The White Tower stands at the center of this complex, identifiable by its massive rectangular stone walls and distinctive tooth-like crenellations at the roofline. Built by order of William the Conqueror starting in ten sixty-six, this…
London History Walk
This walk charts the city's dramatic evolution from a Roman outpost to a global capital through its most enduring monuments and administrative centers.
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1. Tower of London
2. London Wall
The massive stone wall standing near Tower Hill marks the perimeter of Roman London, known as Londinium. You can identify this section by the distinct horizontal bands of red tiles layered between rows of pale Kentish ragstone. Built…
3. Monument to the Great Fire of London
The Monument to the Great Fire of London is a fluted Doric column of Portland stone that rises two hundred two feet into the air. Topped by a gilded urn of fire, it stands at the junction of Fish Street Hill and Monument Street. Its height…
4. London Mithraeum | Bloomberg SPACE
The London Mithraeum is a reconstructed Roman temple hidden beneath the modern Bloomberg headquarters. You can identify the site by its entrance, which leads deep underground to the location where the temple was first uncovered. Built…
5. Guildhall
The Guildhall features a courtyard with a black circle paved into the ground, tracing the outline of the Roman amphitheater that once occupied this site. Since at least the twelfth century, this location has functioned as the…
6. Temple Church
The Temple Church is defined by its unusual circular nave, a design choice modeled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Built by the Knights Templar and consecrated in eleven eighty-five, this round structure was intended…
7. Windrush Monument
The National Windrush Monument at London Waterloo station is a bronze sculpture featuring three figures—a man, a woman, and a child—dressed in their Sunday best. They stand together atop a large pile of suitcases, looking forward as if…
8. Westminster Hall
Westminster Hall is easily identified by its vast, gray stone exterior and its steep, prominent roof, which mark it as the oldest surviving building on the parliamentary estate. Construction began in ten ninety-seven under the order of…
9. Churchill War Rooms
The Churchill War Rooms are tucked into the basement of the Treasury building in Whitehall. This underground complex, which you can identify by its location beneath the government offices at the corner of King Charles Street, once…