Self-Guided Private Tour: Money & Power in Historic London

The remains of the one once vast Roman Wall which covered an area the size of Hyde Park and encircled the original first settlement Londinium is behind the statue of the Roman emperor Trajan.

The best view of this historic pub the East India Arms is directly across the road from the pavement opposite. This area as mentioned before has always been about money because of its proximity to the docks in the river Thames.

The most surprising fact about the East India Company is that for a company that was so dominant in British life for so long so little evidence of it still exists. Britain does heritage in a big way with blue plaques stating famous people have lived here everywhere on house walls but almost nothing exists to remember the personalities dominant at the East India Company.

Lloyds has existed since it was set up in a coffee shop by Edward Lloyd in 1688. Its role is to underwrite risk and in its early years, its principal client was the East India Company.

You are now looking at a plaque namechecking Jonathan’s coffee house in the small medieval Change alley where the stock market was created.

This is the first purpose-built commercial building in the United Kingdom. The building has gone through many refurbishments over the centuries. The current one is Victorian and keeps to the original layout which itself in turn based on the Pantheon in Rome with its imposing eight-column portico and other sides of the building based on Italian Renaissance styles.

You are now by the statue of the nineteenth-century British Prime Minister the Duke of Wellington on his horse. He is most famous for beating the French Emperor Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and this statue commemorates this.

The Livery Companies have always had strong connections with royalty. Frequently in return for royal patronage, the royals expected a cut from profits in return. You will see above the door of the entrance the coat of arms of the company of grocers with a camel on top which was the symbol of the company.

You are now in the large medieval courtyard of the Guildhall which is directly in front of you. The building on your right is a Museum, the Guildhall library, which contains artwork and artefacts connected with the History of the City and most importantly underground the remains of the provincial smaller London version of the Roman coliseum where gladiator fights used to occur to entertain the locals. The modern building on your left is the administrative headquarters of the City of London run by the Corporation of London.

The twelfth-century church in front of you in common with many other Churches in this area is a guild church, hosting some 11 guilds including the tallow chandlers, actuaries and haberdashers.

This guild is linked with beekeeping today but its biggest crisis was six hundred years ago during the reign of Henry VIII.

Just before Sadlers Hall on the opposite wall as you go into the courtyard is a plaque to the Broderers Hall which dates back to the thirteenth century but is no longer here as in common with much of this area the building was destroyed in the second world war.

A church has been here since Anglo-Saxon Times. It was destroyed in the great fire of London in 1666 and redesigned by the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren as part of his plans to use the latest architectural techniques to create a modern London which could compete with the most fashionable European capital cities.