1.
Peasants' Revolt
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The Peasants Revolt, also called Wat Tylers Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The final trigger for the revolt was the intervention of an official, John Bampton. His attempts to collect unpaid taxes in Brentwood ended in a violent confrontation. A wide spectrum of society, including many local artisans and village officials, rose up in protest, burning court records. The rebels sought a reduction in taxation, an end to the system of unfree labour known as serfdom, inspired by the sermons of the radical cleric John Ball, and led by Wat Tyler, a contingent of Kentish rebels advanced on London. They were met at Blackheath by representatives of the royal government, King Richard II, then aged 14, retreated to the safety of the Tower of London, but most of the royal forces were abroad or in northern England. The following day, Richard met the rebels at Mile End and acceded to most of their demands, meanwhile, rebels entered the Tower of London, killing the Lord Chancellor and the Lord High Treasurer, whom they found inside. On 15 June, Richard left the city to meet with Tyler, violence broke out, and Richards party killed Tyler. Richard defused the situation long enough for Londons mayor, William Walworth, to gather a militia from the city. Richard immediately began to order in London and rescinded his previous grants to the rebels. The revolt had spread into East Anglia, where the University of Cambridge was attacked. Unrest continued until the intervention of Henry le Despenser, who defeated an army at the Battle of North Walsham on 25 or 26 June. Troubles extended north to York, Beverley and Scarborough, and as far west as Bridgwater in Somerset, Richard mobilised 4,000 soldiers to restore order. Most of the leaders were tracked down and executed, by November. The Peasants Revolt has been studied by academics. Interpretations of the revolt have shifted over the years and it was once seen as a defining moment in English history, but modern academics are less certain of its impact on subsequent social and economic history. The revolt heavily influenced the course of the Hundred Years War, the Peasants Revolt was fed by the economic and social upheaval of the 14th century. Across much of England, production was organised around manors, controlled by local lords – including the gentry, population growth led to pressure on the available agricultural land, increasing the power of local landowners
2.
Richard II of England
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Richard II, also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed on 30 September 1399. Richard, a son of Edward, the Black Prince, was born in Bordeaux during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III. Richard was the brother of Edward of Angoulême, upon whose death, Richard. Upon the death of Richards father prior to the death of Edward III, Richard, by primogeniture, with Edward IIIs death the following year, Richard succeeded to the throne at the age of ten. During Richards first years as king, government was in the hands of a series of councils, most of the aristocracy preferred this to a regency led by the kings uncle, John of Gaunt, yet Gaunt remained highly influential. The first major challenge of the reign was the Peasants Revolt in 1381, the young king played a major part in the successful suppression of this crisis. By 1389 Richard had regained control, and for the eight years governed in relative harmony with his former opponents. In 1397, Richard took his revenge on the appellants, many of whom were executed or exiled, the next two years have been described by historians as Richards tyranny. In 1399, after John of Gaunt died, the king disinherited Gaunts son, Henry of Bolingbroke, Henry invaded England in June 1399 with a small force that quickly grew in numbers. Claiming initially that his goal was only to reclaim his patrimony, meeting little resistance, Bolingbroke deposed Richard and had himself crowned as King Henry IV. Richard died in captivity in February 1400, he is thought to have starved to death. Richard was said to have tall, good-looking and intelligent. Less warlike than either his father or grandfather, he sought to bring an end to the Hundred Years War that Edward III had started, modern historians do not accept this interpretation, while not exonerating Richard from responsibility for his own deposition. While probably not insane, as historians of the 19th and 20th centuries believed, Richard of Bordeaux was the younger son of Edward, the Black Prince, and Joan of Kent. Edward, heir to the throne of England, had distinguished himself as a commander in the early phases of the Hundred Years War. After further military adventures, however, he contracted dysentery in Spain in 1370 and he never fully recovered and had to return to England the next year. Joan of Kent had been at the centre of a dispute between Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, and William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, from which Holland emerged victorious. Less than a year after Hollands death in 1360, Joan married Prince Edward, since she was a granddaughter of King Edward I and a first cousin of King Edward III, the marriage required papal approval
3.
