Top 10 London Places where history was made

1. The River Thames

How many historic cities can you think of that do not have a river? Not many. Without the River Thames there would be no London. The Romans settled in Londinium, as they called it, because they could travel 40 miles or 60 kilometres to the sea and then on to the rest of the Roman Empire. People travelled by boat on the river up until the 19th century and they traded with the rest of the world by boat until very recently. The Thames also provided protection against invasion and along its banks fortified castles such as the Tower of London were built.

 

By the 19th century the Thames had become London's sewer until in 1858 the smell became so overpowering that is was known as the Great Stink. It was precisely that; the smell was so overpowering that Parliament couldn't bear it and passed an emergency law that led to the building of our sewers.

 

The river for many years was the high street of London, allowing people to travel in the days before public transport. Kings and queens had their palaces built along the river and travelled between them when the tides allowed. Poorer people made their living by searching through through the mud at low tide and looking for things that they could sell on. Pirates were executed by being put in a gibbet and having the tides wash over them.

It was the river Thames that made London into the largest port in the world until the beginning of the 20th century, with goods coming here from all over the world, many to be used as raw materials in factories throughout the country.

Today there are more than 30 bridges over the river.

 

2. The White Tower

When people get to the Tower of London they often say, "Well, which one is the Tower?" In fact, there are 20 towers on the Tower of London but the most important one is the large squarish one in the middle, the White Tower. It was built in 1078 for William the Conqueror who had won the throne at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

 

He realised that his life was constantly under threat and so to keep himself well protected he had 3 fortified castles built in London, the only one standing being the White Tower. He had 9 castles built in a ring around London at a distance of 20 miles, a day's march away. One of these, Windsor Castle, is still lived in by the Queen. The White Tower gave the KIng protection and let him get on with the job of modernising the country. The monarchy goes back in an unbroken line (well, with a few wiggles here and there) to 1066, the last year when this country was invaded.

 

Today the Tower of London is home to the Crown Jewels, the Yeoman Warders or Beefeaters and the legendary ravens and is the site of one of the world's most notorious prisons but the White Tower is a proper fortress, just like you read about in children's books, where a King could potentially have lived under siege and where there is still a well to give a fresh water supply. A world heritage site, I would argue that the White Tower is the most historically important building in London.....

3. The Palace of Westminster

Unless you include the Palace of Westminster! Just in case you're wondering where this is, to most of the world this is the building attached to Big Ben. It is the correct name for the Houses of Parliament. This is a bit of a cheat because there are many parts of the building that could count in their own right as a place where the history of London was made. The palace was built in the 11th century and parts of the Great Hall still date back to 1099. It was here that the trials of people such as King Charles I, Thomas More and Guy Fawkes were held before their executions.

 

It was in St.Stephen's Hall, once the House of Commons, that a confrontation took place between King Charles I and the House of Commons that led to the Civil War and the execution of the King. It was also here that MPs such as William Wilberforce and Charles James Fox campaigned for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, an Act finally passed in 1807.

 

It was under the House of Commons that Guy Fawkes was found in 1605, plotting to blow up the King and all of Parliament. It was also under here that Emily Wilding Davidson, one of the Suffragettes who fought to get women the vote, hid in a broom cupboard on the night of the census so she could say on the census that there was a woman in Parliament.

 

If you visit the Palace of Westminster in the summer, you can go through on a tour. You never know, I might be your guide!

4. Westminster Abbey

Every single Coronation has taken place in Westminster Abbey since 1066, the first one being that on King Harold who was killed at the Battle of Hastings and the second one being that of his successor William I ("The Conqueror"), also in 1066. The last Coronation, the 40th one here, was that of our present Queen, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, in June 1953.

 

So many famous people are buried here; Sir Isaac Newton who discovered the laws of gravity amongst so many other things and Charles Darwin are amongst the scientists buried here. Charles Dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer and Dr Johnson who wrote the first dictionary are buried in Poets' Corner. After the First World War,the Unknown Warrior was buried in the nave of the Abbey, the first time in history in the world that an unidentified soldier (or sailor, who knows) was buried to represent everyone who died in battle.

5. Pudding Lane

In 1666 London was mostly a city of wooden buildings, recovering from the effects of the devastating Great Plague that had killed thousands of Londoners the year before. As the year progressed, no rain fell and the buildings were getting drier and drier and fires were becoming so common that they became known as 'the enemy within'.

