2300–1500 BC – Possible community on
Chiswick Eyot in the Thames.
1500 BC – A
Bronze Age bridge exists from the foreshore north of Vauxhall Bridge. This bridge either crosses the Thames, or goes to a subsequently lost island in the river.[3]
300–1 BC – An
Iron Ageoppidum in
Woolwich, which is possibly London's first port, in the late-Roman period reused as a fort.[4]
57 – 8 January: The earliest known handwritten document in the UK is created in London, a financial record in one of the Roman '
Bloomberg tablets' found during 2010–13 on the site of
Londinium. Another dated to 65/70-80 AD gives the earliest known written record of the name of Londinium.[7]
60 or 61 – Londinium is sacked by forces of
Boudica.[8]
122 – Construction of a
forum in Londinium is completed;[9] Emperor
Hadrian visits. There is a major fire in the city at about this time.
15 August:
Ranulf Flambard, Bishop of
Durham, becomes the first person imprisoned in the
Tower of London, by the new king for supposed embezzlement.[19] On 3 February 1101, he becomes the first person to escape from the Tower.
1196 – In the Spring, a popular uprising of the poor against the rich is led by
William Fitz Osbert, who is hanged after being smoked out of his refuge in the tower of
St Mary-le-Bow.
1199 - King John reinforces the city's self-government.
1212 – 10 July:
The Great Fire of 1212 takes place in
Southwark and in houses on London Bridge, with fatalities; thatched roofs are prohibited in the City as a consequence.[27]
1222 – 15 July: Rioting after London defeats
Westminster in an annual
wrestling contest; the ring-leaders are hanged or mutilated in punishment.[9]
1232 – The
Domus Conversorum ("House of the Converts"), a building and institution in London for
Jewish converts to
Christianity, is established by Henry III.[28]
1234 – 2 December: A royal decree prohibits institutes of legal education within the City.[29]
1235 – Famine in England; 20,000 people die in London.[30]
1236 – Many people are killed in floods in
Woolwich.[4]
1255 – An
elephant joins the royal menageries at the Tower of London.
1257
c. September:
1257 Samalas eruption: A volcano erupts on
Lombok Island in
Indonesia, and the resultant climatic changes combine with a second successive poor grain harvest this summer in Britain to produce famine. This kills an estimated 17,000 people in Britain, of which 15,000 deaths are in London.[32][33]
The
Brothers of Penitence (Fratres Saccati, 'Brothers of the Sack') first settle in England, in London.[34]
15 June:
Peasants' Revolt: During further negotiations, Wat Tyler is stabbed to death by
William Walworth, Lord Mayor of London in the King's entourage. Noble forces subsequently overpower the rebel army, the rebel leaders are captured and executed, and Richard revokes his concessions.[43]
1397 – 6 June:
Richard Whittington is nominated as mayor[17] for the first of four terms. He arranges for the City to buy back its liberties from the Crown.
1400 – During Lent, children give battle in London.[44]
1476 – September/December:
William Caxtonsets up the first printing press in England, in
Westminster,[53] where he produces his first full-length book on 18 November 1477.
18 January: The
Worshipful Company of Clothworkers is incorporated by royal charter, merging the Fullers' and Shearmens' Companies and taking over the latter's hall.
6 July: King Edward VI dies aged 15 at the
Palace of Placentia (
Greenwich),[48] having nominated Lady Jane Grey as his successor (without her knowledge).[9]
19 July: The Privy Council and
Thomas White,
Lord Mayor of London, proclaim the Catholic
Queen Mary as the rightful Queen – Lady Jane Grey is imprisoned within the Tower after using the title of queen for nine days.[9]
30 July: Mary is greeted at
Wanstead on the approach to London by her half-sister
Elizabeth, who has ridden out from her new London residence,
Somerset House.[61]
3 August: Mary rides triumphantly into London to claim the throne, accompaned by Elizabeth.[9][62]
12 February: After claiming the throne of England the previous year,
Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason as is her husband – he publicly on Tower Hill and she privately within the Tower of London, where she has remained since the proclamation.[48] On 17 March Princess
Elizabeth is briefly imprisoned in the Tower, suspected of involvement in Wyatt's rebellion.[23]
4 June: The spire of the
Old St Paul's Cathedral catches fire and crashes through the
nave roof, probably as the result of a
lightning strike. The spire is not rebuilt.[21][23]
1567 –
John Brayne builds the
Red Lion theatre just east of the
City of London, which is a playhouse for touring productions and the first known to be purpose-built in the
British Isles since
Roman times. However, there is little evidence that the theatre survives beyond this summer's season.[68][69]
1569 –
Gray's Inn is recorded as a corporate body.