English people
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The English are a nation and an ethnic group native to England, who speak the English language. The English identity is of medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Angelcynn. Their ethnonym is derived from the Angles, one of the Germanic peoples who migrated to Great Britain around the 5th century AD, England is one of the countries of the United Kingdom. Collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons, they founded what was to become England along with the later Danes, Normans, in the Acts of Union 1707, the Kingdom of England was succeeded by the Kingdom of Great Britain. Over the years, English customs and identity have become closely aligned with British customs. The English people are the source of the English language, the Westminster system and these and other English cultural characteristics have spread worldwide, in part as a result of the former British Empire. The concept of an English nation is far older than that of the British nation, many recent immigrants to England have assumed a solely British identity, while others have developed dual or mixed identities. Use of the word English to describe Britons from ethnic minorities in England is complicated by most non-white people in England identifying as British rather than English. In their 2004 Annual Population Survey, the Office for National Statistics compared the ethnic identities of British people with their national identity. They found that while 58% of white people in England described their nationality as English and it is unclear how many British people consider themselves English. Following complaints about this, the 2011 census was changed to allow respondents to record their English, Welsh, Scottish, another complication in defining the English is a common tendency for the words English and British to be used interchangeably, especially overseas. In his study of English identity, Krishan Kumar describes a common slip of the tongue in which people say English, I mean British. He notes that this slip is made only by the English themselves and by foreigners. Kumar suggests that although this blurring is a sign of Englands dominant position with the UK and it tells of the difficulty that most English people have of distinguishing themselves, in a collective way, from the other inhabitants of the British Isles. In 1965, the historian A. J. P. Taylor wrote, When the Oxford History of England was launched a generation ago and it meant indiscriminately England and Wales, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and even the British Empire. Foreigners used it as the name of a Great Power and indeed continue to do so, bonar Law, by origin a Scotch Canadian, was not ashamed to describe himself as Prime Minister of England Now terms have become more rigorous. The use of England except for a geographic area brings protests and this version of history is now regarded by many historians as incorrect, on the basis of more recent genetic and archaeological research. The 2016 study authored by Stephan Schiffels et al, the remaining portion of English DNA is primarily French, introduced in a migration after the end of the Ice Age
4.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
5.
Canterbury
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Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, a journey of pilgrims to Beckets shrine served as the frame for Geoffrey Chaucers 14th century classic The Canterbury Tales. Canterbury is a popular tourist destination, consistently one of the cities in the United Kingdom. The city has been occupied since Paleolithic times and served as the capital of the Celtic Cantiaci, modern additions include the Marlowe Theatre and the St Lawrence Ground, home of the Kent County Cricket Club. Canterbury remains, however, a city in terms of geographical size and population. In Sub-Roman Britain, it was known in Old Welsh as Cair Ceint, occupied by the Jutes, it became known in Old English as Cantwareburh, which developed into its present name. The Canterbury area has been inhabited since prehistoric times, lower Paleolithic axes, and Neolithic and Bronze Age pots have been found in the area. Canterbury was first recorded as the settlement of the Celtic tribe of the Cantiaci. In the 1st century AD, the Romans captured the settlement, the Romans rebuilt the city, with new streets in a grid pattern, a theatre, a temple, a forum, and public baths. In the late 3rd century, to defend against attack from barbarians, the Romans built an earth bank around the city and a wall with seven gates, which enclosed an area of 130 acres. Over the next 100 years, an Anglo-Saxon community formed within the city walls, as Jutish refugees arrived, in 597, Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to convert its King Æthelberht to Christianity. After the conversion, Canterbury, being a Roman town, was chosen by Augustine as the centre for his see in Kent. Augustine thus became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, the towns new importance led to its revival, and trades developed in pottery, textiles, and leather. By 630, gold coins were being struck at the Canterbury mint, in 672, the Synod of Hertford gave the see of Canterbury authority over the entire English Church. In 842 and 851, Canterbury suffered great loss of life during Danish raids, in 978, Archbishop Dunstan refounded the abbey built by Augustine, and named it St Augustines Abbey. A second wave of Danish attacks began in 991, and in 1011 the cathedral was burnt, remembering the destruction caused by the Danes, the inhabitants of Canterbury did not resist William the Conquerors invasion in 1066. William immediately ordered a wooden motte-and-bailey castle to be built by the Roman city wall, in the early 12th century, the castle was rebuilt with stone. After the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket at the cathedral in 1170, Canterbury became one of the most notable towns in Europe and this pilgrimage provided the framework for Geoffrey Chaucers 14th-century collection of stories, The Canterbury Tales
6.
