Curated category
Areas of London
- SohoHenry VIII seized the land that became Soho in 1536, turning it into a royal park for his Palace of Whitehall. The area remained Crown property until Queen…
- BayswaterThe name Bayswater emerged from the 1380 placename Bayards Watering Place. This Middle English phrase described either a watering place for horses or a…
- WoolwichWoolwich has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age. Remains of a probably Celtic oppidum, established sometime between the 3rd and 1st century BCE, were…
- ShoreditchThe name Shoreditch appears in records from 1183 as Soresdic, and again in 1204 as Sordig. Toponymists generally agree the word derives from Old English…
- SouthwarkEngineers of the Roman Empire found a narrow strip of firm ground on the south bank around 43 AD. This geographic feature allowed them to bridge the Thames…
- GreenwichThe name Greenwich first appeared in an Anglo-Saxon charter from the year 918, recorded as Gronewic. By 964, scribes wrote it as Grenewic, and the…
- East End of LondonThe East End of London began to emerge in the Middle Ages with initially slow urban growth outside the eastern walls. John Strype's 1720 Survey of London…
- WestminsterIn the early 7th century, a fisherman named Edric ferried a stranger across the Thames to Thorney Island. The stranger wore tattered foreign clothing and…
- Blackfriars, LondonThe name Blackfriars first appears in official records from 1317, though the community itself began decades earlier. Dominican Friars established their…
- West End of LondonLondon's West End of London began as a distinct entity from the City of London in medieval times. Two adjacent cities existed side by side, each maintaining…