London stories
Explore the stories of the world's greatest city and uncover the hidden treasures of our collections.
All stories
The Sidney Street siege: An East End shootout
A tale of revolutionaries, murder and Winston Churchill
The Battle of Barnet: North London’s bloodiest morning
Thousands fought in this key battle of the medieval Wars of the Roses
The London Eye was one big skyline revolution
One of the most eye-catching changes to London’s cityscape came at the turn of the millennium
The Great Pestilence in London
Plague killed over half of the city’s population between 1348 and 1352
A history of the London Charterhouse
How a plague burial ground evolved into a monastery, mansion, school and almshouse
Hatton Garden: London’s diamond & jewellery quarter
200 years of luxury, craftsmanship and community
The execution of Lady Jane Grey, 1554
How the ‘nine-day queen’ met a bitter and bloody end
What was the Wyatt rebellion of 1554?
An army of thousands descended on London to protest Mary I’s marriage plans
Agnes Marshall: The Victorian queen of ice cream
A long-overlooked inventor, businessperson and celebrity chef
A timeline of Roman London: Londinium from start to end
How the Romans created London, built temples and baths, then abandoned their city 350 years later
The Marchioness Disaster
On a summer night in 1989, a riverboat birthday party ended in tragedy, leaving 51 people dead
The lost, lawless tradition of Shrovetide football
Forget pancakes – for hundreds of years, Shrove Tuesday was marked by a chaotic ball game
An Irish Traveller community in 1980s Bermondsey
These photos put the focus on a group often left out of London’s story
May Day protests in post-war London
Marching for world peace and workers’ rights on a historic day of activism
Who are the Chelsea Pensioners?
British Army veterans have had a special home in west London since 1692
Anti-nuclear protests in dangerous times
Huge crowds gathered in London from the 1950s onwards to call for a ban on nuclear weapons