Smithfield, London
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Smithfield is a locality in the ward of Farringdon Without situated at the City of Londons northwest in central London, England. The principal street of the area is West Smithfield, the area also contains Londons oldest surviving church, St Bartholomew-the-Great, founded in 1123 AD. Some of its original market premises fell into disuse in the late 20th century, the Corporation of Londons public enquiry in 2012 drew widespread support for an urban regeneration plan intent upon preserving Smithfields historical identity. In the Middle Ages, it was a grassy area known as Smooth Field. Given its ease of access to grazing and water, Smithfield established itself as Londons livestock market, remaining so for almost 1,000 years. In 1123, the area near Aldersgate was granted by King Henry I for the foundation of St Bartholomews Priory at the request of Prior Rahere in thanks for his being nursed back to good health. The Priory exercised its right to land between Aldersgate, Long Lane and modern-day Newgate Street, erecting its main western gate which opened onto Smithfield. The Priory thereafter held the rights to hold weekly fairs. A trading event for cloth and other goods as well as being a pleasure forum, in 1855, however, Bartholomew Fair was closed down by the City authorities after degenerating into a magnet for debauchery and public disorder. A chapel and hermitage were constructed, renamed New Church Haw, but in 1371, later Augustinian canonesses established the Priory of St Mary, north of the Knights of St John property. By the end of the 14th century, these houses were regarded by City traders as interlopers — occupying what had previously been public open space nearby one of the City gates. On numerous occasions vandals damaged the Charterhouse, eventually demolishing its buildings, by 1405, a stout wall was built to protect the property and maintain the privacy of the Order, particularly its church where men and women alike came to worship. The religious houses were dissolved in the Reformation, and their lands broken up, the Priory Church of St John remains, as does St Johns Gate, traditionally regarded as the boundary between Smithfield and Clerkenwell. John Houghton, Prior of Charterhouse, went to Thomas Cromwell accompanied by two other local priors seeking an oath of supremacy that would be acceptable to their communities. This resulted in their being flung into the Tower of London, on 29 May, the remaining twenty monks and eighteen lay brothers were forced to swear the oath of allegiance, the ten who refused were taken to Newgate Prison and left to starve. Until 1899 Charterhouse was extra-parochial, when it became a civil parish incorporated in the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury, from its inception, the Priory of St Bartholomew treated the sick. Letters Patent were presented to the City, granting property and income to the new foundation the following month, the Priorys principal church, St Bartholomew-the-Great, was reconfigured after the dissolution of the monasteries losing the western third of its nave. Reformed as an Anglican parish church, its boundaries were limited to the site of the ancient priory
7.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
8.
