community at the northern end of London Bridge, where the present city grew up.


Claire: The origins of London lie in Roman times, right? David: Right. When the Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD, they moved north from the Kentish coast and traversed the Thames in the London region, clashing with the local tribesmen just to the north. It has been suggested that the soldiers crossed the river at Lambeth, but it was further downstream that they built a permanent wooden bridge, just east of the present London Bridge, in more settled times some seven years later. As a focal point of the Roman road system, it was the bridge which attracted settlers and led to London’s inevitable growth.


Claire: So, London Bridge has been there for hundreds of years?


David: Yes, and though the regularity of London’s original street grid may indicate that the initial inhabitants were the military, trade and commerce soon followed. The London Thames was deep and still within the tidal zone – an ideal place for the berthing of ships.


Claire: What other industry did they have? David: Well, as the area was also well-drained and low- lying, it was geologically suitable for brickmaking. There was soon a flourishing city called Londinium in the area where the Monument now stands.


Claire: Londinium? That’s Latin. David: That’s what I thought, too, but the name itself is Celtic, not Latin, and may originally have referred merely to a previous farmstead on the site.


(four-second pause)


Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 25–32. (fifteen-second pause)


Now listen and answer questions 25–32.


Claire: Wasn’t London burnt to the ground at some stage? David: It happened in AD 60, by the forces of Queen Boudicca of the Iceni tribe, from modern Norfolk, when she led a major revolt against Roman rule. The governor, Suetonius Paulinus, who was busy exterminating the Druids in north Wales, marched his troops south in an attempt to save London but, seeing the size of Boudicca’s approaching army, decided he could not mount an adequate defence and evacuated the city instead. Not everyone managed to escape though, and many were massacred.


Claire: What about the beautiful old architecture? Did you research that, too?


David: I sure did. The major symbol of Roman rule was the Temple of the Imperial Cult. Emperor worship was administered by the Provincial Council, whose headquarters appear to have been in London by AD 100. A member of its staff, named Anencletus, buried his wife on Ludgate Hill around this time. Pagan worship flourished within the cosmopolitan city. A temple to the mysterious Eastern god, Mithras, was found at


Bucklersbury House and is displayed nearby.


Claire: I quite like St Paul’s. David: Traditionally, St Paul’s Cathedral stands on the site of a Temple of Diana. Other significant buildings also began to appear in the late 1st


century, at a time when the city was


expanding rapidly. The forum, a marketplace and basilica, which housed the law-courts complex at Leadenhall Market, was erected, and then quickly replanned as the largest such complex north of the Alps. The forum was much bigger than today’s Trafalgar Square.


Claire: Who was in charge of all the town planning at the time?


David: Procurator Agricola. He encouraged the use of bathhouses and had a grand public suite made, which has now been excavated in Upper Thames Street. They were as much a social venue as a place to bathe. There was a smaller version at Cheapside and, in later centuries, private bathhouses were also built. Another popular attraction was the wooden amphitheatre erected on the north-western outskirts of the city. It’s possible that gladiatorial shows were put on here, though lesser public sports, like bear-baiting, may have been more regular.


Claire: I thought that happened mainly in the Colisseum in Rome, but I guess London being settled by the Romans explains their lust for blood.


David: By about AD 200, the administration of Britain was divided in two. York became the capital of Britannia Inferior and London of Britannia Superior. Around the same time, the city also acquired its famous walls, probably about 20 ft high.


Claire: Why did they build such high walls? David: It was a protective measure which may have been due to civil war, initiated when Governor Clodius Albinus tried to claim the Imperial Crown in Rome.


Claire: Was Paganism still predominant then? David: Yes, but Christianity appears to have reached the province at an early date and, only a year after the religion became officially tolerated in the Empire, London had its own bishop, Restitutus, who is known to have attended the Imperial Council of Arles.


Claire: You really delved deep. I think you’ll do well on your tutorial paper. Good luck, David.


David: Thanks.


That is the end of Section three. You now have half a minute to check your answers. (thirty-second pause)


Now turn to Section four. (four-second pause)


Pathway to IELTS 1 209


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