'What have the Romans ever done for us?'
Take a look at the different aspects of this now infamous quote and see what structural elements still remain from Roman London, how the Roman town moulded the later growth and development of the City of London and what effect the Romans have on the contemporary issues of today.
See where surviving remains of Roman structures are sited in the City of London today
Sections of Roman and medieval city wall throughout the City still survive today but medieval repairs and additions often disguise the Roman sections of the wall. The medieval names for the city gates still survive in today's street names.
For nearly a century the landward wall was considered an adequate defence for Londinium. Then the east and west ends of the landward wall were joined by a new riverside defensive wall that ran approximately on the line of Upper and Lower Thames Street.
A section of the western fort and the later city wall thickening in addition to the rectangular north tower and central piers for the double gateway of the west gate have been preserved under the road, London Wall.
Sections of massive ragstone walls have been recorded in the Gracechurch Street area over the past 100 years and still survive in basements. The eastern portion underlies the Victorian Leadenhall Market.
The temple was excavated in 1954 and the outline recreated in Roman building materials in Queen Victoria Street as part of the Bucklersbury House development. The office complex is now due for redevelopment and the remains have limited access.
In 1987 the remains of the eastern end of the Roman amphitheatre were uncovered prior to the construction of the Guildhall Art Gallery, comprising two curved stretches of stone wall enclosing part of the arena and the ceremonial eastern entrance into the arena.
The remains of the Billingsgate house and baths in Lower Thames Street were first discovered in 1848. The house and baths lie in the basement of an office block and for safety reasons are not accessible to the public.
Much discussion has gone on over the centuries as to the origin of London Stone. It may be Roman, and it has been suggested it was a central milestone from which distances were measured throughout Roman Britain - but there is nothing to prove this.
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