The City of London Book

This large-format atlas provies ten full-colour maps of the City of London from Prehistoric times to the early sixteenth century. Supported with full textual commentary and a gazetteer, they offer a unique view of the early development of a great capital city. No topographical record of London existed until the late sixteenth century, by which time much of its magnificent medieval architecture was irretrievably lost. From the sevententh century the medieval landscape was further obliterated by the widening or destruction of many old streets and lanes, and the creation of new thoroughfares. These lost dimensions are now illuminated in unique large-scale maps of the period c.1520, and in a series of meticulously detailed maps of earlier periods, including a map of pre-Roman London, showing the distribution of Iron Age sites with insets of Mesolitic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age finds. Commentary by six distinguished scholars sets the topographical development of London within its historical context. There is a chapter on the problems encountered and the methods used in the reconstruction, and a comprehensive gazetteer provides indispensable source material for every known principal building, street, lane, and alley of the medieval period. This is the third volume on British towns produced by the Historic Towns Trust, and the first to be published by Oxford Univerity Press. Contents: Hugh Prince / The Situation of London W. F. Grimes / The Prehistoric Background Ralph Merrifield / Roman London Martin Biddle / A City in Transition: 400-800 Christopher Brooke / The Central Middle Ages: 800-1270 Caroline Barron / The Later Middle Ages: 1270-1520 Henry Johns / Introduction to the Maps; Gazetteer; Maps and Plans.