The City and theTower of London

A great city

Two thousand years ago, London was a small village by the River Thames. Then the Romans came and built a town, and thousands of people lived there. Now, in the twenty-first century, London is the biggest city in Britain, with more than seven million people. It is the capital city of the United Kingdom, the home of Queen Elizabeth the Second, and the home of the British government. Millions of visitors come to London every year.

The name 'London' comes from the Romans. People lived here before the Romans came, but we do not know very much about them. The Romans came to England in the year 43. Their ships came up the River Thames from the sea, and they built houses and other buildings next to the river. They built a bridge over the river, and they called the town Londinium. You can find out about London's early days, and about the Romans, at the Museum of London.

It was a rich town, and about 50,000 people lived in it. But soon after the year 400, the Romans left Londinium and went back to Rome, and for three hundred years London was a quiet place. Then people began to live in the town again, and it was soon rich and important. People called Angles, Saxons, and Jutes came to Britain from Germany, Holland, and Denmark. Then, in the ninth and tenth centuries, Danish ships came up the River Thames and destroyed many of Londinium's buildings.

In 1066, England had a new king - William the Conqueror from France. William came to live in London and built a castle there (today we know it as the Tower of London). London was now the biggest and most important city in England, and it got bigger and bigger. In 1509, when Henry the Eighth was king, there were 50,000 people in London. In 1600, when Henry's daughter Elizabeth the First was queen, there were 200,000 people.

The plague often came to London, but 1665 was the worst year of all. In the hot summer that year thousands of people were ill, and 100,000 of them died. 1665 was called the Year of the Great Plague. Then a year later, in 1666, there was a big fire - the Great Fire of London. It began in a house in Pudding Lane, near London Bridge. Most houses were built of wood at that time, and fires love wood. The Great Fire of London went through street after street after street, and it did not stop for four days.

More than a quarter of a million people lost their homes in the fire. It destroyed St Paul's Cathedral and eighty-eight other churches. But it also destroyed most of the worst old buildings. A new St Paul's Cathedral was built between 1675 and 1711.

In the eighteenth century, Britain was one of the most important countries in the world, and London was its most important city. Some Londoners were very rich, and they built some of the most beautiful houses in the city. Many of those houses are standing today. But at the same time, other people lived in cold, dark, wet houses.

Many of the buildings in London today were built when Queen Victoria was the queen. She was the queen for nearly sixty-four years, from 1837 when she was 18 years old, to 1901 when she died. In that time, many railways were built, and for the first time people could travel by train. Trains were much faster than coaches and horses, of course, and visitors came to London from all across the country. In 1851 there was the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. More than six million people came and saw the wonderful exhibits. In 1863, the world's first underground trains began to run in London, between Paddington and Farringdon. In 1881, there were more than three million people in the city.

In the twentieth century, German bombs destroyed many buildings in the Second World War (1939-1945). But they did not destroy St Paul's Cathedral. And now London has some of the world's most exciting new buildings.

Today, people from all over the world live in London, and you can hear about 300 different languages here. It is big, noisy, and often dirty — but people love to visit London.

2 Royal London

Visitors like to see the royal buildings, and sometimes you can go inside them too.

Buckingham Palace stands at the end of the Mall. The Mall is a long road, and it begins at Trafalgar Square. About 300 people work at the palace, because it is the Queen's home and her 'office'. Heads of governments and royal visitors from around the world meet the Queen here.

At half-past eleven most mornings, the soldiers change the guard at Buckingham Palace. It takes about thirty minutes, and you can stand in front of the palace and watch. Hundreds of visitors do this every day.

In August and September you can usually visit some of the rooms in the palace, and see paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Rubens. You can also visit some of the palace gardens.

The Queen's Gallery is in Buckingham Palace Road. Here you can see paintings from all over the world. Next to this is the Royal Mews, the home of the Queen's horses and coaches. You can visit the Queen's Gallery and the Royal Mews at most times of the year.

Some of the beautiful rooms of Kensington Palace in Kensington are also open to visitors.

Half an hour by train from the centre of London is Windsor Castle. You can visit the castle at any time of the year.

Hampton Court stands next to the River Thames in a big park. This royal palace first opened to visitors at the time of Queen Victoria. You can take a train to Hampton Court from Waterloo Station. Or in the summer months, you can go there along the river from Westminster Pier.

Then there are the royal parades. On the second Saturday in June, London celebrates the Queen's birthday with a big parade - the Trooping of the Colour. It is not her real birthday - that is in April - but the weather is usually better in June. In the morning, she goes from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade in one of her coaches. Here soldiers carry the 'colour' (a big flag) past the Queen. Thousands of people stand in the Mall and watch the Queen and the soldiers go past.

The State Opening of Parliament usually happens in November, because in November the British government begins its work for the year. The Queen travels along the Mall to Westminster in a wonderful coach, and more than a hundred soldiers go along the Mall with her.

The City and theTower of London

November is also the month of the Lord Mayor's Show. It happens on the second Saturday, and Londoners can see their new Lord Mayor. The Mayor travels from his home at Mansion House to the Strand in a 200-year-old coach.

The Lord Mayor is the most important person in London after the Queen. The first Mayor of London was Henry Fitzailwyn, in 1189. They were first called Lord Mayors in the time of King Henry the Eighth.

The City is the oldest part of London. It is the home of the Bank of England and many other big offices.

Only about five thousand people live in the City, and at the weekends the streets are quiet. But between Monday and Friday, nearly half a million people go to work in the banks and offices there.

The Bank of England is more than three hundred years old. It is a very famous bank, and also has an interesting museum, with money from many different centuries.

The Tower of London is the City's oldest building. It stands by Tower Bridge, and next to the River Thames. In the past, it was a palace and a prison. Kings (and sometimes queens) put their most important prisoners there, and many of these prisoners never came out alive.

The Tower of London is not just one tower; it is eleven towers in different buildings. At the centre is the White Tower. This was built about 1078, and it was the tallest building in London at the time. You can see the Crown Jewels in the Jewel House, and visit the Bloody Tower.

In 1483, Edward the Fourth, the king of England, died. He had two young sons. So, was the next king Edward's older son? No, the next king was Edward's brother Richard, because Richard put Edward's two young sons in prison in the Tower. Nobody ever saw them again. Nearly 200 years later, people found bones in the Tower. Perhaps they were the bones of the king's dead sons — nobody knows.

Two other famous prisoners in the Tower were Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry the Eighth, and mother of Queen Elizabeth the First. Before she was queen, Elizabeth was also a prisoner in the Tower. Her sister, Queen Mary, put her there.

More than two million people visit the Tower every year. There are thirty-six Yeoman Warders, or Beefeaters, at the Tower. They tell visitors all about the Tower and its famous people.

Tower Bridge is more than 100 years old. It is one of London's most famous bridges. When tall ships go up the river, the centre of the bridge opens. You can learn more about the bridge at the exhibition there called the 'Tower Bridge Experience'.

St Paul's Cathedral is in the centre of the City. Its dome is 110 metres high, and it is the second biggest dome in the world, after St Peter's in Rome.

The two bells in the tower are called Great Paul and Great Tom. Great Paul is the biggest bell in the United Kingdom. Great Tom rings every hour, and it also rings when a king or queen dies.

Also in the City is a building 60 metres high, called The Monument. It is near Pudding Lane, and was built because people wanted to remember the Great Fire of 1666.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 4817