Power & Politics

A political history of Britain in the places where it happened: parliament and palace, courts and counting houses, and the streets where people pushed back.

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Guildhall

The hall of a city government that bargained with kings, standing on a Roman amphitheatre.

Money & the City

Photo by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The City of London never received a modern municipal constitution. It won privileges from the Crown one at a time over centuries and kept them, which is why it still has wards, aldermen, sheriffs and a livery electorate that fit nowhere in the government of the rest of London. Guildhall is where that shows. The Great Hall was built between 1411 and 1440, when London's merchants were rich enough to count as a political power in their own right, and it has held lawmaking, banquets and state trials - Lady Jane Grey was condemned in it. It came through the Great Fire damaged and the Blitz gutted, and was rebuilt both times. Underneath is the amphitheatre of Roman Londinium, found in 1988.

Where
Gresham Street, EC2V 7HH
Nearest station
Moorgate · 4 min walk

Open on the monthly guided tour, held on the days the Court of Common Council meets and booked ahead.

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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