1570
The
Whitechapel Bell Foundry is known to be in existence. By the time its 18th-century premises closes in May 2017, it will be the oldest manufacturing company in
Great Britain.[70]
1583 – The Bunch Of Grapes pub is built on Narrow Street in
Limehouse.[75] Referred to by Charles Dickens in Our Mutual Friend as "The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters", it still stands in the 21st century, much rebuilt and renamed '
The Grapes'.
1592 – August: The
1592–1593 London plague outbreak is first observed, and there are at least 19,000 deaths up to December 1593;[9] theatres are consequently closed for much of the period.[23]
5 May: "Dutch church libel": bills posted in London threatening Protestant refugees from
France and the
Netherlands allude to
Christopher Marlowe's plays. On 30 May, Marlowe is stabbed to death in a dispute over the bill at a lodging house in
Deptford.[23]
February:
James Burbage buys the disused
Blackfriars Theatre from Sir William More for £600 but is prevented from reusing it as a public theatre by a November petition by wealthy influential neighbors.[23]
28 April: The funeral of Elizabeth I takes place in
Westminster Abbey.
7 May: Crowds welcome
James's arrival in London for his coronation as king of England in Westminster Abbey on 25 July.[48] He subsequently orders the creation of
St. James's Park.
1604 – 15 March: The
Royal Entry of King James into London takes place.[83]
1605
5 November:
Gunpowder Plot: A plot to blow up the
Houses of Parliament and the King is foiled when the Catholic plotter
Guy Fawkes is found in a cellar below the Parliament with 36 barrels of
gunpowder following an anonymous tip-off.[23] On 30 January 1606, 4 of the conspirators are
hanged, drawn and quartered for treason outside
St Paul's, and the following day Fawkes and the remainder are executed in the same manner in
Old Palace Yard, Westminster.
The
Anchor Brewery is established by James Monger next to the
Globe Theatre in
Southwark. It will be the world's largest by the early 19th century and brew until the 1970s.[86]
23 May:
Nathaniel Butter begins publication of Newes from Most Parts of Christendom or Weekley Newes from Italy, Germany, Hungaria, Bohemia, the Palatinate, France and the Low Countries.[88]
26 October: "
Fatal Vespers": 95 people are killed when an upper floor of the
French ambassador's house in
Blackfriars collapses under the weight of a congregation attending a Catholic mass.[90]
Between 8 November and 5 December: Publication of the "
First Folio" (Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies), a posthumous collection of 36 of
Shakespeare's plays, half of which have not previously been printed, by
Isaac Jaggard and
Edward Blount in the Jaggard printshop "at the sign of the Half-Eagle and Key in Barbican".[91]
December: The
Holland's Leaguer, a notorious
brothel in Southwark which has been ordered to close, is besieged for a month before this can be carried out.
13 February: Fire engines are used for the first time in England to control and extinguish a fire that breaks out on
London Bridge, but not before 43 houses are destroyed.[93]
13 November:
Battle of Turnham Green (First English Civil War): Royalist forces withdraw in face of the Parliamentarian army and fail to take London.[95]
11 September: The
Levellers' largest
petition, "To The Right Honourable The Commons Of England" (The humble Petition of Thousands well-affected persons inhabiting the City of London, Westminster, the Borough of Sonthwark Hamblets, and places adjacent), is presented to the
Long Parliament after amassing signatories including about a third of all Londoners (including women).[96]
May: First performance of The Siege of Rhodes, Part I, by Sir
William Davenant takes place, making it the first
Englishopera (under the guise of a
recitative), in a private theatre at his home,
Rutland House, in the City. This also includes the innovative use of painted backdrops and the appearance of England's first professional actress, Mrs. Coleman.
