Did you know the subterranean remains of a Roman market lie beneath the historic Leadenhall Market in Gracechurch Street near Monument station? That’s 2,000 years of market trading on this City of London spot. Dating In Odessa Ukraine

And archaeologists have now unearthed the remains of London’s first Roman basilica or civic hall, which sat on this once busy and lively forum [market square and city centre]. The ancient remains were discovered under the basement of an office block at 85 Gracechurch Street, with the two-year excavation revealing the basilica’s stone foundations.

It’s a significant find considering this basilica and forum was once London’s administrative, political and judicial centre. The three-storey basilica was one of Europe’s largest buildings and spread over a larger area than the present-day St Paul’s Cathedral, with a public square the size of Trafalgar Square. Indeed, the two-hectare forum/basilica was widely recognised as the largest Roman building north of the Alps and of such importance that the all-powerful Provincial Procurator set up there for the first time, after the Boudiccan revolt of 60 AD.

Photograph: Mola

The remains are thought to form part of a raised platform where important proclamations and speeches were made and date back to around 70 AD. The Romans founded Londonium [London] in 47 AD.

The basilica walls were constructed of bulky Kentish ragstone mined in Maidstone and transported along the Thames by boat. Archaeologists also identified horizontal lines of Roman ceramic tiles across the ragstone. These were marked with deliberate and distinctive fingermarks – perhaps the mason’s signature of building quality and project completion.

From 80 – 120 AD, London sprung in size and a larger forum was constructed befitting the status of this formidable Roman province. Roman emperor Hadrian visited Londinium during this period and, no doubt, lodged at the basilica. In 300 AD, the basilica and forum was destroyed by Rome as punishment for Britannia’s [Britain’s] support for a rogue Roman emperor called Carausius.

The find has meant that site developers Hertschten Properties have to rework their construction project to incorporate the ancient remains and allow public viewing. This basement visitor centre awaits planning permission and may not open until 2030.

Nicholson & Griffin barbers, Gracechurch Street

Previously, the only other section of the basilica and forum visible to the public sat in the basement of the Nicholson & Griffin barbers at 90 Gracechurch Street on the corner of Leadenhall Market. Permission to view this fragment of basilica arch had been at the proprietor’s discretion, but the barbers have permanently closed. So, this recent find opens up the Roman site to the public again.

We’re surrounded by street signs every day and casually type these sometimes odd-sounding addresses into Google Maps without a second thought about what they mean or where the name came from. The Romans founded the city of Londinium [London], so you’d expect a Latin root somewhere. Let’s delve a little deeper into the Roman origins of London street names.

Barbican

The next time you’re out and about in Barbican, remember that this area was once a Roman stronghold. London’s first fort was built here between 110 and 120 AD and the name Barbican derives from the Latin word Barbecana – a fortified outpost, gateway, or tower. The twelve-acre Roman fort was situated in the northwest corner of Londinium, the new town founded by the Romans in 50AD.

The remains of the base of a Roman fort, Barbican

Aldgate, Moorgate, Bishopsgate, Ludgate, Cripplegate

The Roman-to-Medieval city of London was protected by seven defensive gates. Three of those are recognisable today in the names Aldgate, Moorgate, and Bishopsgate. Elsewhere, Ludgate Hill, Cripplegate Cemetery, and Newgate Street are pointers to the existence of Roman-medieval gates no longer in situ. These gates served as administrative entry points for tax collection and controlling who was permitted to exit. So not just keeping out raiders and invaders.

The name Aldgate comes from Alderman’s Gate and refers to the aldermen or senior officials who used this entrance. Bishopsgate has a mercantile connection. In the Middle Ages, it was used by visitors and merchants popping to and from Bishops Stortford. Its gate area quickly became a buzzing trade nexus. Ludgate is named after King Lud, a pre-Roman monarch who, legend has it, founded London and was buried in the area. But there’s no historical evidence he ever existed. Cripplegate comes from the Anglo-Saxon cruplegate, meaning protected tunnel or covered entrance. The Moorgate entrance opened out into the moors beyond the city walls; hence the name. Newgate was used as a prison  – a pretty grim one. Its forbidding portcullis entrance was a warning to convicts that this was no typical gateway into the city. You could enter here, but would you ever leave?

Stratford

This multi-ethnic and culturally diverse district in the London Borough of Newham, East London, is home to Westfields Shopping Centre and the London Stadium, West Ham United’s home ground. In Roman times, a shallow river crossing or ford ran through the area and the name Stratford comes from a corruption of the Roman term Straet Forda. The term sounds a little like ‘Street Ford – a ford on a street’. The word street comes from ‘Straet’, most commonly used in post-medieval England for a Roman road. So,  Stratford literally translates as ‘a ford next to a Roman road’.This reference to Stratford as Straet Forda is recorded in the Domesday Book [1086 AD].

