Part of a lecture on architectural development of London

You will all have seen from the handouts which you have in front of you that I propose to divide this course of lectures on the urban and architectural development of London into three main sections, and perhaps I could just point out right at the beginning, that there will be a good deal of overlap between them. They are intended o stand as separate, self-contained units. Indeed I would go as far as to say that anyone ho tried to deal entirely separately with the past, the present, and the course of development in the future, would be misrepresenting the way in which urban growth takes place.

Now by way of introduction, I'd like to try and give some indication of how London itself originated; of what developmental trends were built into it, as it were, from the very outset; and of how these trends affected its growth. It started, of course, not as one, but as two cities. The Romans built a bridge across the Thames at a point where the estuary was narrow enough to make this a practical proposition; and the encampment associated with this bridge grew up on the north bank of the river. The principal fort of this encampment was on the site now occupied by the Tower. Further to the west, at a point where the river was fordable, an abbey - the Abbey of Westminster - was founded, and two towns grew up side by side - one centred on the Roman camp, and the other on the Abbey.

Now in my next lecture I hope to demonstrate in detail that this state of affairs, this double focus, as we might call it, was of crucial importance for the subsequent growth of London as a city; and that it had, moreover, a decisive influence on the architecture associated with the city But for the moment all I want you to do is to keep the fact of this double centre in mind, and to consider in a fairly general way what the earlier consequences were.

 Well, the first consequence, I suppose, is that the importance of the river itself was increased. Obviously, the river was from the beginning vitally important as the link with the outside world -the route followed by almost all traffic with the Continent. But in addition to this, it was also in the first place the most important means of communication between the town, centred on the Roman fort, which subsequently grew into the city of London - the city of trade and the Merchant Guilds, and the other town focused on the Abbey - the Royal city of Westminster.

That was the first, and in many ways the most vital consequence of the double centre, as we've called it. But now, before mentioning some of the other consequences - and there were many of them, some very important and some much less so - now. I like, if I may, to spend some time on this matter of internal communication. I'd like you to consider what happened as the two towns began to expand. What do you think the main consequences of expansion were? Well, obviously, the pressure for communication increased enormously; arid the waterway itself became unable to supply to demand. And so, in addition, a road network began to develop, thus adding another physical bond between the two towns, and opening up the way for the urban proliferation which eventually cemented them together.

But it's not the linking process that I'm concerned with just now I shall go into this in greater detail later in the course - so let me concentrate on the growth inthe land communications in early London. The chief road links was, of course, along what we call now the Strand, running from the City Bar to Charing Cross, and along the line of the Strand were built some of the great houses, such as Somerset Housewhich were at one and the same time in contact with the land route and with thewater route. They had road gates at the front, and at the rear their grounds reachdown to water gates giving access to the river.

Oxford University

I've been asked to say a few words off the cuff about... er... Oxford University.

Er... the University was founded by scholars from the University of Paris who for some reason or other decided to live there. Er... in the later part of the 12^th century... er...most of these scholars... were all of these scholars, as far as I know were monks who started small educational intuitions which later developed into individual Colleges. This development was really quite rapid because by the14th century monarchs in England were already starting to sponsor academic institutions, er... and I think the first ever monarchic foundation in Oxford was m, er... early part of the 14^th century by an otherwise unremarkable English King Edward the 2nd, er... the courage warrior, ehm... the University started to grow up over a period of time as a result of the links between his various individual institutions for the institutions continued to govern themselves as they do today but they are complemented and supplemented by the University institution that is to say that although technically each college can provide through all of their needs, of the students, a much broader, er... and fuller facility provided by the existence of the University as a separate, as a separate body almost, hem... within each college; when, when a student arrives at Oxford for the first time he has already applied to, ehm... been accepted by, aaa... particular college which will nominally be his principle tutor who is the man who will be overseeing his studies for the length of time he remains at the University and who will be responsible for guiding him through his degree course also within the various colleges are all the facilities that a student is likely to need all the immediate facilities not only from the point of view dining-rooms and canteens and everything like that his lodgings; there's even a chapel in almost every college that, er... there is normally at least one, if not two or three libraries within each college. When a student first arrives his tutor will talk to him about the course that he going to be following and at the beginning of each term whowill probably suggest to him or talk over with him the program of studies for that term and possibly talk about which of the University lectures he can usefully attend; his only actual teaching within a College will one possibly two tutorials a week.

These tutorials are sessions one to one with his tutor. But apart from a heavy reading program this tutor will always certainly expect him to attend University lectures although the choice is left almost entirely up to him so that if they don't want, if one doesn't want to go to any lecture at all, one just doesn't go. One can do all one's study oneself, if you wish to do it that way. Uhm... but the program of lectures that are offered within each faculty of the University is so extensive that it is most unlikely that a serious student of any subject would not wish to go to a number of them but he will often find that lectures on subjects that he is interested in might clash with one another so it is up to him to work out his program according to his own needs. The system for getting into the University in the first place is very simple, after the normal A-level process that one has to go through for every University in the United Kingdom you take, I think, called the Oxford entrance exam; and it is on the basis primarily of that exam that it is decided whether you have a chance of entering the college; when the results of that exam you've come through you are invited up for an interview at the college that you have put at the top of your list when you were applied to the University and almost certainly one or two of the people who will be conducting the interview with you will be the people who will be responsible for your studies when you arrive or may certainly your future tutor and any other supplementary tutor that might already have been selected as necessary for you to follow your chosen course of study; ehm... I've got in a few months or within a few weeks of that interview when he has, whether one has got into the college or not.

Theee, from that point on, the exams or one's course of studies organized to great extent or directed to great extent by your tutor in the college and yourself the actual exams that you take on your University basis and the, your tutor will probably never see any of your papers, er... you might've sent them afterwards but he has nothing to do. with the marking of them, er... and it's at the end of their three or four years depending on what sort, of course, you do that you have to take your degree, er... the degrees in England generally and, I think, particularly in Oxford and Cambridge; there is a far greater emphasis than there appears to be for example, in this Institute on written exams, er.. you are expected to be able to answer fully questions on the entire three or four years of your study at the end of your course and this puts a number of students under a lot of pressure, er... some people get very worked after their revising for, for exams because it's quite difficult to summon up all the reserves and knowledge that acquired over a period of time for a two week cluster of papers, er...most of which are 3 hours each and sometimes you find yourself with a 3 hour paper in the morning and a 3 hour paper in the afternoon, er...each of which covers 3 years of study among particular area that I think covers most of the things. I want to say about the... the academic side of life there, ehm... one thing that I found the people here seem to be quite interested in is, er... the, er... prevalence of tradition and that sort of thing in University life in these older universities but I think that's probably thing that would best be left for my discussion with David at the end of, at the end of it; so I'll pass thighs over to him.