England's first chocolate house opens in London,[103] together with the
Rainbow Coffee House, the city's second such establishment; while tobacconist and coffee house owner Thomas Garway in
Exchange Alley is the first person to introduce
tea in England.[104][105]
29 May:
Charles II arrives in London via Deptford and assumes the throne, marking the beginning of the
English Restoration. He subsequently orders the remodelling of
St. James's Park in the French style.[9]
September:
Pall Mall is laid out as a thoroughfare in Westminster.
The diarist
John Evelyn publishes his pamphlet Fumifugium, or, The inconveniencie of the aer and smoak of London dissipated together with some remedies humbly proposed by J.E. Esq. to His Sacred Majestie, making it the earliest discussion of the city's
air pollution.[21]
March: 15-year-old
Nell Gwyn makes her first definitely recorded appearance as an actress on the
London stage, having previously been a theatre orange-seller.
12 April: The first recorded victim of the
Great Plague of London dies.[24] On 7 July the King and court leave London to avoid the plague, moving first to
Salisbury, then to
Oxford from 25 September to 1 February 1666, where in October Parliament convenes. The City begins use of
Bunhill Fields as a burial ground for the victims. By the time the plague ends, over 70,000 people have died.
1666 – 2–5 September:
Great Fire of London: A large fire which breaks out in the City in the house of baker
Thomas Farriner on
Pudding Lane destroys more than 13,000 buildings, including the
Old St Paul's Cathedral, but only 6 people are known to have died. It then takes over 10 years to rebuild the City.[24]
1667
8 February: The first part of the
Rebuilding of London Act 1666, following last year's Great Fire of London, goes into effect as
royal assent is given to the
Fire of London Disputes Act 1666, which establishes the Fire Court.[113] The Court, sitting at Clifford's Inn near Fleet Street, hears cases starting on February 27 and continuing until the end of 1668.[114] The London Building Act enforces fireproof construction in the reconstruction of the City.[27]
Hedges & Butler is established as wine merchants.[66]
The second Rebuilding Act is passed to raise the tax on coal to provide funds for rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral and other City churches destroyed in the Great Fire.
The
Fulham Pottery is established by
John Dwight, making it the earliest certainly known native
stoneware manufacturer in England; it will survive until the second half of the 20th century.[121]
December: Charles II issues a "Proclamation for the suppression of
Coffee Houses" due to the political activity which is occurring in the newly popular establishments,[125] but it is quickly rescinded.
17 November: An effigy of the Pope is burned after a large procession through the streets of London.
27 November: The
Duke of Monmouth enters London amid scenes of widespread celebration, having subdued the Scottish
Covenanters.
18 December: Rose Alley ambuscade: The writer
John Dryden is set upon by 3 assailants, who are thought to have been instigated by the
Earl of Rochester in a literary dispute.[128]
12 December: The
River Thames frost fair begins, and lasts for several months.[17] The
Chipperfield's Circus dynasty begins when James Chipperfield introduces performing animals to England at the fair in 1684.
29 September: Edward Hemming establishes the first organised
street lighting in London, with
oil lamps to be lit outside every 10th house on moonless winter nights.[9]
11 November:
Henry Sacheverell preaches an incendiary sermon The Perils of False Brethren at St Paul's Cathedral, which leads to his impeachment by Parliament.
13 January: A major fire originating in an explosion in
Thames Street destroys more than 100 houses and severely damages the
Custom House, which requires its complete rebuilding, before being contained in
Tower Street.[93]
3 May: A total
solar eclipse is the last total eclipse visible in London for almost 900 years.
Thomas Fairchild, a
nurseryman at
Hoxton in the East End, becomes the first person to produce a successful scientific plant
hybrid, Dianthus Caryophyllus barbatus, which is also known as the "Fairchild's Mule".[152]
2 March: A night watchman finds a severed head by the Thames; it is later recognized to be that of the husband, murdered the previous day, of
Catherine Hayes.[158]
24 May:
Jonathan Wild, fraudulent "Thief Taker General", is
hanged at Tyburn for actually aiding criminals.[159]
28 April: A fire at
White's Chocolate House, near St. James's Palace, destroys the historic club and the paintings therein, but is kept from spreading by the fast response of firemen.[93]
21 June: The
Theatrical Licensing Act is passed, introducing censorship to the London stage, so plays now require approval before production. The "legitimate drama" is limited to the theatres at
Drury Lane,
Covent Garden and the
Haymarket, and
Edward Capell is appointed as the deputy-inspector of plays.