Dartford
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Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. The town is situated on the border of Kent and Greater London and it also borders the Borough of Thurrock, Essex, via the Dartford Crossing of the River Thames and Gravesham to its east. The town centre lies in a valley through which the River Darent flows, Dartford became a market town in medieval times and, although today it is principally a commuter town for Greater London, it has a long history of religious, industrial and cultural importance. It is an important rail hub, the main through-road now by-passes the town itself, Dartford is twinned with several other towns and cities abroad including Hanau in Germany, Gravelines in France and Namyangju in South Korea. In prehistoric times, the first people appeared in the Dartford area around 250,000 years ago, many other archaeological investigations have revealed a good picture of occupation of the district with important finds from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. When the Romans engineered the Dover to London road, it was necessary to cross the River Darent by ford, roman villas were built along the Darent Valley, and at Noviomagus, close by. The Saxons may have established the first settlement where Dartford now stands, Dartford manor is mentioned in the Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, after the Norman conquest. It was then owned by the king, during the medieval period Dartford was an important waypoint for pilgrims and travellers en route to Canterbury and the Continent, and various religious orders established themselves in the area. In the 12th century the Knights Templar had possession of the manor of Dartford, in the 14th century, a priory was established here, and two groups of friars—the Dominicans and the Franciscans—built hospitals here for the care of the sick. At this time the town became a small but important market town, Dartford, however, cannot claim a monopoly on public houses named after Tyler. Although lacking a leader, Kentishmen had assembled at Dartford around 5 June through a sense of county solidarity at the mistreatment of Robert Belling, a man claimed as a serf by Sir Simon Burley. Having left for Rochester and Canterbury on 5 June, the rebels passed back through Dartford, swollen in number, in the 15th century, two kings of England became part of the towns history. In March 1452, Richard, Duke of York, camped at the Brent allegedly with ten thousand men, the Duke surrendered to the king in Dartford. The place of the camp is marked today by York Road, the 16th century saw significant changes to the hitherto agrarian basis of the market in Dartford, as new industries began to take shape. The priory was destroyed in 1538 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, many Protestants were executed during the reigns of Queen Mary and Philip and Mary, including Christopher Wade, a Dartford linen-weaver who was burnt at the stake on the Brent in 1555. The Martyrs Memorial on East Hill commemorates Wade and other Kentish Martyrs, in 1576 Dartford Grammar School was founded, part of the Tudor emphasis on education for ordinary people. The earliest industries were connected with agriculture, such as the brewing of traditional beers. Lime-burning and chalk-mining also had their place, fulling was another, the cleansing of wool needed a great deal of water, which the river could provide
9.
Deptford
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Deptford is an area of South-East London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. From the mid-16th to the late 19th century, Deptford was home to Deptford Dockyard, the area declined as the Royal Navy moved out and commercial docks shut, the last dock, Convoys Wharf, closed in 2000. Historically a part of Kent, Deptford became a Metropolitan Borough in 1900 and this became part of Inner London in 1965, within the newly created county of Greater London. Deptford began life as a ford of the Ravensbourne along the route of the Celtic trackway which was paved by the Romans. The modern name is a corruption of deep ford, Deptford was part of the pilgrimage route from London to Canterbury used by the pilgrims in Chaucers Canterbury Tales, and is mentioned in the Prologue to the Reeves Tale. Trinity House, the organisation concerned with the safety of navigation around the British Isles, was formed in Deptford in 1514, with its first Master being Thomas Spert and it moved to Stepney in 1618. The name Trinity House derives from the church of Holy Trinity and St Clement, originally separated by market gardens and fields, the two areas merged over the years, with the docks becoming an important part of the Elizabethan exploration. Queen Elizabeth I visited the royal dockyard on 4 April 1581 to knight the adventurer Francis Drake, diarist John Evelyn lived in Deptford at Sayes Court from 1652. Evelyn inherited the house when he married the daughter of Sir Richard Browne in 1652, on his return to England at the Restoration, Evelyn laid out meticulously planned gardens in the French style, of hedges and parterres. In its grounds was a cottage at one time rented by master woodcarver Grinling Gibbons, after Evelyn had moved to Surrey in 1694, Russian Tsar Peter the Great studied shipbuilding for three months in 1698. He and some of his fellow Russians stayed at Sayes Court, Evelyn was angered at the antics of the Tsar, who got drunk with his friends and, using a wheelbarrow with Peter in it, rammed their way through a fine holly hedge. Sayes Court was demolished in 1728-9 and a built on its site. This massive facility included warehouses, a bakery, a cattleyard/abattoir and sugar stores, all that remains is the name of Sayes Court Park, accessed from Sayes Court Street off Evelyn Street, not far from Deptford High Street. The Pepys Estate, opened on 13 July 1966, is on the grounds of the Victualing Yard. At its peak, around 1907, over 234,000 animals were imported annually through the market, the yard was taken over by the War Office in 1914, and was an Army Supply Reserve Depot in the First and Second World Wars. The site lay unused until being purchased by Convoys in 1984, in the mid-1990s, although significant investment was made on the site, it became uneconomic to continue using it as a freight wharf. In 2008 Hutchison Whampoa bought the 16ha site from News International with plans for a £700m 3, the Grade II listed Olympia Warehouse will be refurbished as part of the redevelopment of the site. High unemployment caused some of the population to move away as the industries closed down in the late 1960s
10.
