The City of London - Part 1 - Information, Featured Articles

The City of London - Part 1

Part 1 -Introduction

The City of London is a strange place. To a Brit, the 'City' doesn't mean the whole of London but simply the 'Square Mile' (actually 1.08 square miles) as it is colloquially known.

Its boundaries encompass the financial heart of London: an area where 30% of the high-tech office buildings were built within the last ten years; an area which houses the London exchange market where a staggering $637 billion worth of trading (32% of global business) takes place every day.

That's more than the turnover of the next three largest centres, New York, Tokyo and Singapore combined.

280,000 'city gents', stockbrokers, traders and shopkeepers pile into the City every weekday morning, and pile out again every evening.

The average lunchtime will see the streets filled with a seething mass of dark suits; the health conscious scurry to find a quick bite from one of the many excellent sandwich bars, while the more choleric disappear into one of the countless dungeonesque wine bars or city pubs where daylight is an ugly word and a lunch hour can conclude well after sunset.

And yet, this unashamedly capitalist crucible hides another side. On a weekend, the majority of ancient streets (which include part of the Roman Watling Street) are empty and silent.

Here you will find the very heart of London: the original settlement from which the rest of London has sprawled. Between the ultra modern office buildings lies a diaspora of history from the great Victorian and Edwardian edifices of commerce such as the Royal Exchange to the Roman Temple of Minerva on Queen Victoria Street.

Around you are a dazzling array of churches - 39 Anglican (Church of England) and 7 other denominations. Many were built by Wren as part of his grand scheme to resurrect London after the Great Fire of 1666 which started in Pudding Lane and decimated much of the city.

These churches are resplendent in their classical elegance and fine internal furnishings. Some have bizarre historical names such as St. Andrew Undershaft, or St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe (so called because of it's proximity to Wardrobe Court which used to house the King's goods and chattels).

A particularly interesting church is St. Bartholomew the Great which stands near the 1,000 year old St. Bartholomew's Hospital and dates from the 13th century. It featured in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral as the spot of Hugh Grant's ill-fated marriage ceremony!

The ghost of one of its former incumbents haunts the building, although he seems to be tiring of his earthly pursuits, as recent reports suggest the figure is getting fainter as the years pass

The bustling sounds from the nearby Smithfield meat market and the general old world charm of this spot were endearing enough to lure John Betjeman, one the best loved Poet Laureates to buy a property nearby.