Stuart London (1603–1714)[edit]

Main article: Stuart London

A panorama of London by Claes Jansz. Visscher, 1616. Old St Paul's had lost its spire by this time. The two
theatres on the foreground (Southwark) side of the Thames are The Bear Garden and The Globe. The large
church in the foreground is St Mary Overie, now Southwark Cathedral.
London's expansion beyond the boundaries of the City was decisively established in the 17th
century. In the opening years of that century the immediate environs of the City, with the principal
exception of the aristocratic residences in the direction of Westminster, were still considered not
conducive to health. Immediately to the north was Moorfields, which had recently been drained and
laid out in walks, but it was frequented by beggars and travellers, who crossed it in order to get into
London. Adjoining Moorfields were Finsbury Fields, a favourite practising ground for the
archers, Mile End, then a common on the Great Eastern Road and famous as a rendezvous for the
troops.
The preparations for King James I becoming king were interrupted by a severe plague epidemic,
which may have killed over thirty thousand people. The Lord Mayor's Show, which had been
discontinued for some years, was revived by order of the king in 1609. The dissolved monastery of
the Charterhouse, which had been bought and sold by the courtiers several times, was purchased
by Thomas Sutton for £13,000. The new hospital, chapel, and schoolhouse were begun in
1611. Charterhouse School was to be one of the principal public schools in London until it moved to
Surrey in Victorian times, and the site is still used as a medical school.[20]
The general meeting-place of Londoners in the day-time was the nave of Old St. Paul's Cathedral.
Merchants conducted business in the aisles, and used the font as a counter upon which to make
their payments; lawyers received clients at their particular pillars; and the unemployed looked for
work. St Paul's Churchyard was the centre of the book trade and Fleet Street was a centre of public
entertainment. Under James I the theatre, which established itself so firmly in the latter years of
Elizabeth, grew further in popularity. The performances at the public theatres were complemented by
elaborate masques at the royal court and at the inns of court.[21]
Charles I acceded to the throne in 1625. During his reign, aristocrats began to inhabit the West
End in large numbers. In addition to those who had specific business at court, increasing numbers of
country landowners and their families lived in London for part of the year simply for the social life.
This was the beginning of the "London season". Lincoln's Inn Fields was built about 1629.[22] The
piazza of Covent Garden, designed by England's first classically trained architect Inigo
Jones followed in about 1632. The neighbouring streets were built shortly afterwards, and the names
of Henrietta, Charles, James, King and York Streets were given after members of the royal family.[23]
Samuel Pepys, chronicler of Stuart London

In January 1642 five members of parliament whom the King wished to arrest were granted refuge in
the City. In August of the same year the King raised his banner at Nottingham, and during
the English Civil War London took the side of the parliament. Initially the king had the upper hand in
military terms and in November he won the Battle of Brentford a few miles to the west of London.
The City organised a new makeshift army and Charles hesitated and retreated. Subsequently, an
extensive system of fortifications was built to protect London from a renewed attack by the Royalists.
This comprised a strong earthen rampart, enhanced with bastions and redoubts. It was well beyond
the City walls and encompassed the whole urban area, including Westminster and Southwark.
London was not seriously threatened by the royalists again, and the financial resources of the City
made an important contribution to the parliamentarians' victory in the war.
The unsanitary and overcrowded City of London has suffered from the numerous outbreaks of the
plague many times over the centuries, but in Britain it is the last major outbreak which is
remembered as the "Great Plague" It occurred in 1665 and 1666 and killed around 60,000 people,
which was one fifth of the population. Samuel Pepys chronicled the epidemic in his diary. On 4
September 1665 he wrote "I have stayed in the city till above 7400 died in one week, and of them
about 6000 of the plague, and little noise heard day or night but tolling of bells."[24][25]
Great Fire of London (1666)[edit]
Main article: Great Fire of London
The Great Plague was immediately followed by another catastrophe, albeit one which helped to put
an end to the plague. On the Sunday, 2 September 1666 the Great Fire of London broke out at one
o'clock in the morning at a bakery in Pudding Lane in the southern part of the City. Fanned by an
eastern wind the fire spread, and efforts to arrest it by pulling down houses to make firebreaks were
disorganised to begin with. On Tuesday night the wind fell somewhat, and on Wednesday the fire
slackened. On Thursday it was extinguished, but on the evening of that day the flames again burst
forth at the Temple. Some houses were at once blown up by gunpowder, and thus the fire was finally
mastered. The Monument was built to commemorate the fire: for over a century and a half it bore an
inscription attributing the conflagration to a "popish frenzy".[26]
John Evelyn's plan for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire

