Following the Viking invasions which prompted the Saxon King Alfred the Great to reoccupy and rebuild the Roman city walls, London Bridge was also rebuilt.
In turn the bridge supported the development of a settlement on the southern side of the river, at the northern end of modern Borough High Street, another cornerstone of modern Londoners’ identity are you from north or south of the river?Ĭenturies later after the Romans had abandoned Britain, the Saxon settlement of Lundenwic was also sited beside the river, away from the vestiges of deserted Londinium and its ruined bridge. This effectively made Londinium a crossroads that helped to control Britain and its trade.
In order to move large numbers of people, especially soldiers, the Romans constructed the first known bridge across the river, providing the essential link between the major routes that fanned out to the south and to the north. Their use of the Thames as a key route to the rest of their empire was a strong portent of London’s mercantile character which survives to this day. The Romans developed quays for loading and unloading goods on the north bank of the river with warehouses to service them, making London a hub for trade. London’s urban history starts with the Roman settlement of Londinium nearly 2000 years ago. The Thames and its landscape have been intrinsically linked to human habitation for around 500,000 years. So, if the River Thames is to London what a mother and father are to a child, what does that make the bridges that tie north and south London together? The waterway forms a third space that has complimented, constrained, nourished and inspired the development of the city, which has grown up around its banks. It is impossible to describe the history of London coherently without starting with the Thames.
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