This project, since 1979 administered by the Institute of Historical Research and accommodated by the Museum of London between 1979 and 1988, is now one of the activities of the Centre. It is concerned with the development of the City of London up to the Great Fire of 1666. Documentary sources, extensive from the twelfth century onwards, are used to reconstruct the history and topography of houses and other properties, revealing the evolution of the physical environment in which people lived and worked, the social make-up of particular areas, and trends in the city's population and economy. The areas studied in detail are: Cheapside (parishes of All Hallows Honey Lane, St Mary le Bow, St Mary Colechurch, St Martin Pomary and St Pancras Soper Lane), Aldgate (Minories, East Side; the Abbey of St Clare 1293-1539 and the parish of Holy Trinity Minories, 1539-1670), Walbrook (parishes of St Benet Sherehog, St Mary Woochurch, St Mildred Poultry, St Stephen Walbrook) and the area where the Bank of England now stands (parishes of St Bartholomew by the Exchange, St Christoper le Stocks, and St Margaret Lothbury).

Publications

D. Keene, 'A new study of London before the Great Fire', Urban History Yearbook, 1984, 11-21; V. Harding, 'Reconstructing London before the Great Fire', London Topographical Record 25 (1985); D. Keene and V. Harding, A Survey of Documentary Sources for Property Holding in London before the Great Fire (London Record Society 22, 1985); D. Keene, Cheapside before the Great Fire (ESRC, 1985); a detailed study of the Cheapside area (published on microfiche by Chadwyck-Healey Ltd in 1987) as part 1 of the Historical Gazetteer of London before the Great Fire (ed. D. Keene and V. Harding) - an online version is available via British History Online; a printed copy (with maps and plans) and typescripts of other detailed studies of city localities concerning the suburb outside Aldgate, an area on Walbrook, and the parishes surrounding the Bank of England are available for consultation at the Centre. Derek Keene, 'Ein Haus in london: Von der Guildhall zum Stalhof' and 'Die deutsche Guildhall und ihre Umgebung' in Die Hanse: Lebenswirklichkeit und Mythos. Eine Austellung des Museums für Hamburgische Geschichte 1 (Hamburg, 1989), 46-9 and 14 9-56; Derek Keene, 'Continuity and development in urban trades: problems of concepts and the evidence', in Corfield and Keene (ed.), Work in Towns, 850-1850 (London 1990), 1-16; Derek Keene, 'New discoveries at the Hanseatic Steelyard in London', Hans ische Geschichtsblätter, 107 (1989), 15-25; Derek Keene, 'The property market in English towns, A.D. 1100-1600', in J.-C. Maire Vigneur (ed.), D'une ville à l'autre: structures matérielles et organisation de l'espace dans les villes européennes (Collection de l'école française de Rome, cxxii, Rome, 1989), 201-26; Derek Keene, 'Shops and shopping in medieval London', in L.M. Grant (ed.), Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology in London (British Archaeological Association, 1990), 29-40; Derek Keene, 'Introduction: the Mercers and their Hall before the Gre at Fire', in J. Imray (ed. A. Saunders), The Mercers' Hall (London Topographical Society publication no. 143, 1991), 1-20, 437-8; Derek Keene, 'Well Court documentary evidence', 'Ironmonger Lane documentary evidence' and 'The character and development of the Cheapside area: an overview', in J. Schofield et al, 'Medieval buildings and property development in the area of Cheapside', Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, 41 (1993 for 1990), 89-113, 152, 178-94; Derek Keene, 'The design and setting of St. Paul's: a continuing debate', London Journal, 16 no. 2 (1991), 99-100; Derek Keene, 'Tanners' widows, 1300-1350' in C.M. Barron and A.M. Sutton (eds.), Medieval London Widows, 1300-1500 (Hambledon Press, 1994), 1-28; Derek Keene, 'London circa 600-1300: the growth of a capital', Franco-British Studies, No. 17 (Spring 1994), 23-31; Derek Keene, 'London im Jahre 1245: eine Metropole, noch keine Haupstadt?', in W. Hartmann (Hrsg.), Europas Städte zwischen Zwang und Freiheit: Die europäische Stadt um die Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts (Regensburg, Universitätsverlag, 1995), 141-54; Derek Keene, 'Small towns and the metropolis: the experience of medieval England', in J.