Did you know? ... London.

[j.sabourn]

Apart from the London Fire already mentioned in another post..
The original medieval London bridge was in continuous use for over 600 years. Heads were displayed on spikes for 355 of those years.

Until 1916 Harrods sold pure cocaine to the general public.

For almost a century London was the most densely populated city on earth, it was eclipsed by Tokyo in 1925.

Victorian churchmen warned against building the London Underground, claiming the noise of the trains would disturb the devil.

Hitler had a plan to dismantle Nelson’s column and display it in Berlin.

Covent Garden is a spelling mistake, the area used to be the market garden for a convent.

The upper span of Tower Bridge was originally a walkway but it was closed in 1910 because it had become a haunt for prostitutes.

Sir Christopher Wrens first design proposal for St. Paul’s Cathedral featured a 60 ft. High stone pineapple atop the dome.

Soho is named after a medeival hunting cry, until the late 17 century the. Area was open fields.

The last person to be executed at the Tower of London was. Josef Jacobs , a German intelligence agent , he was shot by. Firing squad in 1941,

An earthquake struck London on the 8 March 1750, eyewitnesses said it made houses sink into the ground and threw fish out of the river and into the air.

In 1952 pollution was so bad a theatre performance at Sadlers Wells had to be abandoned ,when smog crept into the auditorium .

Heathrow Airport is so named because the land on which it is built was once a sleepy rural hamlet called. Heath Row,

The harrowing battle scenes in the film Full Metal Jacket were filmed at Beckton GasWorks.
Much of Aliens was filmed at a disused power station at Acton.

In 1995 aflock of starlings landed on Big Bens minute hand and put the time back 5 minutes.

For hundreds of years the word cockney was an insult.

Why Canary Wharf? Because the land on which it is built wasonce used for handling cargoes of fruit fromthe Canary Islands .

Waterloo bridge was built mostly by women.

JS

[Keith at Tregenna]

Guess this is the near modern history, rather than Romanesque:

A bridge has existed at or near the present site for nearly 2000 years. The first bridge across the Thames in the London area was built by the Romans on the present site around 46 AD and was made of wood. The location was most likely chosen as a bridgeable spot which still had deepwater access to the sea.

K.

.

[happy daze john in oz]

Gates into the city of London which was a walled city, now Algate was origin al Old Gate and New Gate as it's name suggest as the new one.

Cheapside was as the name suggests the cheapest part of town.

Cornhill was where corn and other cereals were bought and sold.

Newgate prison was there and Tyburn Tree where hangings of petty criminals stood close to what is now Marble Arch.

Prisoners on that last journey were allowed into a pub along the route for a last beer, ' one for the road' comes from that.

On Tower Hill in 1749, 100 years after Charles 1, Lord Lovat a Scottish lord convicted of treason was beheaded there the last person to be executed in such a manner.

It was from a bakers in Pudding lane that the great fire of London began in 1666.

Fleet street once the home of the newspaper industry was so named as a small river feeding into the Thames ran, the river Fleet.

Canon Street was once the place where armaments were manufactured.

Tower on London commenced in 1067 took almost 300 years to reach the size it is today.

The Old Lady of Thread needle Street, Bank of England, so named as at one time needles and thread were sold there from stalls.

[j.sabourn]

It was from that same fire of London that I got the other info. It was hard to believe that such a histoical act should account for only 7 deaths, JS.

[happy daze john in oz]

Yes John, quite amazing considering then way London was built in those days.
But it was he fat that so many were aware of what was going on they were able to escape.
But it did for some time rid the city of the rats that had spread the plague.
Sir C. Wren certainly did the city proud with his new designs.

[j.sabourn]

I often wonder how many were actuall killed during the blitz purely by incendiary bombs. JS

[John Arton]

Re#3 the river fleet, once the most polluted waterway due to it being lined by butchers and tanneries, still runs through London but is now completely covered. On streets that follow it's course there are distinct manhole covers where you can listen to the water running under your feet. The tunnel it runs in is an engineering masterpiece and has been shown recently on a few programs on the history channel on t.v.
Rgds
J.A.

---

---

https://www.google.com/search?q=rive...obile&ie=UTF-8

[Graham Payne]

Thank you, Well done all of you.
I have lived in London all my life, I knew some of it "pudding lane" etc, but the other things ?
It goes to show you live somewhere all your life and know nothing about the history of the place.
I however have an excuse, London is a bloody big place and I'm still a youngster !!
Thanks all.
Graham

[happy daze john in oz]

London has not always been the capital.
St Albans was at one time but when the Romans came they considered London to be better as it was on the river, so Londinium as they called it became the capital.

The city of Bath as the name suggests be came home to the Roman baths due to the quality of water there.

Blackheath made famous by the killing of Wat Tyler there, it was a rebellion of sorts which brought about his down fall.

Whitehall the centre of political UK, the scene in 1649 of the execution of Charles 1st. The balcony where the scaffold was erected is still there and he walked across the road from another building. He wore an additional shirt that morning, a cold January one, saying he did not wish to shiver with the cold lest the public thought it was from fear.

Now long gone there was prior to Newgate another prison known as the Clink, from this came the saying' he was in the clink'.

Petticoat lane was a street where the ladies of the day went to have petticoats and other garment made for them.

Harrods store was sold not so along ago by the 'Egyptian' for a reported GBP 1.5 billion

[happy daze john in oz]

Camden Market was originally stables for horses that pulled the long distance carriages long before the train came into being.

Dartford was a ford across the river Dart, a Thames tributery.

In Eltham there is the remains of King Johns palace his country retreat at the time in the 13th century.

In the below ground crypt of Southwark Cathedral the remains of a Roman road can be seen.

The church of All Hallows beside the Thames was the original home of Toc H.

Before Nelson was put up on his column a dinner was held on top there for the local council.

When Helen wife of Edward 1 popped her clogs up country the king had her body brought back to London. Each night where they stopped a cross was erected, until they reached Charring Cross.

All the suburbs of London, such as Eltham, Lewisham and any other ending in ham were original hamlets. Eltham was a hamlet on the banks of the then river Elt. Lewisham was the domain of the lord lewis.
East ham and West ham were as their names say hamlets to the east and west of London as it was then.

Arsenal football club began life at the Woolwich Arsenal ammunition compound in Woolwich. General Gordon Square in Woolwich is named after General Gordon of Kartoum.

Pearly Kings and queens were so named from all the pearl buttons that adorned their clothing.

Cockney slang is attributed to the markets of London in about 1700. It was developed by the traders there so they could communicate without the public knowing what they were talking about. It is thought that simple terms such as bars of silver, or bars of gold referred to fresh or smoked fish. From there it developed to the language we knew at sea.

Brick Lane, the home of Watneys and Trumans beers was original a brick making area.

There are so many aspects of London that over time have been forgotten, such as the Hay Market where hay was bought and sold.