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London County England History and GeograhyLONDON, the metropolis of the United Kingdom, the seat of Government, and the principal port of the empire, forming a city and county of itself, is situated on the northern bank of the Thames, about sixty miles from its mouth, in 51?31' (N. Lat.), and 5' (W. Lon.) from the meridian of Greenwich observatory, 395 miles (S.) from Edinburgh, and 338 (S.E.) from Dublin, and contains, including some of the adjoining parishes, 1,225,694 inhabitants, according to the census of 1821; of this number, 56,874 are in the city of London Within the Walls, 69,260 in the city of London Without the Walls (not including any part of the borough of Southwark, in which there are 84,098 inhabitants), and 182,085 in the city and liberties of Westminster: the increase of population during the twenty years preceding the last census was 360,849, and since that period it has been augmenting with greater celerity. The earliest notice that we find of London, which is now the most important, if not the most extensive, city in the world, is in Julius C?ser's account of his two exploratory expeditions from Gaul to Britain, styled his Commentaries. Its situation identifies it with the Civitas Trinobantum, or city of the Trinobantes, by which people it was probably selected on account of its peculiarly fine situation: on the north, it was protected by an eminence, a forest, and a morass; on the west, by the deep ravine called the Fleet; on the east, by another ravine, since called Wal-brook; and on the south was the Thames, connected with extensive marshes, sheltered by the Kent and Surrey hills; thus combining, with other advantages, all the natural defences that could be desired by an uncivilized people. At a very early period of its history it was considered peculiarly eligible as a seat of commerce, the proximity to the sea being sufficient to afford the full advantage of the tide, at the same time that the distance was great enough to furnish a perfect security against any sudden atack from the naval force of an enemy. The name Londinium is, according to the most prevailing opinion, a Latinization of the British compound Lyndin, the town on the lake; the vast ?stuary formed by the Thames here, at that time, being a peculiarity attaching to no other British town; whilst Lun-dun, the town in the grove, and Llhong-din, the city of ships, the next two most probable etymons, are liable to insuperable objections, the former name expressing a feature said by C?sar to have been common to all British towns, which he describes as fortified woods; and the latter being inapplicable before the place became known as a naval station. The Saxons called this city Lundenceaster, which affix, as well as those of wick, and byrg or byrig, occasionally used by them in place of it, appears to have been dropped at the time of the Norman Conquest. The earliest event recorded of London is its destruction by Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, in the reign of Nero, in the year 60. Its progress since the time of C?sar had been so rapid, that Tacitus describes it, at this period, as 'the chief residence of merchants, and the great mart of trade;' though not then dignified, like Camalodunum (Maldon, or Colchester), and Verulamium (St. Alban's), with the name of a colony, nor, as it appears, fortified in the Roman manner. A few years afterwards, the Romans made it a permanent station, subject to the authority of their own laws. It is agreed to have been surrounded by a wall in the fourth century; and, according to Dr. Stukeley, the Roman city occupied an oblong square, extending in length from Ludgate to Wal-brook, and in breadth, from Maiden-lane, Lad-lane, and Cateaton-street, to the Thames. This space was between the river Fleta, on the west, and the stream called Wal-brook, on the east, and comprised about one-fifth of the area subsequently surrounded by a wall: the height of which, when perfect, was twenty-two feet, throughout its whole circuit: it commenced at the Palatine tower, proceeded in a straight line along the eminence of Ludgate-hill, as far as Newgate, and was then suddenly carried eastward, to a spot a little beyond Aldersgate, running thence straight in a northerly direction, almost as far as Cripplegate, from which spot it returned, in a direct easterly course, as far as Bishopsgate, where a large remnant of the wall, called 'London Wall', remained standing until the late removal of Bethlehem hospital. From Bishopsgate the wall assumed a gentle curvature to the Tower, over the site of which it originally passed, and probably finisheb in a castellum at this, as it did at the western extremity. Another wall skirted the river, and ran the whole length of Thames-street. Strong towers and bastions, of Roman masonry, to the number of fifteen, increased the strength of these fortifications; to which, in after times, was added a broad deep ditch; and at Barbican stood the Specula, or Watch-tower, so named. Four gates afforded entrance from the great military roads which then intersected South Britain: the Pralorian way, improved from the British Watling-street, passed under one of those gates, at the spot where Aldersgate formerly stood; whence it proceeded along that street to Billingsgate, and thence continued, on the opposite bank of the Thames, to its southern termination at Dovor. The Ermin-street led from a trajectus, or ferry, which crossed from Stony-street, Southwark, to Dowgate, and passing by Bishopsgate, pursued the course of the present road northwards, to Ad Fines (Braughing). Another road passed through Newgate, by Holborn and Oxford-street, to Ad Pontes (Staines), from which there was a branch road, in a north-easterly direction, by Portpool-lane, Clerkenwell, Old-street, and Hackney, to Duroleiton, the modern Layton in Essex. Bishopsgate, Moorgate, Ludgate, &c., were added as new roads were formed. Temple-bar is modern, not having been built until after the great fire, in 1670. Roman antiquities, consisting of foundations of houses, temples, walls, and streets; tesselated pavements, sepulchral monuments, urns, glasses, coins, articles of dress, and numerous other remains of the same period, have been discovered on the site of the present metropolis. The London stone, in Cannon-street, is considered, by most antiquaries, as part of a Roman milliary, and the central point from which the great Roman roads diverged. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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