The Roman invasion (c. AD 43)

The chapter reviews the current state of understanding over London’s origins. Most recent studies have argued that London was built as a trading settlement c. AD 50, but the unpublished results of excavations in the City reveal the outline of a fortified Claudian enclosure. This may be the lost fort that the Roman historian Cassius Dio describes as having been established on the banks of the Thames at the time of the Roman conquest. This new evidence is used to suggest that London was founded in the summer of AD 43 and was the place where the Roman army waited on the arrival of the emperor Claudius, before marching on Colchester. The origins of London Bridge are also reviewed, and the argument that a ford existed at Westminster is dismissed as improbable. This is the most authoritative contemporary review of the circumstances that lead to the creation of London, and the closest that we have to a definitive statement on the birth of the city.