Londinium - London

Londinium, 150 AD,  as developed by the Roman occupation, by this time the provincial capital.   An earlier version had been once completely destroyed with massive casualties in the 60 AD Iceni ("Boudiccan") revolt.

The Romans appear to have chosen this place to establish a port, because a bridge across the Thames could be built here at a shallow spot where there was a pre-existing ford, and because it was a place that was tidal and could accommodate Roman shipping.
 Unlike many Roman settlements established on already existing Briton Celtic Oppida (La Tene type settlements), there does not appear to have been any previous Iron Age town here before the Claudian conquest of 43 AD.  

There are remnants of several Iron Age hillforts and enclosures within greater London today (eg, at Wimbledon and Epping Forest) of the Trinovantes or Catuellauni.  

Some Internet sites on Roman Londinium:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Londinium
 
https://www.thehistoryoflondon.co.uk/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-first-roman-town-of-londinium/

https://www.historyhit.com/roman-origins-of-london

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2020/06/londinium-roman-london/130635#google_vignette

Londinium was established by the Romans about 47 AD, was quickly rebuilt after the Iceni revolt in 60, and became the largest city in the military occupation.  It was enhanced with a forum (70 AD) (later replaced with a larger one (90-120 AD) with a basilica, baths (About 150 AD), an amphitheater (two main phases, ca. 70 and 120 AD) and was walled in 200 AD, about when it began its decline.
 
Londinium Forum with      Baths                        Amphitheatre
Basilicca at rear

<--- London Roman Wall – surviving section by Tower Hill gardens cross-section.

The Cripplegate Bastion, technically the rounded section at the right side of the image, added
during the Medieval period.

After the 5th century Roman withdrawal from Britain, the walls began to collapse due to lack of repairs.

They were restored in the late Anglo-Saxon period, a process generally thought to have begun under Alfred the Great after 886.

Repairs and enhancements continued throughout the medieval period. The wall largely defined the boundaries of the City of London until the later Middle Ages, when population rises and the development of towns around the city blurred the perimeter.
   Roman London was, from around 120 until 150, protected by a large fort, with a large garrison, that stood to its north-western side. The fort, now referred to as the Cripplegate Fort, was later incorporated into a complete city-wide defence, with its strengthened northern and western sides becoming part of the Wall which was built around 200. The incorporation of the fort's walls gave the walled area its distinctive shape in the north-west part of the city.

For travelers: Several opportunities exist for folks who want to walk along sections of the Roman Londinium walls.  Just search the Internet for "Londinium wall walk".

The first Roman capital of Britannia was Camulodunum, now Colchester, but it was inconveniently located, and Rome's logistics for its occupation landed at Londinium.  Londinium soon became the hub as military roads fanned out from both ends of its bridge.  As time passed administrative offices moved there and, by the second century, London was the de facto, then de jure Capital.

London Bridge (round black dot, center), was the only bridged crossing of the River Thames near London at the time. The next bridge upstream is at Pontes/Staines.



 From https://mappinglondon.co.uk/2013/londons-roman-roads/

The black triangles and circles show known Roman villas and other settlements, while the lines show the main Roman roads at the presumed height of the Roman occupation of Britain – dotted lines show where the road route is not known exactly at the time of the map’s production. The patterns of dots/circles show wooded areas. 

The eight roads shown, clockwise from the north, are:

  • Ermine Street (sometimes Erming Street), heading north to Lindum (Lincoln).
  • A track heading north-east from the Lea (at Stratford) through Epping Forest.
  • A road heading east to Caesaromagus (Chelmsford) and Camulodumum (Colchester). Starts at what is now Old Street, then Crosses Ermine Street at Shoreditch.
  • Watling Street, heading south-east to Rochester, Durovernum (Canterbury) and Dover.
  • A road heading south to Burgess Hill – little trace exists.
  • Stane Street (sometimes Stone Street), heading south-west to Chichester, via Alfoldean (quite near Horsham).
  • Portway, heading west starting along Farringdon Road and Oxford Street, then through Pontes (Staines) towards Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester).
  • Watling Street, heading north-west to Verulamium (St Albans). Starts on Park Lane/Marble Arch.  Runs both ways, across London.

From Wikipedia:
Londinium
A general outline of Roman London in late antiquity, with the modern banks of the Thames.[1] Discovered roads drawn as double lines; conjectural roads, single lines.


Location London, United Kingdom
Coordinates 51°30′45″N 0°05′26″W
Type Roman city
History
Founded 43 – 50 AD[2][3]
Periods Roman Empire

Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain
during most of the period of Roman rule. Most twenty-first century historians think that it was first  a settlement
founded shortly after the  Claudian invasion of Britain, on the current site of the City of London, around 47–50 AD, but some defend an older view that the city originated in a defensive enclosure constructed during the Claudian invasion in 43 AD.  Its earliest securely-dated structure is a timber drain of 47 AD.

Archeology:  One of Londinium's many wooden drains, not the earliest 47 AD Drain but a later version, a more visible one that shows better how the drains were made.  Wood is often well preserved in London's drenched environment -- gravelly soil over hard clay, the reason so many drains were needed to move rainwater down to the Thames.  The Romans used wood for drains and wells, the abundance of which allows for a complete dendrochrology sequence.