BC
54 Caesar’s first expedition to Britain
AD
41 The Roman invasion of Britain
43 The naming of Londinium
60 The burning of London by Boudicca
61–122 The rebuilding of London
120 The Hadrianic fire of London c.
c. 190 The building of the great wall
407 The Roman withdrawal from London
457 Britons flee London to evade the Saxons
490 Saxon domination over London
587 Augustine’s mission to London
604 Foundation of a bishopric, and St. Paul’s, in London
672 Reference to “the port of London.” The growth of Lundenwic
851 London stormed by Vikings
886 Alfred retakes and rebuilds London
892 Londoners repel Danish invasion fleet
959 A great fire in London: St. Paul’s burned
994 Siege of London by Danish forces
1013 The second siege of London, by conquering Sweyn
1016 Third siege of London by Cnut, repulsed
1035 Harold I elected king by Londoners
1050 The rebuilding of Westminster Abbey
1065 Dedication of Westminster Abbey
1066 The taking of London by William the Conqueror
1078 The building of the White Tower
1123 Rahere establishes St. Bartholomew’s
1176 The building of a stone bridge
1191 The establishment of a London commune
1193–1212 The first mayor of London, Henry Fitz-Ailwin
1220 Rebuilding of Westminster Abbey
1290 Expulsion of the Jews; Eleanor Crosses set up at Chepe and Charing Cross
1326 The London revolution: deposition of Edward II
1348 The Black Death kills one-third of London’s population
1371 Charterhouse founded
1373 Chaucer living above Aldgate
1381 Wat Tyler’s revolt
1397 Richard Whittington first elected mayor
1406 Plague in London
1414 The Lollard revolt
1442 The Strand is paved
1450 Jack Cade’s revolt
1476 The establishment of Caxton’s printing press
1484 The sweating sickness in London
1485 Henry VII enters London in triumph after the Battle of Bosworth
1509 Henry VIII ascends the throne
1535 Execution of Thomas More on Tower Hill
1535–9 The spoilation of London’s monasteries and churches
1544 Wyngaerde’s great panorama of London
1576 The building of the Theatre in Shoreditch
1598 Publication of Stow’s Survey of London
1608–13 The construction of the New River
1619–22 The building of Inigo Jones’s Banqueting House
1642–3 The construction of earthen walls, and forts, against the king’s army
1649 Execution of Charles I
1652 The emergence of the coffee house
1663 The building of a theatre in Drury Lane
1665 The Great Plague
1666 The Great Fire
1694 The foundation of the Bank of England
1733 The covering of the Fleet River
1750 The building of Westminster Bridge
1756 The construction of the New Road
1769 The building of Blackfriars Bridge
1769–70 Wilkite agitation in London
1774 The London Building Act
1780 The Gordon Riots
1799 The establishment of the West India Dock Company
1800 The foundation of the Royal College of Surgeons
1801 London’s population reaches one million
1809 Gas-lighting instituted in Pall Mall
1816 Radicals meet at Spa Fields: riots in Spitalfields
1824 National Gallery founded
1825 Nash rebuilds Buckingham Palace
1829 London Metropolitan Police Force founded
1834 Houses of Parliament destroyed by fire
1836 University of London established
1851 The Great Exhibition opened in Hyde Park
1858 The “great stink” leads to Bazalgette’s sanitary engineering
1863 The opening of the world’s first underground railway
1878 The advent of electric lighting
1882 The emergence of the electric tram-car
1887 “Bloody Sunday” demonstrations in Trafalgar Square
1888 The appearance of Jack the Ripper in Whitechapel
1889 The establishment of the London County Council
1892 The beginning of the Blackwall Tunnel under the Thames
1897 The emergence of the motor-omnibus
1901 Population of London reaches 6.6 million
1905 Epidemic of typhus. Aldwych and Kingsway opened to traffic
1906 Suffragettes demonstrate in Parliament Square
1909 The opening of Selfridge’s department store
1911 The siege of Sidney Street
1913 The inauguration of the Chelsea Flower Show
1915 The first bombs fall on London
1926 The General Strike
1932 The building of Broadcasting House in Portland Place for the BBC
1935 The inauguration of the Green Belt
1936 The battle of Cable Street
1940 The beginning of the London Blitz
1951 The Festival of Britain on the South Bank
1952 The great smog
1955 The opening of Heathrow Airport
1965 The abolition of the London County Council; creation of the Greater London Council
1967 The closure of the East India Dock; the building of Centre Point
1981 The Brixton riots; the establishment of the London Docklands Development Corporation
1985 Broadwater Farm riots
1986 Completion of M25 ringway; abolition of GLC; the “big bang” in the Stock Exchange
1987 The building of Canary Wharf
2000 Mayoral elections