Ancient London: Secrets of the City’s Oldest Roots and Ruins

When you walk through the streets of modern London, you’re stepping over layers of history older than most countries. Ancient London, the earliest settled core of what would become one of the world’s greatest cities, stretching back over two millennia. Also known as Londinium, it began as a small trading post built by the Romans around 43 AD, right where the River Thames narrowed enough to build a bridge. That bridge became the reason the city existed. Without it, there would be no London. And even now, if you dig deep enough—literally—you’ll still find Roman bricks, coins, and even parts of the original city wall under modern buildings.

Roman London, the first major urban settlement here, was a hub of trade, law, and religion. Also known as Londinium, it had a forum, a basilica, a theater, and even a bathhouse that could hold hundreds. The walls they built still stand in places like the Tower of London and the Barbican. Meanwhile, medieval London, the city that rose after the Romans left, grew inside those same walls, packed with timber houses, markets, and churches. Also known as the City of London, it became the center of power, trade, and plague—each layer adding to the next. You don’t need to be a historian to feel it. Walk down Cornhill or visit the Museum of London’s excavated streets, and you’re touching the same ground that Romans, Saxons, and Normans walked on.

What’s left isn’t just ruins—it’s the blueprint. The grid of streets in the City of London follows Roman lines. The Thames was the highway then, just like the Tube is now. Even the name London comes from the Celtic word Londinos, meaning "the place of the bold one." That’s the kind of history that sticks. And in the posts below, you’ll find real glimpses of it: the Gothic arches of Westminster Abbey built on sacred ground older than the Normans, the hidden Roman foundations beneath modern offices, the medieval guild halls still standing in quiet corners. This isn’t textbook history. It’s the city’s bones. And they’re still here.