The river Thames ran through this marsh. It was then much broader than at present, because there were no banks or quays to keep it within limits: at high tide it overflowed the whole of the marsh and lay in an immense lake, bounded on the north by this low cliff of clay, and on the south by the rising ground of what we now call the Surrey Hills, which begin between Kennington and Clapham, as is shown by the name of Clapham Rise. According to the legendary Historia Regum Britanniae, by Geoffrey of Monmouth, London was ...
Read More
The river Thames ran through this marsh. It was then much broader than at present, because there were no banks or quays to keep it within limits: at high tide it overflowed the whole of the marsh and lay in an immense lake, bounded on the north by this low cliff of clay, and on the south by the rising ground of what we now call the Surrey Hills, which begin between Kennington and Clapham, as is shown by the name of Clapham Rise. According to the legendary Historia Regum Britanniae, by Geoffrey of Monmouth, London was founded by Brutus of Troy about 1000-1100 B.C. after he defeated the native giant Gogmagog; the settlement was known as Caer Troia, Troia Nova (Latin for New Troy), which, according to a pseudo-etymology, was corrupted to Trinovantum. Trinovantes were the Iron Age tribe who inhabited the area prior to the Romans. Geoffrey provides prehistoric London with a rich array of legendary kings, such as Lud (see also Lludd, from Welsh mythology) who, he claims, renamed the town Caer Ludein, from which London was derived, and was buried at Ludgate. Some recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area. In 1999, the remains of a Bronze Age bridge were found, again on the foreshore south of Vauxhall Bridge.[1] This bridge either crossed the Thames, or went to a now lost island in the river. Dendrology dated the timbers to 1500BCE.[1] In 2001 a further dig found that the timbers were driven vertically into the ground on the south bank of the Thames west of Vauxhall Bridge.[2] In 2010 the foundations of a large timber structure, dated to 4000BCE, were found on the Thames foreshore, south of Vauxhall Bridge.[3] The function of the mesolithic structure is not known. All these structures are on the south bank at a natural crossing point where the River Effra flows into the Thames.[3] Numerous finds[4] have been made of spear heads and weaponry from the Bronze and Iron Ages near the banks of the Thames in the London area, many of which had clearly been used in battle. This suggests that the Thames was an important tribal boundary.[citation needed] Archaeologist Leslie Wallace notes that "Because no LPRIA settlements or significant domestic refuse have been found in London, despite extensive archaeological excavation, arguments for a purely Roman foundation of London are now common and uncontroversial.
Read Less
