The City of London

The historical center of London is now a relatively small area still known as the City, which covers only about 2.6 sq km (about 1 sq mi).

The City is capitalized, to distinguish it from the larger metropolis. This is where London began as a Roman colonial town around ad 50, at the point where the Romans built the first bridge in London.

Today this area is one of the world’s leading financial centers. Most of the financial activities are crowded along Threadneedle Street, near the intersection known as the Bank, which includes the huge Bank of England complex, the Royal Exchange, and the Stock Exchange.

The permanent residential population of the City is now less than 6000, but about 350,000 commute here daily to work.

The only large residential portion of the City is the Barbican Centre, a concrete complex of towers, parking garages, and pedestrian walkways located on the northern edge of the City.

The Barbican was built to replace older buildings destroyed in World War II (1939-1945), when the Germans heavily bombed London.

Some of the City’s older elegance and significance remains despite the architectural havoc caused by the Blitz and postwar developers.

The most prominent landmark is Saint Paul’s Cathedral, designed by English architect Christopher Wren to replace the original church, which was destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666.

At the City’s eastern boundary is the Tower of London, where the Crown imprisoned many important figures. It was begun in the 11th century by the Norman invader, William the Conqueror, to awe a city he had not completely conquered.

Successive monarchs added to the original, central White Tower, and built walls to enclose the 7-hectare (18-acre) site. Its function now is primarily ceremonial, although it still guards the Crown Jewels.

Some of the City’s traditional functions have disappeared. The newspaper industry was concentrated in the Fleet Street area for centuries, but during the 1980s the Times and other papers moved to highly automated quarters at the Docklands in the East End.

The old wholesale fish market, Billingsgate, located for centuries on the river between the Tower and London Bridge, also moved to the Docklands.