EXPLORING ROMAN LONDON

ROMAN TOURS

7 Mar

Tracking Down the Hidden History on London's Modern Streets.

*The Fort - The Barbican, The London Mithraeum - Bloomberg Space, The Forum & Basilica - Leadenhall Market, The Wall -Tower Hill*

When in the big city we can’t really think of a better way to spend our spare time than exploring London’s Roman remains. The Romans were actually the first people to establish a settlement in this particular spot and you would be surprised just how much of this ancient civilisation is tucked away, still available to be found down the various side streets and shop basements in the hustle and bustle of this busy modern capital.

Londinium was first established in 47 AD, the site chosen as an important port for the transportation and trade of goods between Britain and the Continent. This was rather crucial for the fresh off the boat Romans, enabling them to start spreading their way of life and culture and really make their mark on this strange little isle. Not surprisingly this ‘invasion’ of Britain's soil didn’t go down well with the pre existing Britons and the original Londinium settlement was completely destroyed in a large rebellion of 61 AD that was led by the Queen of the local Iceni Tribe, Queen Boudicca.

Boudicca and her forces burnt Londinium to the ground and killed over 30,000 Roman Londoners, but this wasn’t quite enough to put the Romans off and they came back with a force and a plan. They reconstructed a brand new Londinium in their well established strong grid pattern and by 200 - 255 AD it came complete with a full defensive wall and fort that ran three kilometres long and enclosed 330 acres.

Not surprisingly this ‘invasion’ of Britain's soil didn’t go down well with the pre existing Britons and the original Londinium settlement was completely destroyed in a large rebellion of 61 AD that was led by the Queen of the local Iceni Tribe, Queen Boudicca.

But just how much of this original, well the second attempt at least, Londinium remains? Especially after almost 2000 years of habitation, settlement and redevelopment, plus the fall of the Roman Empire? Well the answer is a lot more than you would realise from the busy modern streets. London has a temple, a forum, an amphitheatre, surviving walls, forts and everything in between with Roman finds and history often washing up on the banks of the Thames. Of course not all of these ruins are on street level with many being discovered during building redevelopment works in the city but if you know just which basements to be looking in then there is plenty to find.

Stepping onto the platform at the Barbican Tube station we were ready to enter this ancient city and spend the afternoon hunting down its hidden ruins. Roman Londinium was much smaller than our modern day London and it can mostly be found in between the Barbican and the Tower of London. If you walk around the Barbican Estate and onto the rather aptly named London Wall Road you will find yourself right on top of the old Roman Fort.

This Fort of Londinium was built in 120 AD, after the Boudicca rebellion, to protect the new town from the threat of more uprisings from the local tribes. It originally only spanned 12 acres but as Londinium developed and grew it was gradually absorbed into the large protective wall that encircled the entire town.

Well the answer is a lot more than you would realise from the busy modern streets. London has a temple, a forum, an amphitheatre, surviving walls, forts and everything in between with Roman finds and history often washing up on the banks of the Thames.

Parts of the Fort are still standing today and are easily found down the side streets off London Wall Road. The majority of the ruins that remain are from the Medieval reinforcements that were built on top of the original Roman Fort but the base of this structure remains Roman built and Roman standing.

As for these impressive protective Roman Walls that encircled the city, well a large portion of the original three kilometres of Roman Wall has been eroded by time, destroyed or buried, with the stones reused during other later constructions and developments.The Roman Wall was originally built by the Romans from stone that was shipped down the Thames from Kent and it would have stood at 20 feet. The Wall of London was one of the largest building projects undertaken by the Romans in Britannia (the largest possibly being another rather famous Roman Wall … ) and portions of it have stood the test of time, a testament to the skill of the Roman Masons. This rather suspiciously named London Wall Road that we have found ourselves on is actually a modern road that tracks the original route of the Roman Outer Wall to the City of Londinium and if you follow its course then there are some fragments of the original Roman Wall still to be found standing today.