Maidstone
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Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England,32 miles south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it with Rochester, historically, the river was a source and route for much of the towns trade as the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, known as the Garden of England. There is evidence of a settlement in the area dating back to before the Stone Age, the town is in the borough of Maidstone. In 2011, the town had a population of 113,137, maidstones economy has changed over the years from being involved in heavy industry, to more light industry and service industries. Saxon charters show the first recorded instances of the name, de maeides stana and maegdan stane. The latter meaning may refer to the nearby megalith around which took place. The name evolved through medestan/meddestane in the Domesday Book with possible variation Mayndenstan, the modern name appeared by 1610. It has been suggested that the name derives from stones set into the river to allow clothes to be rinsed in the water away from the banks. Neolithic finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area, the Normans set up a shire moot, and religious organisations established an abbey at Boxley, hospitals and a college for priests. Today’s suburb of Penenden Heath was a place of execution in medieval times, maidstones charter as a town was granted in 1549, although briefly revoked, a new charter in 1551 created the town as a borough. The charter was ratified in 1619 under James I, and the coat of arms was designed, bearing a golden lion, recently to these arms were added the head of a white horse, a golden lion and an iguanodon. The iguanodon relates to the discovery in the 19th century of the remains of that dinosaur. Maidstone has had the right to a town gaol since 1604, during the English Civil War, the Battle of Maidstone took place in 1648, resulting in a victory for the Parliamentarians. Paper mills, stone quarrying, brewing and the industry have all flourished here. The paper maker James Whatman and his son invented wove paper at Turkey Mill from 1740, a permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of cavalry barracks in 1798. Invicta Park Barracks is now home to the 36 Engineer Regiment, Maidstone Prison is north of the town centre and was completed in 1819. Modern Maidstone incorporates a number of outlying villages and settlements, the county council offices to the north of the town centre were built of Portland stone between 1910 and 1913. On 29 September 1975 a local pub serving Invicta Park Barracks, The Hare, Maidstone General Hospital opened on the outskirts of the town in 1983, replacing West Kent General Hospital, which opened 150 years earlier in Marsham Street
11.
