If I’m in London, Why Don’t the Signs Say So?

Take a look at this typical street sign from London. Notice anything? That’s right, it doesn’t say London! How can that be? I’m in London, right?

Well, yes and no. London is not a “planned” city with everything neat and tidy. According to legend, as told by Geoffrey of Monmouth, London was first founded by Brutus of Troy in about 1000-1100 B.C. Geoffrey also said that an early king in the area was named Lud, or Lludd, who renamed the town Caer Ludein, which morphed over time to sound closer to “London.” Lud is supposed to be buried at Ludgate, in the city. London goes a long way back.

Whether what Geoffrey said is true or not, more recent history says the Romans established the settlement of Londinium as a town in 47 A.D., about 4 years after invading the island of Britain in 43 A.D. In 60 A.D. Queen Boudica attacked and destroyed the town, but the Romans rebuilt it immediately after forcing her out as a planned Roman town. During the second century A.D. London replaced Colchester as the capital of Roman Britain. As part of their defensive plans, the Romans built the London Wall around the entire town. And to show how things really don’t change, that wall pretty much defines what is currently called the City of London, now buried in the heart of the larger city of London. The City is the business and financial district of London, similar to Wall Street in New York City. The Romans left in 410 A.D. as the Roman Empire shrank.

I won’t go into the complete history of London, it’s been there for 2000 or 3000 years, but that history explains a lot about London and those pesky signs.  London has changed hands over the centuries, from Romans to Saxons, to Vikings, back to Saxons, then to French Normans when William the Conquerer came to London in 1066.

As London grew, the royal family decided about 1100 A.D. that the city was too busy, with too many people, so they moved west along the Thames river to establish a new governmental center and palace. They built a Minster, or church, and named it Westminster as it was west of the city. Edward the Confessor also built Westminster Hall, which later became the center of Westminster Palace. Now Westminster Palace is the home of Parliament and Westminster Abby is still there. But Westminster wasn’t IN what was thought of as London at the time, so the area took on the name of the church and palace. If you look at this Google interactive map you will see that Westminster is, in fact, west of what is called the City of London. As London continued to grow, it absorbed neighboring villages and towns, eventually creating “boroughs” or individual areas where there is a separate government and administration.  Today there are 32 boroughs and one City in what is known as London, each with responsibility and authority for local planning, schools, social services, local roads, and refuse collection. London is an amalgamation of all those villages and towns.

So, when you look at that first sign, you see it says Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, an acknowledgement that once there were two towns or villages by those names (Kensington and Chelsea) and now there are two borough governments responsible for that road. And the second sign quite properly indicates you are in the city of Westminster.

One curious result of that amalgamation is that streets change names as they move from borough to borough. Open up a map application on your computer or phone and search for Bayswater Rd, London. You will see that it goes along the north edge of Hyde Park, but just a couple of blocks west of the park it changes name to Notting Hill Gate. Now go east along Bayswater Road along the top of Hyde Park until you go just east of Marble Arch and the road changes to be named Oxford Street. Bayswater Road really only exists along the north edge of Hyde Park! Those name changes come about because those three names are in three different boroughs and the roads have retained the name that the village or town had given them before the amalgamation. It’s that shifting name, borough-by-borough, that makes being a cab driver so tough in London.

One more thing: you will see Postal Codes listed just about any time you see a street address printed. Unlike in the US, the Postal Codes in the UK cover very small areas, typically about 15 buildings or so per code. In London, the code can give you some idea of where the location is. Take a look at this map:

The City of London (which is now in the center of London) has the codes starting with EC, and from there, just to the west of The City are the WC codes, then to the north are codes starting with N, to the East with E, to the southeast with SE, to the southwest with SW, to the west W, and to the northwest NW. The codes are not exactly accurate by the compass but can give you a pretty good idea of where the location may be. So if you are visiting Buckingham Palace (SW1A 1AA) and want to go see the Cutty Sark ship at the Greenwich Maritime Museum (SE10 9HT), you will have to go from west to east, past The City, so you should leave time for travel. (It turns out to be about 7 miles to go.)

Not much in the way of a travel tip in this post, but some history and an explanation of the signs and the layout of London. All reasons to love it even more!