Imperial London
Celtic London
Roman London
Saxon Norman & Pre-Tudor London
Tudor London
Stuart London
The Fire of London
London From the Great Fire to 1900
Buckingham Palace
St James' Palace
Kensington Palace
Marlborough House
York House
Clarence House
Westminster Abbey
St Paul's Cathedral
The Temple Church
Ecclesiastical Buildings in London
St Margaret's, Westminster
St Martin's-in-the-Fields
Roman Catholic Churches
10 Downing Street
Whitehall
The House of Lords
The House of Commons
Foreign Embassies & Consulates
Legal London
The Inns of Court
Criminal London
Metropolitan Police Courts
London Police
London Prisons
London's Seamy Side...
Hospitals in 1900 London
St Bartholemew's Hospital - "Barts"
Guy's Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital
The London Hospital
Workhouses
Coroners' Courts
Bedlam
London Cemeteries & Undertakers
Bank of England
The Bankers' Clearing House
Famous Fraud Cases
Insurance Companies
The Royal Mint
The Stock Exchange
Lloyd's
Commodity Exchanges
The London Docks
Dockers in 1900 London
London Shipping in 1900
The Custom House
The Tower of London
City of London Churches
The Record Office, Fetter Lane
Cheapside
The Royal Exchange
City Guilds
Guildhall
Mansion House
Gastronomic London - 1900
Railways & Tramways
Omnibuses & Cabs
The General Post Office
The Central Telegraph Office
The London Fire Brigade 1900
Tower Bridge & Other London Bridges
Charles Dickens - Romantic London
London Houses of Famous People
Publishers in 1900 London
Art in London, 1900
Science in 1900 London
London Museums
London Libraries, 1900
Philanthropic London, 1900
London Schools
Fashionable Clubs in 1900 London
London Hotels
London Barracks in 1900
Theatrical London in 1900
London Squares & Parks
London Zoo in 1900
Journalism in 1900 London
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Enjoy this Celtic London chapter from "Imperial London", a unique view of London and its inhabitants, first published in 1901, by Arthur H. Beavan...
Celtic London
In trying to picture Celtic London before the Roman invasion, we, like children
listening to a fairy tale, or reading the adventures of Alice in Wonderland, must
imagine a great deal.
Of one thing, however, we are tolerably certain; ie that the rude camp - it
was hardly a town - stood in the "forest primaeval."
Dense thickets of oak, beech, and fir, covered Middlesex, Surrey, and all south-eastern
Britain, harbouring wild cattle, reindeer and stags, bears, wolves, and foxes;
while in the clefts of distant hills were great cave-bears, shaggy relics of
a pre-historic period, when mammoths and other monsters roamed about the Thames
valley, and wallowed unmolested on the muddy fore-shores of its broad estuary.
Shallow, but far-spreading, was the famous river.
All the low-lying portions of its basin were covered twice a day by waters that
on retiring left vast swamps and dangerous morasses which served the settlers
in Trinovant - the world's future metropolis - as a natural defence against
every enemy.
Corn was grown in the cleared patches, and the pasturage was good.
Of flocks and herds the Celts had an abundance.
Game, feathered and furred - bustard, grouse, partridge, snipe, woodcock and
plover, hares and rabbits - was to be had for the snaring; and from the sea-ward
creeks, great skeins of wildfowl, swans, geese, widgeon, and teal, settled down
in hard weather within an arrow's flight of the village.
Salmon and trout swarmed in the Thames; and fishermen in their rude coracles
brought up from the river's mouth lordly turbot and dainty mullet fit for an
emperor's table, while the fame of the British oyster had reached the ears of
gourmands in Rome itself.
Iron, tin, copper, and lead, to say nothing of the precious metals, abounded,
and pearls of rare size and quality were supposed to be plentiful.
The young men were athletic, and agile as roes, fit recruits for the Roman legions;
the young maidens straight as arrows, and surpassingly fair to look upon.
Altogether, it was a goodly land, one to be coveted even by the World's Mistress,
satiated with conquest; and the year 55 b.c. brought both the hour and the man
- Julius Caesar landed in Britain, and Celtic dominion disappeared.
Earthworks, barrows, and tumuli on many a wind-swept hill, remind us of these
gallant Celts vainly fighting against the disciplined forces of Caesar and his
successors.
But of the habitations of those who defended Trinovant, the stronghold, no trace
remains.
Indeed there is no material evidence that Celtic London ever existed.
Related Websites:
Celtic Art Prints & Posters
Celtic
Themed Wall Calendars
Books on Celtic History, Language and Art
Next:
Roman London
Gracechurch is Graeschurch, or Grass-church, the church built on the site of the old grass-market. Grass at one time included all sorts of herbs... E. Cobham Brewer (1810-1897) 'Gracechurch, London' from 'Dictionary of Phrase and Fable', 1898 |
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