Figure 1.--Here we see fairly standard adjoined housin town house un an unidentified Englisdh city we think in the 1900s decade. Notice the home has a name rather thn a street number. We think the two children to the right lived there. The group to he left were probably friends. This looks like a middle-class home. The large multi-story apartment (flat) buildings common on the Conmtinent, were less common in English cities. The boys have Eton collrs abd sailot suits, Notice the girls' long hair and hair bows. Click on the image for a closer view of the children.

The Celts created the first large-scale settlements on Britain. the lrgest were hill forts in southern England. Some had several thousands inhabitants. Here people traded, bought and sold goods, and artisnl craftsmen set up their work places--all hallmrks of cities. The Romns invded (43 AD). Anbd with the Romans cme true cities. Many major English cities hve Roman roots--incluiding Londinium. Roman cities were layed out in grids and conected by well engineered roads. The Lgions lft Britin (404 AD). Their infrastructure gradually deteriorated. The invading Anglo-Saxons were not oriented toward city life, but grdually cities were arrived, especially the old Roman cities but this took some time. Anglo-Saxon tows were onsrvble (9th century). The real growth of towns began after th Normn invasion (1066). Cities at the time were actully towns, even London only had a popultion of about 18,000 pople. The real growth of town life began in the high-middle ages and the quickening of commerce (12-13 centuries). The originl Romn structure was lost. Many new towns appeared throughout Britain. The important wool trade played major role in the formation of cities. Town were were authoirized by through charters granted by the king or the lord of the manor. A charter was a document granting townspeople a range of rights. This fred the townspeople from feufal monligations and lloswed them to form municipal local government. The vast majority of the population lived in rural areas, primarily involved in agriculture. The popultion and towns steadly inceased despite devestating plagues. Towns continued to grow during Tudor, but remined modest in modern terms (16th century). London grew to about 60,000-70,000 pople. Other towns were nuch smaller, allbeit very importnt in the ecomnomy. The next largest town was probably Bristol, a key seaport probbly with a popultion of about 20,000. The Indutrial Revolution began in England (mid-18th century). England became a heavily industrialized and urbanized country during the Victorin era (19th century) English cities grew unplanned. People from the countryside crowded into the growing industrial cities. Slums developed. And this was before public health concepts existed. Victoriun Englnd would pioneer sewers, urban water systens, disease reserch, hospitals, urban transport, and public parks. England and Germany were the two most urbanized of the large European countries. France was much less urbanized. The Netherlands and Belgium were also heavily urbanized, but much smaller countries. England thus had some of the largest industrial cities in Europe, including Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, and others. The wealthy tended to live in adjoined town houses. Set apart mansions were not common. The same was true of the middle-class. The poor tended to live in attched single-family tenaments. City children had very different life experiences, depending on their social class. Many working-class families in cities until after World War II did not have runnuing water or toilets in their homes. There were often few green areas and children grew up never seeing animals beyond cats, dogs, and rats. They often had unhealthy diets with little milk and fresh vegtables. As irban transport improved, people who could afford it begn moving out into the suburbs. Children growing up in these cities thus had very different life experiences than rural children. This became especially apparent when children from the cities evacuated during World War II (1939-45). They were evacuate to small towns and villages which for many of the children were an entirely different world. English cities had a character all their own. They were more spread out than German cities where many city residents lived in large apartment complexes. The English built out instead of up. English city dwellers were more spread out, commonly living in two-story housing estates. Thus population density was not as high as Germany and many other contunental countries. No one understood tht this would be a factor in Wirld War II. This played a major role in the Battle of Britain. London was so large and spread out, the Luftwaffe had to deploy enormous resources, but were only able to destroy a small part of the enormous city because it encompased such a large area, most of which had no military significance. After the War a large number of high rise apartnments were built as public housing. They proved to be generally unlivable and an urban dissaster.

Created: 11:34 AM 8/12/2022
Last updated: 11:34 AM 8/12/2022