Lord Mayor of London
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The Lord Mayor of London is the City of Londons mayor and leader of the City of London Corporation. This office differs from the Mayor of London, which is an elected position. However, the legal and commonly used title remains Lord Mayor of London, the Lord Mayor is elected at Common Hall each year on Michaelmas, and takes office on the Friday before the second Saturday in November, at The Silent Ceremony. One of the worlds oldest continuously elected civic offices, the Lord Mayors main role nowadays is to represent, support and promote the businesses and residents in the City of London. As leader of the Corporation of the City of London, the Lord Mayor serves as the key spokesman for the local authority, all Lord Mayors of London are apolitical. The Lord Mayor of London typically delivers dozens of speeches and addresses per year, many incumbents of the office make overseas visits while Lord Mayor of London. Currently serving is the 689th Lord Mayor Dr Andrew Parmley Of the 69 cities in the United Kingdom, the City of London is among the 30 that have Lord Mayors. The Lord Mayor is entitled to the style The Right Honourable, the same privilege extends only to the Lord Mayors of York, Cardiff and Belfast, the latter prefix applies only to Privy Counsellors. A woman who holds the office is known as a Lord Mayor. The wife of a male Lord Mayor is styled as Lady Mayoress, a female Lord Mayor or an unmarried male Lord Mayor may appoint a female consort, usually a fellow member of the corporation, to the role of Lady Mayoress. In speech, a Lord Mayor is referred to as My Lord Mayor, and it was once customary for Lord Mayors to be appointed knights upon taking office and baronets upon retirement, unless they already held such a title. This custom was followed with a few inconsistencies from the 16th until the 19th centuries, however, from 1964 onwards, the regular creation of hereditary titles such as baronetcies was phased out, so subsequent Lord Mayors were offered knighthoods. Furthermore, foreign Heads of State visiting the City of London on a UK State Visit, for example, in 2001, Sir David Howard was created a Grand Cordon of the Order of Independence of Jordan by King Abdullah II. Recently Lord Mayors have been appointed at the beginning of their term of office Knights or Dames of St John, as a mark of respect, by HM The Queen, Sovereign Head of the Order of St John. The office of Lord Mayor was instituted in 1189, the first holder of the office being Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone. The Mayor of the City of London has been elected by the City, rather than appointed by the Sovereign, the title Lord Mayor came to be used after 1354, when it was granted to Thomas Legge by King Edward III. Lord Mayors are elected for terms, by custom, they do not now serve more than one consecutive term. Almost 700 people have served as Lord Mayor, Dame Mary Donaldson, elected in 1983, and Dame Fiona Woolf, elected in 2013, are the only women to have held the office
12.
London Bridge
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London Bridge refers to several historical bridges that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and this replaced a 19th-century stone-arched bridge, which in turn superseded a 600-year-old medieval structure. This was preceded by a succession of bridges, the first built by the Roman founders of London. The current bridge stands at the end of the Pool of London but is positioned 30 metres upstream from previous alignments. The traditional ends of the bridge were marked by St Magnus-the-Martyr on the northern bank. Until Putney Bridge opened in 1729, London Bridge was the only road-crossing of the Thames downstream of Kingston-upon-Thames and its importance has been the subject of popular culture throughout the ages such as in the nursery rhyme London Bridge Is Falling Down and its inclusion within art and literature. The modern bridge is owned and maintained by Bridge House Estates and it carries the A3 road, which is maintained by the Greater London Authority. The crossing also delineates an area along the bank of the River Thames. The abutments of modern London Bridge rest several metres above natural embankments of gravel, sand, between the embankments, the River Thames could have been crossed by ford when the tide was low, or ferry when it was high. There is archaeological evidence for scattered Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement nearby, two ancient fords were in use a few miles upstream, beyond the rivers upper tidal reach. They were aligned with the course of Watling Street and led into the heartlands of the Catuvellauni, some time before Claudius conquest of AD43, power shifted to the Trinovantes, who held the region northeast of the Thames estuary from a capital at Camulodunum. Claudius imposed a major colonia on Camulodunum, and made it the city of the new Roman province of Britannia. The first London Bridge was built by the Roman military as part of their road-building programme, around AD55, the temporary bridge over the Thames was replaced by a permanent timber piled bridge, maintained and guarded by a small garrison. On the relatively high, dry ground at the end of the bridge, a small, opportunistic trading and shipping settlement took root. A smaller settlement developed at the end of the bridge. The bridge was destroyed along with the town in the Boudican revolt. Just downstream of the bridge were substantial quays and depots, convenient to seagoing trade between Britain and the rest of the Roman Empire, with the end of Roman rule in Britain in the early 5th century, Londinium was gradually abandoned and the bridge fell into disrepair. In the Saxon period, the became a boundary between the emergent, mutually hostile kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex
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