The fire destroyed about 60% of the City, including Old St Paul's Cathedral, 87 parish churches,
44 livery company halls and the Royal Exchange. However, the number of lives lost was surprisingly
small; it is believed to have been 16 at most. Within a few days of the fire, three plans were
presented to the king for the rebuilding of the city, by Christopher Wren, John Evelyn and Robert
Hooke.[27]
Wren proposed to build main thoroughfares north and south, and east and west, to insulate all the
churches in conspicuous positions, to form the most public places into large piazzas, to unite the
halls of the 12 chief livery companies into one regular square annexed to the Guildhall, and to make
a fine quay on the bank of the river from Blackfriars to the Tower of London. Wren wished to build
the new streets straight and in three standard widths of thirty, sixty and ninety feet. Evelyn's plan
differed from Wren's chiefly in proposing a street from the church of St Dunstan's in the East to the
St Paul's, and in having no quay or terrace along the river. These plans were not implemented, and
the rebuilt city generally followed the streetplan of the old one, and most of it has survived into the
21st century.

Richard Blome's map of London (1673). The development of the West End had recently begun to accelerate.

Nonetheless, the new City was different from the old one. Many aristocratic residents never
returned, preferring to take new houses in the West End, where fashionable new districts such as St.
James's were built close to the main royal residence, which was Whitehall Palace until it was
destroyed by fire in the 1690s, and thereafter St. James's Palace. The rural lane
of Piccadilly sprouted courtiers mansions such as Burlington House. Thus the separation between
the middle class mercantile City of London, and the aristocratic world of the court
in Westminster became complete.[28]
In the City itself there was a move from wooden buildings to stone and brick construction to reduce
the risk of fire. Parliament's Rebuilding of London Act 1666 stated "building with brick [is] not only
more comely and durable, but also more safe against future perils of fire". From then on only
doorcases, window-frames and shop fronts were allowed to be made of wood.[29]
Christopher Wren's plan for a new model London came to nothing, but he was appointed to rebuild
the ruined parish churches and to replace St Paul's Cathedral. His domed baroque cathedral was
the primary symbol of London for at least a century and a half. As city surveyor, Robert
Hooke oversaw the reconstruction of the City's houses. The East End, that is the area immediately
to the east of the city walls, also became heavily populated in the decades after the Great Fire.
London's docks began to extend downstream, attracting many working people who worked on the
docks themselves and in the processing and distributive trades. These people lived
in Whitechapel, Wapping, Stepney and Limehouse, generally in slum conditions.[30]
In the winter of 1683–1684, a frost fair was held on the Thames. The frost, which began about seven
weeks before Christmas and continued for six weeks after, was the greatest on record.
The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 led to a large migration on Huguenots to London.
They established a silk industry at Spitalfields.[31]
At this time the Bank of England was founded, and the British East India Company was expanding
its influence. Lloyd's of London also began to operate in the late 17th century. In 1700, London
handled 80% of England's imports, 69% of its exports and 86% of its re-exports. Many of the goods
were luxuries from the Americas and Asia such as silk, sugar, tea and tobacco. The last figure
emphasises London's role as an entrepot: while it had many craftsmen in the 17th century, and
would later acquire some large factories, its economic prominence was never based primarily on
industry. Instead it was a great trading and redistribution centre. Goods were brought to London by
England's increasingly dominant merchant navy, not only to satisfy domestic demand, but also for
re-export throughout Europe and beyond.[32]
William III, a Dutchman, cared little for London, the smoke of which gave him asthma, and after the
first fire at Whitehall Palace (1691) he purchased Nottingham House and transformed it
into Kensington Palace. Kensington was then an insignificant village, but the arrival of the court soon
caused it to grow in importance. The palace was rarely favoured by future monarchs, but its
construction was another step in the expansion of the bounds of London. During the same
reign Greenwich Hospital, then well outside the boundary of London, but now comfortably inside it,
was begun; it was the naval complement to the Chelsea Hospital for former soldiers, which had been
founded in 1681. During the reign of Queen Anne an act was passed authorising the building of 50
new churches to serve the greatly increased population living outside the boundaries of the City of
London.[33]
Ogilby & Morgan's map of the City of London (1673). "A Large and Accurate Map of the City of London.
Ichnographically describing all the Streets, Lanes, Alleys, Courts, Yards, Churches, Halls, & Houses &c.
Actually Surveyed and Delineated by John Ogilby, His Majesties Cosmographer.".