London Guildhall

The Guildhall has been the London City Town Hall for around 800 years. The word “Guild” means money and it is here that the citizens would come to pay their taxes. A modern block of offices, behind the Guildhall, still administers the day-to-day business of the Corporation of London.

The City of London emblem

The site was originally a large Roman Amphitheatre, the largest in Britain. It was built around 70AD and could hold 6,000 spectators, who would come to watch animal hunts, executions and gladiator combats. The extent of this Amphitheatre is marked by the oval shaped dark coloured paving around the courtyard.

The current building dates from 1441 and is the only secular stone building to survive the great fire London in 1666. Inside, the Great Hall is one of the largest civic halls in England. Decorated by many liveries, banners and shields, it has been the setting of many high profile trials, including Henry Garnet, who was involved in the Gun Powder Plot.  Below the main hall is the largest medieval crypt in London. A museum in a room adjacent to the library displays the oldest and largest collection of clocks and watches, owned by the Clockmakers Company; the majority of exhibits date from the 16th to 19th century.

Legend has it that the two giants of Gog and Magog were defeated by Brutus and chained to the gates of his palace on the site of the Guildhall. Carvings of Gog and Magog are kept in the Guildhall and paraded around London during the annual Lord Mayor's Show.