17 October: The
Foundling Hospital, established by
Thomas Coram, is granted its royal charter.[41] On 25 March 1741, the first children are admitted to its temporary premises in
Hatton Garden.
Thomas Witherby establishes his
stationery business in London, specializing in printing and publishing for the
marine insurance industry. By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it will claim to be the oldest independent publisher in the
English speaking world as the
Witherby Publishing Group.
6 December ("Black Friday"):
Jacobite rising: Panic in London over the news that
Jacobite forces from Scotland have reached as far south as
Derby 2 days previously.[23]
29 January: After a month's absence,
Elizabeth Canning returns to her mother's home in London and claims that she was abducted, and the following criminal trial causes uproar.
7 June: The
Gordon Riots are ended by the intervention of troops. About 285 people are shot dead, with another 200 wounded and around 450 arrested,[53] of whom around 25 will be executed.
21 June: First woman to be
burnt at the stake at
Newgate Prison (as distinct from Tyburn or Smithfield), Phoebe Harris for
coin counterfeiting. She is led to the stake past the hanged bodies of her accomplices but is allowed to be strangled before the flames are lit.[188]
The construction of houses on the edge of
Blackheath, which was designed by
Michael Searles, begins with The Paragon (a
crescent), South Row and Montpelier Row, and they will be completed in 1805.[132]
1 February: Protests over the price of bread culminate in
Queen Charlotte being hit by a stone as she and George III return from a trip to the theatre.[9]
December: The coldest day in London is recorded, where it reaches −21.1 °C (−6 °F) in
Greenwich.
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ISBN978-1-901992-85-4.
^Phillpotts, Christopher,
Red Lion Theatre, Whitechapel(PDF), CrossRail Documentary Report, Museum of London Archaeology Service, archived from
the original(PDF) on 27 September 2011, retrieved 21 March 2011
^Dekker, Thomas. The Wonderfull Yeare 1603, wherein is shewed the picture of London lying sicke of the plague.
^Lee, Christopher (2014). 1613: The Death of Queen Elizabeth I, the Return of the Black Plague, the Rise of Shakespeare, Piracy, Witchcraft, and the Birth of the Stuart Era. St Martin's Press.
ISBN9781466864504.
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abcdWalford, Cornelius, ed. (1876). "Fires, Great". The Insurance Cyclopeadia: Being an Historical Treasury of Events and Circumstances Connected with the Origin and Progress of Insurance. C. and E. Layton.
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ISBN978-0-521-65068-7.
^Rideal, Rebecca (2016). 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire. John Murray Press.
^Field, Jacob F. (2017). London, Londoners and the Great Fire of 1666: Disaster and Recovery. Taylor & Francis.
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abGordon, Ian;
Inglis, Simon (2009). Great Lengths: the historic indoor swimming pools of Britain. Swindon: English Heritage.
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^Bentley, G. E. Jr. (March 2009). "Blake's Murderesses: Visionary Heads of Wickedness". Huntington Library Quarterly. 72 (1). University of California Press: 69–105.
doi:
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JSTOR10.1525/hlq.2009.72.1.69. At Catherine's urging, "Billings went into the room with a hatchet, with which he struck Hayes so violently that he fractured his skull" but did not kill him. Wood, "taking the hatchet out of Billings's hand, gave the poor man two more blows, which effectually dispatched him." They were then faced with the problem of how to dispose of the body.
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abcBrake, Laurel; Demoor, Marysa, eds. (2009).
"Chronology". Dictionary of Nineteenth-century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Academia Press.
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^Skempton, Alec, ed. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: Vol 1: 1500 to 1830. London: Thomas Telford. p. 70.
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Thomas Wright (1839). "Account of the Companies of the City of London, Alphabetically Arranged". History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark, and Parts Adjacent. Vol. 2. London. pp. 376–429.
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Howarth, Osbert John Radcliffe; Ingram, Thomas Allan; Wheatley, Henry Benjamin (1910). "London" . In
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