LONDON'S ORIGIN

Evening Star, Issue 20177, 17 May 1929, Page 1

LONDON'S ORIGIN

LEGENDS SWEPT ASIDE Tlcucaili the sombre til te of *• An Inventory ’ of Woman remains, Uic Royal Historical Monuments Commission has issued a volume of matchless interest. It deals with the origin of the City of London, catry-ins; authority (hat none can gainsay. The earliest chroniclers, zealous for London's renown, would allow it. an antiquity equal to, if not greater than, that of Rome. It wag Xcw Troy; Unite founded the city upon Hie Thames bank, and after Bnu» cm™ shadowy native kings like l.ud and Helms. and many more. Archaeology has swept all such legends aside, and searching out evidence has brought the date of London into historical limes. The myth of a primiiivo lake settlement built upou piles has vanished into Ihiu air. London is not old as FI. Albans and Colchester arc old. Both these cities were tribal capitals. St. Albans was (be objective of Caesar’s raid upon Britain in n.c. £4. From there Cuunbehii. a British king in (ho early part of (ho first century nf Ihe Christian era, transferred his scat, of government to Colchester. London’s site, far inland upon a navigable river, seemed favourable for ihe entry of Continental trade with both those places, and it was not unnatural that credit should have been given to Cunobelin—Sliakespcare'u Cymbelinc— u> ilie city’s founder.

Tbc Historical Monuments Commission will have none of ibis (.-.ays the ‘Daily Telegraph I. •'I hey visualise London a* in origin a landing stage, or bridgehead, but its service was given to Imperial Rome. In biici, our first glimpse of London is an entrepot of Iho new Roman Province. The Kmperor Cbiuciiu sent in hit legions in <l3; Iho struggle with I lie native Lintonm was al futl, hem;, but a« early ns ,\.u. 61 London, as pictured by Tacitus, bad become " crowded with I raders and a. great venire lor nommeroe." Thai was a rcimirliable iransfonnalim in so slioit a, period, and. (hough Homo's highest honours were long withheld. Loudon, when rebuilt after its pillage and dcvaslaiion by Boadicca's boide-, never looked bach. It is an origin of whom (be world's greatest city to-clay may l.e justly proud. Stable government, security al wa for the passage of trade, ample communication with tbc hinterland by her marvellous road system, and contact will) Continenla culture—those were Romo's gifts upon which the city flourished increasingly tor nearly four centuries.