City of London
The City of London is where, around 2,000 years ago, the Romans founded their settlement. Surrounded by a wall for centuries, this was the historic city which grew into modern London, and the place marked by fire and plague.
Known as the Square Mile, the City of London has by far the lowest population of all 33 London boroughs, at around 8,000 people. But as a financial centre, home to banks, insurers and law firms, in the daytime that number swells to over 500,000.
An estimated 10 million visitors come each year to see sites like the St Paul’s Cathedral, the Bank of England, the Barbican Centre and, from 2026, London Museum.
There’s history around every corner here. Fleet Street is no longer the home of London’s newspapers. But reporters still gather around the Old Bailey, the City’s historic criminal court.
The Barbican estate is an icon of Brutalist architecture in the City of London.
Blogs-And-Stories
Step inside the future London Museum
London Museum is on the move to a new site in Smithfield. Here’s a tour of what to expect
The Walbrook Skulls: A Roman murder mystery
Did these 39 skulls belong to gladiators?
London’s Blitz: A city at war
The German bombing campaign which rained down death and destruction on London
Smithfield Market: The iron legacy of Sir Horace Jones
The innovative use of ironwork is testament to the market's unique place in the history of civil engineering
How London’s alternative currencies made change
In the past and present, Londoners have experimented with different forms of money
The City of London’s last lollipop lady
And the history of London’s traffic stoppers
What were penny toys?
These colourful toys were sold on the streets by some of London’s poorest citizens
St Paul's: Through Dickens & Doré's Victorian Lens
Explore how David Lean's Oliver Twist linked Dickens' London to Doré's art through St Paul's iconic dome
Olaudah Equiano: Writer & abolitionist
A freed enslaved man whose life story drove the abolition of the British trade in enslaved Africans
Noble squares & charming cheesecake: A Regency tourist's London diary
Elizabeth Chivers’ unpublished diary gives a peek into her whirlwind 20-day London adventure
The Zong Massacre Trial
The appalling case of 130 enslaved Africans murdered for an insurance claim
Lost rivers: The Walbrook
This small but mighty river was vital to life in the Roman and medieval city
City of London Cemetery & Crematorium
This Newham cemetery is one of the country’s biggest
What after the Smithfield Poultry Market Fire of 1958
Curator Kate Sumnall dives into one of the most dramatic episodes in the rich history of Smithfield Market
How the Great Fire caused a London housing crisis
Rent rises, homelessness and migration to the suburbs