The most impressive and substantial of these fragments is located outside the Tower Hill Tube Station opposite the Tower of London. Most of these fragments that are still visible today, whilst being largely Roman, do include later additions and restorations from the Medieval and later periods with these developments to recycle the wall, a large part of the reason why so much of it still exists today. In front of this rather daunting fragment there is even a ‘Roman’ Statue supposedly of Emperor Trajan standing proud in front. Whilst being a lot more modern than his accompanying wall and actually found in a scrapyard in the 1950’s the statue is a lovely addition to draw attention to this impressive historic relic that is often overlooked by the busy commuters flowing in and out of the Tower Hill Underground Station.

The most impressive and substantial of these fragments is located outside the Tower Hill Tube Station opposite the Tower of London.

Of course much of the remains are far below street level residing in various basements. One particular of these basements that we set our sights on was underneath the Bloomberg Building inside their art gallery, come museum called the Bloomberg SPACE. Here lies the original remains of London’s Roman Temple, the London Mithraeum. This Roman Temple to Mithras was originally discovered in 1954 by the archaeologist Professor W F Grimes in excavation work that followed the extensive damage caused by the 1941 Blitz. Due to planned development and building works that were to take place on the site the remains were removed and after a period of time away they were reinstated and reconstructed back onto their original site at what would have been the Roman street level after the construction of the Bloomberg Building.

The discovery of the Head of the god Mithras from a Roman Statue during archaeological excavations of the site identifies this Roman Temple as a Mithraeum. A temple that housed a mysterious Roman Cult, an all male cult that was dedicated to the worship of Mithras. Mithras was a pagan god that was believed to have been born from stone and is often found in images killing a bull, this image is found at every Mithras Temple site and is known as the Tauroctony. The Cult of Mithras first appeared in the Roman Empire in the 1st Century and is widely believed to have carried out occult practices, it was a pagan cult that came largely under threat during the shift to Christianity by the later Roman Empire and practically disappears from history. Very little is known about this strange religious practice as it wasn’t written down at the time and the only evidence left about what actually happened inside these temples are from excavations and known sites like the London Mithraeum.

The Bloomberg SPACE aims to bring art and archaeology together, encouraging contemporary artists to create exhibitions for the gallery that help to bring a new perspective to this incredibly historical site. Accompanying this gallery space is an impressive display of finds discovered during the excavation work of the Mithraeum and entering even deeper into the basement of the museum takes you to the Temple itself and into an immersive experience that is designed to enthrall you into the emotions of the Roman Cult and Temple of Mithras. Did we mention that all of this is available for free? You simply just need to book a slot. Book Here.

Very little is known about this strange religious practice as it wasn’t written down at the time and the only evidence left about what actually happened inside these temples are from excavations and known sites like the London Mithraeum.

The final spot on our Roman wanderings led us to one place that you probably wouldn’t have expected to house Roman Relics, a hairdressers. This was the Nicholson and Griffin Hairdressers of Leadenhall Market. Leadenhall Market is actually the location of London’s Basilica and Forum; people have been trading on this exact spot for thousands of years.

The Roman Basilica would have been home to the Roman Town Hall, Law Courts and would have stood right next to the Roman Forum, Londinium’s Central Market, and almost directly below the current Leadenhall Market. During the market's construction in 1880 - 1882 the base of one of the large arches of the Basilicas arcades was discovered, it is the only known surviving fragment of this large important Roman building.

Whilst it may have been a rather odd request to make at a hairdresser to check out their Roman Ruins in the basement it must not be too out of the ordinary for this particularly extraordinary hairdresser and we were kindly welcomed down their stairs to take a look. In their basement, which serves as the main hairdressing floor, there is an information board and glass wall tucked away in the corner from which this Basilica Arch Foundation can be viewed, there is even a Barbers Chair directly next to it for those who would like their hair cut with a Roman view.

There are still many more fragments of Roman London which we didn’t get the chance to view during our short visit, namely London’s Roman Amphitheatre and Bath House and we are sure there are still plenty more lying out there just waiting to be discovered, perhaps on or rather under the latest construction sites? So whilst a second visit is most definitely in order to check off our Roman Londinium bucket list we were simply blown away at just how much Roman History could be found tucked away down London’s streets. 10 / 10 Roman Found Recommended Ruins.

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Lucilla Gray