London's History :: Discover its great, its strange, its seedy and its inspired past!

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London History

Discover the great, the strange, the seedy, the inspired, the criminal and the downright ordinary past of one of the World's Greatest Cities!
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ENGLAND
Samuel Pepys
Elizabeth I
London's Underworld
Fleet Marriages.
The Cries of London
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London Quotes

Above Westminster the Thames is quite frozen over...Many fantastical experiments are daily put in practice, as certain youths burnt a gallon of wine upon the ice and made all the passengers partakers. but the best is of an honest woman (they say) that had a great longing to have her husband get her with child upon the Thames.

-- John Chamberlain January 8 1608

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The Annals of St. Paul's: Chapter 3 Part 2
Posted by Bill McCann on (1333 Reads)

Wren's St Paul's Cathedral is one of the dominant images of tourist London. The religious history of the site, however, goes back to the very arrival of Christianity in England. Sitting atop one of the two hills of ancient London it has long gazed down on the doings of men and women. Few definitive histories of St. Paul's have been written but one of the most "delightful" is that penned by Dean H H Milman in the 1860s. Here we present his great work for the enjoyment of the modern age. The long dispute with the Abbot of Westminster was finally settled. The papal Legate took up residence at Osney, and when the scholars of Oxford went to pay homage they were insulted. A riot broke out and the Legate had to flee to Abingdon. All of Oxford's scholars were excommunicated and were forced to process from St. Paul's to Westminster and beg forgiveness. Bishop Roger banished usurers were banished form London, and many of the homes of foreigners were burned. Some belonged to the pope's bankers and Bishop Roger is forced to go to Rome and pay a large fine. He also stood up to the king and continued the work of enlarging and beautifying the cahtedral, at the cost of exhausting his treasury.

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London's Costermongers: 2 - The Numbers of Costermongers
Posted by Bill McCann on (2245 Reads)

In 1862, Henry Mayhew published his magnificent survey: London Labour and the London Poor.He now comes to estimate the number of Costermongers who make regularly scrape a living from London's markets. He finds that this shifting population is increasing at a rate faster than the general metropolitan population. By visiting each of the "green" and "fish" markets and surveying the 2,000 miles of streets in London, he is able to come up with a reasonable, but surprising, estimate. On the way he finds wild fluctuations: The Strawberry season doubles the numbers at Covent garden market and the summer months see the number at Leadenhall slashed in half. And there were some surprises, Borough Market could not survive without them and they are more popular than respectable Fishmongers at Billingsgate!

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Crime and Punishment: Arthur Norcott and Mary Norcott, his Mother
Posted by Bill McCann on (2077 Reads)

This is an unusual murder case where the verdict turned on "touching the body," one of the "trials by ordeal" that were used to determine the guilt or innocence of an accused person. A person accused of murder was made to touch the body of the victim. If they were guilty, God would cause the corpse to show some sign, such as opening its eyes, pointing its finger etc. In the Norcott case, the local Jury brought in a verdict of suicide. However, the case went to Appeal at the King's Bench in London. This is an eyewitness account of that hearing.