General density of Medieval remains - Zoom in to see more!
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From the first human activity to the retreat of the glaciers: c.500,000 to the coming of Rome
This map shows all finds from the prehistoric period where a reasonable provenance exists, and it is worth remembering that during this time there was no particular focus on the area that was to become the City of London. Finds from the Thames itself are omitted and the extent of the River is based on a model from the Roman period, as data for prehistoric river levels is yet to be synthesised. The finds shown are categorised by period as follows.
The Lower Palaeolithic dates from the first indications of human activity (c.500,000 years ago) until the end of the last glaciation (c. 38,000 years ago), and is characterised by the presence of hand axes and other stone tools which are associated with pre-modern humans.
The Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic span the period from the end of the last glaciation to around 4000BC. The start of the period is characterised by the appearance of anatomically modern humans, while the warming of climate from around 8000BC marks the beginning of the Mesolithic.
The Neolithic period runs from 4000BC to c.2000BC and it sees the change from a hunter gather to an agricultural economy, the use of pottery and the construction of communal monuments.
The Bronze age succeeds the Neolithic and occurs until c.650BC, and is mainly characterised by technology development (the manufacturing of bronze ) and the building of funerary monuments , and in poor evidence of settlement.
The Iron age runs until the Roman invasion, and is characterised by a series of major social economic and technological changes, many of them prefigured in the Late Bronze age, and is noted as a period of expanding population, worsening climate and the exploitation of marginal land.
Thematic discussions of all these periods is available in the publication which accompanies this resource and which is available from the MOLA website
Londinium and its hinterland: From the Claudian conquest of AD43 to the break with Rome c.AD410.
The Roman conquest brought about a fundamental transformation in the cultural landscape of the London area, central of which was the foundation of the town itself. From modest origins as a Roman ‘new town’, this planned trading settlement around a new river crossing, was to become the largest and most significant town in the Roman province.
This map shows a selection of provenanced Roman sites and finds in greater and central London. The selection has been designed to give a good overview of the density and types of Roman-British activity in the area , and to show the principal lines of communication. A large number of finds of, for example, pottery and tile have been omitted for the sake of clarity.
The central area shows the currently understood boundaries of the urban core (in grey), while the sites shown have been chosen as being the most representative of a much larger number. In the City for example, the extent and number of finds defies accurate mapping. The date range of find spots includes everything from 1st to 4th centuries, and no attempt has been made to subdivide the period.
A thematic discussion of the period is available in the publication which accompanies this resource and which is available from the MOLA website
Saxon settlement and economy from the dark ages to Domesday: 5th-11th centuries
This maps shows all provenanced finds from the 5th to 11th century, and in addition shows the majority of place names that are believed to derive from this period, either because they are mentioned in Anglo-Saxon texts or Domesday book, or because they have an Old English form. The principal roads are based on the Roman pattern.
This era starts with the early period from the end of Roman rule to the return of Christianity in the 7th century which also saw the migration of Germanic people from homelands on the continent.
The late Saxon period starts in the mid 9th century with the onset of Viking attacks on London and the shift of settlement from the Strand to the old walled Roman City and ends with the Norman conquest in 1066.
Detailed discussion of all these periods, is available in the publication which accompanies this resource and which is available from the MOLA website
Medieval London from the Norman conquest to the reformation: 1150 to 1500
This maps shows a number of Medieval find types, covering the period 1100 to 1500. For the greater London area. A selection of the more recognisable monument types are shown with emphasis on manorial and religious sites, with a selection of the smaller more industrial sites such as mills and kilns. Also for this area are shown the more nucleated settlements in order to give a broad sense of settlement density, and these are displayed as one of a series of settlement types.
In the central area, the urban core is shown in grey, overlain with the City Parish divisions, but for clarity the number of company halls, inns and town houses is much reduced. The hydrology of the Thames for the City, is based on that of c.1520.
For London as for most of Britain, the period is divided into three broad phases . A initial period of sustained demographic and economic growth from 1000 to 1300, is succeeded by demographic and economic crisis in the middle of the 14th century, and the period ends with an era of readjustment from 1350 to 1500.
A detailed thematic discussion of all these periods, is available in the publication which accompanies this resource and which is available from the MOLA website
