The City of London - The Square Mile

London itself is the largest town in Britain, the capital city of England. It covers many square miles. The term “City of London” is used however, it generally refers only to the area occupied by the original old walled city built by the Romans during the first four centuries. It was the beginning of this great metropolis we know today simply as London that over the years expanded outwards from it.
The old city covered an area of roughly one square mile and was surrounded by an eighteen foot high wall and a ditch (or moat). The walls disappeared many years ago but this area, one of the major financial centres of the world, full of international banks and businesses, is still referred to as “The Square Mile” or "The City". I only mention this to avoid confusion for anyone who may have thought that the whole of London was being referred to in these pages. The coat of arms at the beginning of this item belongs to the City Corporation. This body along with an annually elected Lord Mayor, administrates everything within the square mile and is totally independent of national authorities. It was founded centuries ago, and apart from the Throne of England, is the oldest governing body still in existence anywhere in the land. Their motto is: Domini dirige nos - O Lord guide us.

After the Great Fire of 1666 London had to be completely rebuilt from scratch. This, was unavoidable modernisation, there was no London left to save. Since then, and especially the Victorian era, new buildings have been erected and in the main fitted in with their surroundings. The great wall surrounding the Bank of England has stood since 1835, the Royal Exchange from 1843. We lost a great deal of the old city to the bombers of World War 2. This made new building works unavoidable, but let’s try to hang on to the history we have left. Just look at the grand old buildings around.
The architecture (that’s what they call it) that is appearing in the City now is completely out of place amongst the great stone and wood buildings that once made up every street in the square mile. The monstrosity known as “The Erotic Gherkin” is now complete. Slap bang in the middle of the grand old buildings, it hogs the skyline and, when close enough to it, ruins the backdrop of some of London’s great old buildings. We lost the original City through fire. We are losing it’s replacement to glass and chrome spurred on by quick profits from land. These experimental architectural follies are simply not suited to the City. I'm afraid that since writing the above article there has been no respite in the demolition and building works. In 2007 all I saw was more cranes, more scaffolding, and more history being torn down in favour of shiny prefabricated boxes. It's too late to stop it now, there is too much money to be made from it and that is all the new breed of City worker is interested in. The most amount of money in the shortest possible time.
I was always under the impression that the aldermen of the City had some say in planning matters, but when I was asked by a previous years Lord Mayor what was going on at Bank Buildings when the scaffolding went up, I just lost all hope for the future of the historical City!

Why do they need these prefabricated skyscrapers in the City? OK we’re in the computer age but you can still run a computer network in a four story stone building. You can modernise the inside without destroying the outward appearance and character of the original. If you threw up these glass and metal prefabricated structures on the Isle of Dogs alongside Canary Wharf they would look great. All modern buildings together. Shape and size wouldn’t overshadow anything else. A modern financial centre a short journey from the original Square Mile. We could have had the best of both worlds! In 2005 the scaffolding finally came down in Threadneedle Street and Old Broad Street after quite some time. The old buildings were gleaming. Clean stone, stained wooden doors and windows, just as they were meant to be seen. This only goes to prove that tall glass and chrome eyesores are not essential to commerce. Mind you, they still had to slap glass all around the old Stock Exchange building for some reason!

The points raised here are purely my own personal opinions. Build the modern structures in the environment that suits them, don’t sell our heritage for the sake of a property developer or an architect trying to make the history books. But the annoying thing is that there are no need for new buildings like this. Before I get more feedback telling me the space is needed, and we have to build upwards, take a walk around the City and count the “To Let” signs on the empty offices! Then find out how long it took to tempt people to rent the space in the “Gherkin”; they still haven’t filled it. The Swiss Re only wanted a small part of it, so why did they need to build the bloody thing in the first place? As an update on that last sentence, in 2006 they proved they didn't need it when they sold the sodding lot for £600 million!
The following pages contain a brief history of the City from Roman times on. I hope you find the content both helpful and interesting. Please let me know of any criticism or suggestions you have to improve the site. I would also be grateful for any early photos you may have in your possession.

In an interview, Oscar Wilde once said:
“To me the life of the businessman who eats his breakfast early in the morning, catches a train for the city, stays there in the dingy, dusty atmosphere of the commercial world, and goes back to his house in the evening, and after supper to sleep, is worse than the life of the galley slave. His chains are golden instead of iron.”
Not so dusty and dingy today, but those commuter trains must be hard work in themselves!