Fleet Street

This is one of the few surviving Roman roads in London. It’s more commonly associated with the news and print industries that thrived here from the 16th century to late 1980s and is named after the River Fleet, which ran through the city in Roman times. The name Fleet comes from the Anglo-Saxon word flēot, meaning estuary or tidal inlet. In Roman times, the river formed a confluence with the Thames, and when Emperor Claudius invaded in AD 43, he built the first London Bridge at this very point. The London we know today grew from a settlement around this Fleet-Thames confluence. The River Fleet is now an underground river.

London has been a notably prosperous centre of commerce since 60 AD. Roman historian Tacitus described it as such and his nod of approval, no doubt, inspired Rome to focus its attentions on Londinium, as it was then known, for rich rewards. The unofficial capital of the UK at that time was Colchester – the first city founded by the Romans. But by 2nd-century AD, it had switched to Londinium. 

The Romans invested heavily in their new capital’s economic and military might after crushing Iceni Queen Boadicea’s repeated raids on London. Her aggression against the invaders contributed to Rome’s focus away from Colchester. They acted resolutely after she burned London to the ground. Were it not for Boadicea’s thwarted ambitions, Colchester might still be the capital of the UK today.

We can also blame the Romans for introducing the first north-south divide by having two capitals – London in the south and York in the North. But at least they had the foresight to understand the importance of devolved government and this act has some ironic relevance when we consider the north-south divide today and Boris Johnson’s attempts to appease by proposing the relocation of the House of Lords to York. Indeed, one might argue, the reintroduction of two ‘capitals’ or centres of government might solve some of the economic, social and political governance problems that the nation is currently experiencing.

Westminster has always been the UK’s centre of government and parliament. The first parliament met there in Westminster Hall in 1265 and thereafter became the official parliamentary meeting place. Today, we know it as the heart of UK politics. Back in 1097, when William II asked for the grandest and largest hall – Westminster Hall – to be built by his most talented architects he surely foresaw its illustrious pull but clearly was not prescient of the wider divisional impact.

But where does that leave us today? Most opinion polls show that people believe that Westminster in particular and London generally, enjoys an unfair amount of political and executive power – and, indeed, economic – and are concerned about the unequal distribution. Accusations that it is the most unbalanced in Europe are unfounded, but Europe is inevitably a topic of discussion with the Brexit fallout so fresh in our minds. 

Nigel Farage won over the electorate during the 2016 Referendum by blaming the Westminster elite for Brexit betrayal and being out of touch, and was prescient of the collapse of the Labour Red Wall vote. The Conservatives swept up the votes but Farage emerged, for some, as the unanointed saviour of working-class discontent everywhere beyond London and the Referendum was seen as a protest vote against London-centred rule. London, of course, was the only English region to vote Remain.

It has to be noted that London’s success is not without benefits to the wider nation. It is the only region that contributes more in taxes to the public purse than it receives for spending. A huge percentage of the UK’s overall costs are footed by London, the South East and East of England.

Getting this message across is difficult. Many of those in northern and Midlands working-class towns, particularly those blighted by economic hardship, hold beliefs around London not sharing its overspilling pot and hoarding the largest slice of infrastructure, construction and cultural investment. Polls show just 16% believe London contributes to their local economy.

Government Covid advice has been blindly London-centric. Yes, London is one of the financial centres of the world, but Michael Gove advising people to work from home back in September 2020, meant little to workers in the north who tend to have more manufacturing jobs than in London. Would a second administrative capital in York have been guilty of this oversight?

The solution to this north-south divide can only be the appointment of more powerful political leaders from regions outside London and increased devolution. 

David Lloyd George was born in Manchester and grew up in Wales. He went on to become one of the UK’s greatest PMs. Would a future PM born outside the southern regions heal the north-south divide with a vision beyond London?

Greater London Mayor, Andy Burnham: “People have focused a lot on the divisions that the referendum brought out, with Leave vs Remain. But there’s probably a bigger one underlying it, which is London versus the Remain. The division damaged social cohesion and united communities against London” 

Andy Burnham is not the only political figure to raise such concerns but certainly the most vocal and high profile. However, Andy Street  Conservative mayor of the West Midlands has also spoken out about transport infrastructure investment. He claims when he stood for election in 2016 the West Midlands received only one-seventh of London’s figure.

More recently, Burnham spoke about bus fares in Manchester being higher than London – yet Londoners have higher disposable income and wages. He has called for London-level £1.55 fares across the North of England and heads a group of powerful northern politicians and business leaders seeking a revolution in decision-making away from Westminster. 

The inroads towards devolution during the Blair years have not flowered as hoped. And Conservative Chancellor George Osbourne was responsible for introducing metro mayors with Street and Burnham amongst them. Today, Whitehall still undersigns major regional policies, directives and decisions but there is a wider move towards autonomous regional budgets which will help redress the imbalance and rewire the thinking of policymakers and civil servants. 

Blair’s organic process of devolution in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London must continue and local and regional leaders must be trusted with power and public purses even where there are fears of further autonomy such as in the case of the Scottish independence movement. The UK still has some catching up to do to match our European counterparts in fixing this toxic regional imbalance.