NEARLY 90 people attended the Crediton U3A meeting held at the Boniface Centre in Crediton to hear a talk by Richard Adams about his work in the City of London.

Being surrounded by dragons might be misleading unless you know there are 14 dragons surrounding the City of London. Other cities in the area included Westminster.

The City of London constitutes one very central square mile and not the rest of the greater areas of London. Richard showed us a map of pre City of London or at least the imagined landscape before the Romans!

Every Roman city had an amphitheatre, naturally Roman London (The City) also had one. It is hard to imagine the size of an amphitheatre because they were absolutely enormous.

In the redevelopment of the city they have marked the size of the amphitheatre with a line of grey/black paver bricks on the ground which can be seen near the Guildhall.

When the Guildhall was being redeveloped archaeologists were able to predict where the amphitheatre was, they also found a Saxon Road and remains of leather work, shops and the like. The Romans left in AD 410.

After 1066, when William the First arrived, he granted the City of London a charter in 1075, giving it authority “to do as their fathers had done”, which effectively gave them carte blanch in perpetuity.

It was also exempt from the Domesday book. The Tower of London remained just outside the city. In 1189 it was given the right to appoint a mayor.

In 1215 Magna Carta was signed at Runnymede, William Hardale the mayor retained a copy of Magna Carta, which of the city of London still has. However, due to the pressure from a World War II bomb explosion the copy has shrunk because it is written on velum.

On February 11, 1225 a version of Magna Carta, freely issued by Henry III in return for a tax granted to him by the whole kingdom, became the definitive version of the text. In 1297 Edward the First confirmed the Magna Carta.

Richard showed us a picture of a copper engraving of the map of City of London (1547 - 1559).

The year 1666 saw a number of significant events, bubonic plague and the fire of London. The plague purportedly came on ships from China on flea ridden rats, which significantly reduced the population.

The Great Fire of London purportedly started in Pudding Lane by the King’s farriner (baker) who subsequently escaped.

(Famously, Thomas Farriner was a baker in 17th century London, and his bakery - in the heart of the City at Pudding Lane - was the source of the Great Fire of London. And the name Farriner surely was derived originally from “farine” - the word for flour in French).

Only six deaths were recorded as due to the fire but property damage was extensive. In The Square mile 13,000 houses and 80 churches were destroyed or damaged. St Paul’s Cathedral had wooden scaffolding around it, its valuable books contained therein, were moved to the crypt for safekeeping; sadly the lead from the roof melted and dripped into the crypt destroying the books.

The plans to redevelop the fire damaged city were based on a grid system but landowners were very resistant to their property being incorporated (sounds familiar?). A coal tax was implemented in order to fund the rebuild but it wasn’t completed for another 50 years into 1711.

We were then shown a picture of St Paul’s from WW2, everything around was flattened. The charter proved ownership of the land which enabled profits to be made by building, demolishing and rebuilding.

In 1963 a “ring of steel” was built which encircles The City, entrants are then able to be checked. There is a photo number plate system which shows up any “wanted” individuals.

The resident population of the City is 71,000 but with daytime workers it rises to 400,000. The City also has its own Police Force dating from 1827 and a special fraud squad. In the Great Hall yard the amphitheatre black line can be seen.

In the basement there is an Art gallery and remains of the amphitheatre, the area has been left for viewing, it also has sound effects.

These have been provided by the “Arsenal noise” because it was deemed to have the crowd sound closest to that of an amphitheatre. A walkway has been provided around the Great Hall for the public, also a private charity fund provides for maintenance and building.

The year 1966 not only saw England win the World Cup but the rebuild of London Bridge was commenced. There have been many reincarnations of London Bridge since the original Roman crossing in AD50. The most famous and longstanding of these was the “Old” Medieval bridge, finished in 1209 during the reign of King John.

For more than 600 years this bridge was the key crossing point of the Thames in London, ferrying people, goods and livestock across the river.

With its shops, houses, churches and gatehouse, it was an iconic feature of the City of London. The current London Bridge, built between 1968 and 1972, replaced Rennie’s stone arches with beams of prestressed concrete reaching 104 metres (340 feet) in the central span.

More than 1,600 trees have been planted and a number of statues erected including evacuees, Liverpool Street Station has faces of commuters. There is a Freeman with sheep and the Gardner at Moorgate. At the stock market is a man with a large mobile telephone. Not forgetting Boswood’s cat and the Scales of Justice at the courts.

Richard then showed us the changing skyline of The City of London between 2006 until now, the difference is stark in only those few years.

Sandra Ragalsky