Medieval London: Hidden History and Ancient Sites You Walk Past Every Day

By Chris Livemore

One of the wonderful things about London is that every time someone digs a hole, they seem to find another layer of history underneath it.

When I was working in London the monotony of the daily commute and mad dash from train station to tube station meant I was missing out on some truly historical sites each day. Because medieval London, the London of knights and sieges and plague and enormous political drama, is not gone. It is not buried under glass offices and coffee shops, lost entirely to the Great Fire of 1666 and the Blitz and two thousand years of continuous rebuilding.

It is hiding in plain sight. In churches, in ruins, in underground rooms, in a meadow beside the Thames, in two giant wooden statues paraded through the City every November.

You just have to know where to look. This is a blog that tells you where to look...

The Tower of London:

Yes, the Tower of London is on every tourist list. Yes, you've probably been told to go before. Go anyway. Go with children. Go specifically to see the armour.

The Tower of London has been used as an armoury, a prison, and a palace across its thousand-year history. William the Conqueror ordered the construction of the Tower shortly after the Norman Conquest, with the great White Tower beginning around 1078 and finished by 1100. It was a symbol of complete control, to terrify Londoners and to create something very visible to deter any risk of invasion from abroad. It worked.

The White Tower at its centre is the original Norman keep. The walls around it are an incredible twelve feet thick in places. The Yeoman Warders, who we know as the Beefeaters, give tours that are among the best historical experiences available in London, you just need an entry ticket!

The armoury is the thing for children. Actual suits of armour. Actual medieval weapons. Henry VIII's armour - vast, barrel-chested, a remarkable document of a man who had eaten extremely well for several decades. Child-sized armour for pages. The whole extraordinary range of what knights actually wore to war, standing in cases you can walk around.

Jack has views about the Tower. He considers the defensive positioning excellent and formidable.

Nearest tube: Tower Hill. Entry charged. Allow three hours as a bare minimum, truth is you could spend a whole day there exploring its rich history.

Temple Church:

Most people have never heard of Temple Church, making it an absolute gem of a hidden site. Most people who have heard of it know it from The Da Vinci Code. Both of these things are a shame, because it is one of the most remarkable medieval buildings in Britain and it is hiding, between Fleet Street and the Thames.

Temple Church was built in the 12th century as the London headquarters of the Knights Templar, the same order of warrior monks who became the most powerful military and financial organisation in medieval Europe. The round nave was modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It was consecrated in 1185 by the Patriarch of Jerusalem himself, while he was travelling through Europe recruiting for a new Crusade.

Inside, on the floor of the round nave, lie nine stone effigies of medieval knights and noblemen, some with their legs crossed, some with a hand on their sword, all staring at the ceiling they have been staring at for eight hundred years. The most famous is William Marshal, described by the Archbishop of Canterbury at his burial as the greatest knight that ever lived. He served four English kings, acted as regent for the young Henry III, and was one of the key figures in the Magna Carta negotiations.

The effigies were originally painted in vivid colours. They survived the Great Fire of 1666. They did not entirely survive the Blitz, on the night of 10th May 1941, an incendiary bomb set the roof alight and it crashed down onto the knights below. They were painstakingly restored using Victorian replicas made decades earlier.

The greatest knight who ever lived, lying in a circle with eight of his contemporaries, in a round church built by the Knights Templar, in the middle of London. This is the one most people miss. It is the one I would go and visit first.

Nearest tube: Temple or City Thameslink. The church is open to visitors on many weekdays, although opening hours and admission arrangements vary. You just need to check before you plan a visit.

Winchester Palace:

Two minutes from Borough Market, tucked behind a car park on Clink Street, are the ruins of Winchester Palace, and most of the people walking past them every day have no idea what they're looking at.

Winchester Palace dates to the 12th century and was the London residence of the powerful Bishops of Winchester for four hundred years. At its peak it was one of the grandest private residences in medieval London, hosting kings and receiving foreign dignitaries. The palace also stood within the Liberty of the Clink, an area famous for theatres, prisons and activities respectable bishops officially disapproved of while quietly collecting the rents.

What survives today is the west wall of the Great Hall and, most remarkably, a spectacular rose window, still intact, that has stood here since the fourteenth century. The Great Fire damaged it.

The ruins are Grade I listed and free to view at any time. They sit in a small courtyard that most Borough Market visitors walk directly past. Stop. Look up at the window. Consider that this was the London home of one of the most powerful ecclesiastical figures in medieval England.

Then go and get a coffee and think about what's hiding under every other building in this city.

Nearest tube: London Bridge. Free, accessible at any time.

The Jewel Tower:

Built around 1365 under Edward III, the Jewel Tower was constructed specifically to house the king's personal treasure, his jewels, gold, and most valuable possessions. It sits in the shadow of Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, overlooked by almost everyone who visits that part of London.

It is medieval. Its exhibitions include archaeological finds and objects that tell the story of Westminster across the centuries. There is more than enough genuine historical detail to keep a curious child occupied for a full hour.

The building itself is the point. Three storeys of fourteenth-century stonework, which survived the fire that destroyed most of the old Palace of Westminster in 1834, sitting quietly next to Big Ben, whilst being overlooked by every tourist taking a photograph of the clock.

Nearest tube: Westminster. Entry is charged, although it is included with English Heritage membership.

Gog and Magog (City of London)

Every November, two nine-foot wooden giants are carried through the streets of the City of London in the Lord Mayor's Show. Most people watching think they are modern creations. They are not.

The tradition of carrying effigies of Gog and Magog in London pageantry dates back to at least the reign of Henry V in the early fifteenth century. They have been the guardian figures of the City of London for six hundred years.

The current statues, the fourth pair, stand permanently in the Guildhall in the City of London, where they can be viewed for free whenever the hall is open.

Nine feet tall. Six hundred years of guardianship. Hiding in a banqueting hall in the City, watching over the medieval square mile that has stood since the Romans built their first wall around it. London's giants are still at their posts. They have not moved, it is just that most people just aren't looking for them.

Nearest tube: Bank or St Paul's. Free when Guildhall is open, check the City of London website for opening times.

One Day all Five Sites.

Start at Temple Church first thing in the morning when it's quiet. Walk east along the Embankment to the Tower of London. Cross Tower Bridge to Borough Market and find Winchester Palace on Clink Street. Take the tube to Westminster and visit the Jewel Tower and finish at the Guildhall with Gog and Magog.

Medieval London, properly experienced, in a single day. Fire Pud would undoubtedly cause an incident at Borough Market and everyone would pretend not to notice.

Join Jack's Shield Wall — the free Good Knight newsletter — at thegoodknightbook.com/shield-wall. New members this month receive a free Guide to Medieval Insults. Several of which were almost certainly used within the walls of every building on this list. ⚔️🏰