London A dream city
Greater London London region County
Greater London flag
Neighbourhoods of London
Greater London consists of the City of London & 32 London boroughs, of which 12 are statutory Inner London boroughs & 20 are Outer London boroughs.
A) The statutory Inner London boroughs are: -Camden -Southwark -Greenwich -Tower Hamlets -Hackney -Wandsworth -Hammersmith & Fulham -Westminster -Islington -Kensington & Chelsea -Lambeth -Lewisham
B) The statutory Outer London boroughs are: -Barking & Dagenham -Enfield -Merton -Barnet -Haringey -Redbridge -Bexley -Harrow -Richmond upon Thames -Brent -Bromley -Croydon -Ealing
-Havering -Sutton -Hillingdon -Waltham Forest -Hounslow -Kingston upon Thames
Areas of Inner London
Outer London boroughs
London Tube
London Tube
TOPONYMY The etymology of London is uncertain.[37] It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century. It is recorded c. 121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin.[37] The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae.[37] This had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud.[38] From 1898, it was commonly accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos; this explanation has since been rejected.[37] Richard Coates put forward an explanation in 1998 that it is derived from the pre-Celtic Old European *(p)lowonida, meaning 'river too wide to ford', and suggested that this was a name given to the part of the River Thames which flows through London; from this, the settlement gained the Celtic form of its name, *Lowonidonjon;[39] this requires quite a serious amendment however. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *(h)lĹ?ndinion (as opposed to *londÄŤnion), from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name "London" officially only applied to the City of London but since then it has also referred to the County of London and now Greater London.[7]
MAP OF LONDON, 1300
Prehistory and antiquity Two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area. In 1999, the remains of a Bronze Age bridge were found on the foreshore north of Vauxhall Bridge.[40] This bridge either crossed the Thames, or went to a (lost) island in the river. Dendrology dated the timbers to 1500BC.[40] In 2010 the foundations of a large timber structure, dated to 4500BC, were found on the Thames foreshore, south of Vauxhall Bridge. [41] The function of the mesolithic structure is not known. Both structures are on South Bank, at a natural crossing point where the River Effra flows into the River Thames.[41] Although there is evidence of scattered Brythonic settlements in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans in 43 AD.[42] This lasted for just seventeen years and around 61, the Iceni tribe led by Queen Boudica stormed it, burning it to the ground.[43] The next, heavily planned, incarnation of Londinium prospered and superseded Colchester as the capital of the Roman province of Britannia in 100. At its height during the 2nd century, Roman London had a population of around 60,000.
Anglo-Saxon London With the collapse of Roman rule in the early 5th century, London ceased to be a capital and the walled city of Londinium was effectively abandoned, although Roman civilisation hung on in the St Martin-in-the-Fields area until around 450.[44] From around 500, an Anglo-Saxon settlement known as Lundenwic developed in the same area, slightly to the west of the old Roman city.[45] By about 680, it had revived sufficiently to become a major port, although there is little evidence of large-scale production of goods. From the 820s the town declined because of repeated Viking attacks, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded that it was "refounded" by Alfred the Great in 886. Archaeological research shows that this involved abandonment of Lundenwic and a revival of life and trade within the old Roman walls. London then grew slowly until about 950, after which activity increased dramatically. By the 11th century, London was beyond all comparison the largest town in England. Westminster Abbey, rebuilt in the Romanesque style by King Edward the Confessor, was one of the grandest churches in Europe. Winchester had previously been the capital of Anglo-Saxon England, but from this time on, London became the main forum for foreign traders and the base for defence in time of war. In the view of Frank Stenton: "It had the resources, and it was rapidly developing the dignity and the political self-consciousness appropriate to a national capital."[47][48]
LONDON 1806
LONDON bombed, WWII
Map of Central London
The City of London & the 32 London boroughs 1.
City of London
2.
City of Westminster
3.
Kensington and Chelsea
4.
Hammersmith and Fulham
5.
Wandsworth
6.
Lambeth
7.
Southwark
8.
Tower Hamlets
9.
Hackney
10.
Islington
11.
Camden
12.
Brent
13.
Ealing
14.
Hounslow
15.
Richmond
16.
Kingston
17.
Merton
1.
Sutton
2.
Croydon
3.
Bromley
4.
Lewisham
5.
Greenwich
6.
Bexley
7.
Havering
8.
Barking and Dag
9.
Redbridge
10.
Newham
11.
Waltham Forest
12.
Haringey
13.
Enfield
14.
Barnet
15.
Harrow
16.
Hillingdon