 

On the night of September 2nd a fire started at Farynor's baker's shop. At first it didn't seem too bad, but soon, swept up by strong wind, the fire blazed out of control. It lasted for 5 nights and 4 days. Over 13,000 house were destroyed.

 

Gradually London was rebuilt and even today in the City the most modern of skyscrapers are still built following the old medieval street pattern. Since then no building has been built in the City out of wood, with the exception of the Globe Theatre over the river. Nearby is the Monument that commemorates the Fire - you can climb to the top, only 311 steps!

 

6. St.Paul's Cathedral

St.Pauls means different things to different people. To many it was where the Prince and Princess of Wales were married in 1981, watched by millions of television viewers around the World. To many Londoners it is a symbol of survival of the bombing of the Blitz when everything around it was left in ruins. To others it is a remarkable work of architecture and mathematics (yes, really) by the brilliant Christopher Wren. To some it is their church. To quite a few it's where they fed the birds for tuppence a bag in Mary Poppins.

 

Whatever it means to different people, it is one of the most historic sites in London. There has been a St.Paul's Cathedral here since the year 604 and for centuries important news was proclaimed from Paul's Cross, just outside the Cathedral. It was described as the 'Times newspaper of its day'. You may climb into the famous Whispering Gallery and then on to the Stone Gallery for fantastic views over London. You may also attend a church service, just as you may at Westminster Abbey and other places of worship in the capital.

 

7. The Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre isn't old; it was opened in 1996. But it is gives us an idea of what the theatre was like 400 years ago when William Shakespeare was acting in his own plays. The theatre was very different in Shakespeare's time. They didn't really rehearse, they weren't given the script in case they sold it to a rival theatre.

 

Rich people sat on the stage where they could be seen. There weren't any lights so they acted in daylight and the actors could see if you were looking bored. Shakespeare was famous for some quite juicy insults so the actors would have directed them at anyone not appreciating their fine craft! And as for the loos, there weren't any and the plays were long...... I'll leave it to your imagination but not for nothing were the people in the cheap seats known as penny stinkards! That's not to mention the fact that they used to have dog fights (yuk) and the sound of the actors speaking could sometimes be drowned out by the noise of the dogs barking in the nearby kennels. And we worry about mobile phones going off!

 

The Globe Theatre gives us an idea of what it felt like to go to the theatre on Shakespeare's time. Also, to this day London, especially the West End is one of the theatre capitals of the world and Shakespeare is considered one of the greatest, and by some the greatest writer ever.

8. The British Museum

In 1753 a doctor called Sir Hans Sloane died at the age of 93. (He must have been quite a good doctor!) As he travelled he collected anything and everything that interested him including a ball of hair from the stomach of a rare goat. He also brought the cocoa bean to this country and suggested to his patients that they mix cocoa powder with sugar and milk to make hot chocolate (a good excuse to have some hot chocolate, in the interests of history!) He left his collection to the nation for £20,000 and so the British Museum was opened, the first public museum in the World.

 

There aren't very many things from London there, but there are some of the most important antiquities from all over the World. Find out from the Rosetta Stone how hieroglyphics were deciphered, look at the mummies and Ginger, a body even older than the mummies. I especially love the Lewis Chessmen; a copy was made for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone for playing Wizards' Chess. Also, like many of our major museums, it is free.

9. Hyde Park/ South Kensington

On May 1st 1851 Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition in which countries from all over the World exhibited examples of their craftsmanship, manufacturing skills and their culture. It took place in a huge purpose-built glass building called the Crystal Palace and it attracted 6 million visitors over that summer.

 

It was the first time in history that ordinary people had been able to travel long distances. They came on the new invention, the train. The profits of the Exhibition paid for museums, colleges and other educational buildings to be built in nearby South Kensington. Ordinary people could afford to travel, visit London and learn from the experience for the first time, just like you and me.

 

With Kensington Gardens, Kensington Palace,the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial all by one another, this is one of the most beautiful parts of London

 

10. Bazaar, King's Road, Chelsea

In the mid 1960s a fashion designer called Mary Quant sold her new design in her boutique Bazaar on the King's Road in Chelsea. This was the mini-skirt. Before the sixties you wore your school uniform most of the time and then when you left school and went to work you dressed like your parents.

 

No-one had invented the teenager and everyone dressed sensibly. Mary Quant was one of the people who made fashionable clothing at a reasonable price, a sort of posh high street style. Rock and Roll had arrived from the USA in the 1950s and the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were changing the face of music. And the rest, as they say, is history!