1660 and 1669. In it, he detailed lots of key events that were happening at the time in London, including the Stuart Restoration, the Great Fire of London, and of course the Great Plague. If you come to this garden, you'll find a bust as well as little plaques on the floor detailing key events from the diary. Just across the road from the park, you'll find the church where Samuel Peebs is actually buried, St Olav's. So let's go in and have a look. John Betjeman once described St Olav's as a And once you step inside, you'll soon see why. Dedicated to a Viking warrior turned saint, St Olav's church was constructed in 1450 and survived the Great Fire of London. If it's open, then you can head downstairs to the crypt, where you'll find a small display dedicated to archaeological finds from the area, as well as a secondary smaller chapel. When it comes to visiting the City of London, one of the best ways to get a bird's eye view of all of the skyscrapers is to come to one of the many rooftop gardens. There are a few that are free and accessible to the public, but the easiest one to get to, in my opinion, is the Garden at 120, because you don't need to book a free-to-visit ticket in advance and you can just turn up on the day. If you come in the late spring, then there is all this beautiful wisteria. From here, we have a really clear view of several of the spots that we're going to be visiting today, including St Paul's and Leadenhall Market. The Garden opened all the way back in 2019, and I actually had the chance to visit just a few weeks after it was opened. So I have to say one thing, and that's because the London skyline is ever-evolving and new buildings are constantly being constructed. The skyline is also changing quite frequently, and so each time you visit, you might find that the view is a little bit different. One of my favourite spots of central London is Leadenhall Market. Now, this is a fabulous piece of Victorian engineering. There's actually been a market on site since around the 14th century, and prior to that, this area was the centre of Roman London. The market was originally game, meat and poultry, but today houses lots of different kinds of shops, bars and restaurants. On the 2nd of September, 1666, an enormous fire broke out at a bakery on Pudding Lane. It went on to burn for three days and ravaged most of the city. Over two-thirds of homes were destroyed and lots of churches and other businesses. Most of the city of London had to be rebuilt after that period, and in the 1670s, in order to commemorate this huge event, the monument was erected, which you can now go up for a small fee. There are over 300 steps to get to the top, and this is the only way to get up there and also get down again. It costs £7 to get up here, so it's definitely not the most affordable view of London, but you do have a unique perspective of the city because it's not as high as many of the skyscrapers, although I do think we're in a wind tunnel right now. It's also pretty cool to literally walk through a piece of history. Today, since the rebuild, Pudding Lane is a rather ugly, nondescript street, but if you lay the monument down from its location in Fish Hill, right over here, it's 61 metres, which signals the exact starting point of the fire. This is the London Stone, and the unique thing about it is that we actually don't know where it came from. So by the 12th century, it was already being referred to as the London Stone, and many people believe that it was in use as far back as the Roman times as some sort of landmark or marker stone. The other thing about it is it is associated with Brutus of Troy, which reminds me a lot of our video that we filmed in Totnes. In 1450, the leader of the rebellion party against Henry VI actually struck this stone with his sword and claimed to be the Lord of London. One of my favourite things about visiting the City of London is that you're constantly stumbling upon hidden gems, and one of these types of gems are gardens, which were churches. So right now we're standing on a plot of land, which was once a church dedicated to St Swithin's. The church was established as far back as the 13th century, but ended up burning down during the Great Fire of London. It was then rebuilt under plans by Sir Christopher Wren, but was then re-destroyed during the Blitz, specifically on a night in 1940, which is often referred to as the Second Great Fire of London, because so much of London was destroyed on that fateful night. Now this is a peaceful garden, just metres away from the London Stone, and hardly anyone knows about it. Of course, the most famous church garden in London is the Church of St Dunstan in the East, which is also very peaceful, but definitely more busy since the rise of social media. The Guildhall was constructed in 1411, meaning that it's the only non-religious building of this type to have survived from that century. It has been used as a town hall for hundreds of years, and during the Roman times, it was the site of the Roman amphitheatre. Luckily, right next door, there is a free-to-visit Guildhall Art Gallery, where you can go in, go downstairs into the building, and see the recently rediscovered amphitheatre, because the amphitheatre was only discovered in the 80s. The thing that can be tricky to imagine about the Roman amphitheatre how it is now, is that hardly any of it survives, and there's a good reason for this. The original amphitheatre was probably constructed around 70 Common Era, out of wood, and so wouldn't have survived. The one you see today was constructed around the 2nd century, and some of that has survived, and is in the basement of the Guildhall Art Gallery. The reason that there's so little left, is because when the amphitheatre fell out of disuse, the rubble was then recycled to make nearby buildings, and the like. And the area itself was used as some kind of refuge, right up until the 4th century. Today, you can get a scale of how big the amphitheatre was, outside on the Guildhall Plaza, where they have these very handy lines in the floor. Now, the final thing to know about this amphitheatre, is that at the time, it's thought that it could hold up to 6,000 spectators, and the population of Londinium was just 20,000 to 30,000 people, so it could hold a lot. Now, of course, you can't talk about the City of London without mentioning St Paul's Cathedral, which is the seat of the Bishop of London. The original church was built here on site in 1604, though the one you see today was constructed in 1710, using plans by Sir Christopher Wren. It's built in the English Baroque style, and sits on Ludgate Hill, which is the highest point in the City of London. You can go in for a fee, but of course, it's also very beautiful to admire from Between 1677 and 1704, a church was built on this site, using designs by Sir Christopher Wren. Unfortunately, that church was almost completely flattened during World War II, and today, it has been transformed into the Christ Church Greyfriars Garden. While it might not look like much, just behind me is one of the oldest surviving examples of a structure house in London. It dates all the way back to the Tudor period, and the reason it was preserved is because it eventually ended up being covered up with a Georgian frontage that was only revealed after Zeppelin bombing in World War I. Eventually, it was completely uncovered, and we can now enjoy it. Today, we cannot go inside because there is some sort of filming project going on, but the exterior is still very beautiful. Postman's Park is a quiet green space in the heart of the city. It's actually a former burial ground, but the most interesting thing to see here is the heroic memorial to self-sacrifice that was created during the Victorian era. Now, when it was originally opened and it was there to commemorate those who had given their lives in the act of saving others, only four plaques were initially unveiled. Now, there are dozens of moving stories to read, so I do invite you to spend some time reading them. If you haven't watched it yet, but you're curious to see more hidden gems like this one, then I really recommend checking out our Hidden Gems of London video. Anyway, thank you so much for watching, and don't forget to like and subscribe for more travel content. See you next time.