Roman walk

 

Today we took ourselves on a self guided Roman tour. We started at St Paul's and the sun was just starting to reflect off this magnificent building .

 

 

 

 

This is a memorial to the thousands of fireman who died during the Blitz.

The next stop was Cleary Garden which was created in the 80's by a London using fragments of buildings bombed in the last war.. Beneath the gardens apparently are the foundations of a large Roman building complex, part of which is a large Roman bathhouse. Originally it would have been on the banks of the Thames. Now however it seems to be a smoking hub for the surrounding buildings.

 

Then we walked down Cannon St and there is a definite dip in the road at Walbrook Rd. This was once an ancient valley of the now buried Walbrook river which flowed into the Thames and divided Londinium in Roman times. The valley would have been a lot steeper in Roman times as the ground level would have been a lot lower then.

 

 

At this corner of Cannon and Walbrook Rd the Temple of Mithras was built towards the end of the second century. The remains of this were found in the 1950's during excavation for a building which is currently being rebuilt. Once this happens they will rebuild the temple beneath the building.

 

 

 

 

A bit further along Cannon St is the London Stone. This is possibly a Roman milestone marking the centre of London. It has been preserved in the facade of a building.

 

Next on the right is a street called Fish Street Hill. This is probably the first road in Roman London as it led to the original London Bridge built by the Romans over the Thames. This is about 100 metres from the position of the current London Bridge.

 

 

There is an old church St Magnus which would have been right on the edge of the old bridge in medieval times. There is a piece of timber from the Roman wharves outside the church.

 

 

 

What the church would have looked like on the edge of the old bridge.

 

 

 

There was an old fire truck in the church

 

 

 

 

Time for coffee and a look in the old church next door which is another Christpher Wren masterpiece. There was a quartet practising for a lunchtime concert inside. Another few metres and another Wren church.

 

 

 

Up the street is Monument which is a huge monument to commemorate the 1666 Great Fire of London.

 

 

Look here is Pudding lane where the fire started in a baker's shop.

 

 

All Hallows by the Tower was the last stop in our tour as we had done the the rest of it last time. This church has remains from both the Anglo Saxon period and the Roman period. It is the oldest standing church in London but was badly damaged in the war.

This is the remains of the arch built in Saxon times.

 

The crypt was amazing. In it there was part of a Roman pavement and traces of a plastered wall. They have a museum full of Roman finds down in the crypt.

 

Model of Roman London

 

 

 

 

What better way to finish the day!