History of London

I found the lecture on January 25th, 2010 of London’s history to be very interesting and I had a few favorite points. First, Saxon Ludenwick was an area with river access where there were a lot of farmers, women with beautiful jewelry, fine burials, and a lot of wood used daily. This area is now known today as Covent Garden, which now is very popular and has shopping, markets, and entertainment.
In medieval London times, the population was around 50,000 and there were 126 churches and 13 monasteries. During this time London was known for things such as: Notorious Apprentice boys, “the immoderate drinking of fools”, “the frequency of fires”, and guilds and lively companies that regulated trading standards. London was known for fires because most of the buildings were made out of wood and anytime there was an open fire, it would be easy for it to become bigger.
I also found the London Bridge to be very interesting. When it first opened, it was extremely busy. From the opening hours to the closing hours, there would be many people trying to get through and sometimes it would take up to five hours to cross. There were vendors selling everything you could think of, but they had to do so with only a four inch fold down counter. For the meat market, the animals would come in alive and be slaughtered on the spot.
The Great Plague was another big part of London’s history. In 1665, it came to London and within the first year, it had a 75% mortality rate. It was known as the “black death”, and it was easily spread from person to person. The disease would cause dried blood underneath the skin and was a horrible way to die.