-M. Duvosquel and E. Thoen (eds), Peasants and Townsmen in medieval Europe: Studia in Honorem Adriaan Verhulst (Gent, Snoek-Ducaju, 1995); Derek Keene, 'London in the Early Middle Ages, 600-1300', London Journal, 20 no.2 (1995), 9-21; Derek Keene, 'Landlords, the property market and urban development in medieval England', in F. Eliassen and G.A. Ersland (eds.), Power, Profit and Urban Land: Landownership in Medieval and Early Modern Northern European Towns (Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1996), 93-119; Derek Keene, 'Metalworking in medieval London: an historical survey', The Journal of the Historical Metallurgy Society 30.2 (1996), 95-102; Derek Keene, 'Guilds in English towns, A.D. 1000-1500', in B.H. Ranson(ed.), Guild-hall and Government: an Exploration of Power, Control and Resistance in Britain and China vol II, Power, Resistance and Authorities: Aspects of Guild Organisation in England (Hong Kong, David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies, Occasiona l Paper, 1997), 28-45; Derek Keene, 'Reconstructing medieval London', Comparative Urban History Review, 16.2 (Tokyo, 1997), 12-15; Derek Keene, 'Hors d'oeuvres: archaeology and the history of English towns', Journal of Urban History, XXIV (1998), 743-754; Derek Keene, 'Ein Haus in London: Von der Guildhall zum Stalhof' and 'Die deutsche Guildhall und ihre Umgebung', in J. Bracker, V. Henn and R. Postel (eds.), Die Hanse: Lebenswirklichkeit und Mythos (Lübeck, 1998), 57-62, 201-10; Derek Keene, 'London in the early Middle Ages, 600-1300', in P.L. Garside (ed.), Capital Histories: a bibliographical study of London (Aldershot, 1998), 13-26; Derek Keene, 'Wardrobes in the City: houses of consumption, finance and power' in M. Prestwich, R. Britnell and R. Frame (eds.), Thirteenth-Century England VII (Blydell, 1999), 61-79; Derek Keene, 'Fire in London: destruction and reconstruction, A.D. 982-1676', in M. Körner (ed.), Destruction and Reconstruction of Towns: Destruction by Earthquakes, Fire and Water (Bern, Stuttgart and Vienna, 1999), 187-211; Derek Keene, 'Launch of "The Dublin City Franchise Roll": Address', in M. Clark, Y. Desmond and N.P. Hardiman (eds.), Sir John T. Gilbert, 1828-1898: Historian, Archivist and Librarian (Dublin, 1999), 125-8; Derek Keene, 'London: metropolis and capital, A.D. 600-1530', in A. Sohn and H. Weber (eds.), Haupstaedte und Global Cities im Kontext der Globalisierung an der Schwelle zum 21. Jahrhundert (Bochum, 2000), 27-56; Derek Keene, 'Historical approaches to European metropolises: archives and comparative history', in Atti del Summit DACE (Modello di Descrizione degli Archivi storici delle Capitale Europee)(Bergamo, 2000), 51-9. For the online edition of the Cheapside property histories, see Historical Gazetteer of London before the Great Fire: Cheapside on the British History Online website.

Reports

Report on Walbrook Project for 1984 (pdf), Report on the Aldgate Project for 1984 (pdf) pt 1 and pt 2,  Interim report on the Bank of England area study (1988; pdf) pt 1, pt 2 and pt 3, CMH Annual Reports (Bank of England area) 1991-2, 1992-3; Final report to the ESRC on the Aldgate project (pdf); for later property histories for Cheapside, see the People in Place project

Project details

Director: Derek J. Keene, M.A., D.Phil.
Funded by: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), by an anonymous donor, and through an appeal sponsored by the Bank of England (1979-2000).