How London Began
To anyone who does not know London well, there appear to be roads of never-ending length, lined with seemingly innumerably shops and offices. A trip across London, through the central area, reveals a view of all the shops and houses joined up, with no fields separating one community from another.
Those who live in these apparently continuous lines of houses are well aware that there is a definite demarkation line between one community and another. In the words of the well-known Victorian music-hall song, large numbers of 'ouses in between' were built on the open land that once separated one village from another. The result was, in the words of the song, that 'You could see to 'Ackney Marshes ... If it wasn't for the 'ouses in between'.
Most of the hills around Inner London - at Highgate and Hampstead - also at Forest Hill and Crystal Palace - were covered in dense forest, like Dulwich Woods (see picture). The lower land, which included all of Central London was flat, fairly open and, beside the Thames, rather marshy. Once the Romans arrived, the countryside was crossed by many Roman roads, rediating out from Londinium, now better known as the City of London. After four hundred years of occupation, the Legions were withdrawn and Saxon farmers began settle on the land. The farms grew into hamlets and villages and by the time of the Norman Conquest, in 1066, Inner London was a patchwork of farms and villages which eventually grew into the town centres - like Camberwell - that we are familiar with today.
It is to describe those original villages that these pages about 'How London Began' have been written. Today, few people know what a fascinating story each area posseses.
TO BE CONTINUED
Those who live in these apparently continuous lines of houses are well aware that there is a definite demarkation line between one community and another. In the words of the well-known Victorian music-hall song, large numbers of 'ouses in between' were built on the open land that once separated one village from another. The result was, in the words of the song, that 'You could see to 'Ackney Marshes ... If it wasn't for the 'ouses in between'.
Most of the hills around Inner London - at Highgate and Hampstead - also at Forest Hill and Crystal Palace - were covered in dense forest, like Dulwich Woods (see picture). The lower land, which included all of Central London was flat, fairly open and, beside the Thames, rather marshy. Once the Romans arrived, the countryside was crossed by many Roman roads, rediating out from Londinium, now better known as the City of London. After four hundred years of occupation, the Legions were withdrawn and Saxon farmers began settle on the land. The farms grew into hamlets and villages and by the time of the Norman Conquest, in 1066, Inner London was a patchwork of farms and villages which eventually grew into the town centres - like Camberwell - that we are familiar with today.
It is to describe those original villages that these pages about 'How London Began' have been written. Today, few people know what a fascinating story each area posseses.
TO BE CONTINUED
