With a number of obstacles to navigate, scouring the city for a parking space certainly isn’t an activity for the faint-hearted. But an obstruction that you don’t necessarily expect to come by when attempting to park your car is a nearly 2,000 year-old chunk of Roman wall. In this particular London car park, however, that’s exactly what you’ll find.
Perched behind protective glass, and permanently occupying bay 52 of the (rather aptly named) London Wall Car Park, is an 11-metre section of the ancient ‘London Wall’. It’s one of the few remaining segments of the 1800-year-old wall that used to surround the capital, protecting the city and its inhabitants from any potential invasions.
This surreptitious segment of London’s history remained hidden beneath the streets of the city until it was uncovered in 1957 during roadworks and the development of the car park itself. At the time of its discovery, the chunk of Roman wall measured at a rather hefty 64-metres. But in the name of additional parking spaces, the vast majority of it was demolished; leaving behind just 11-metres of the ancient structure to tell the tale.
The fact that this section of the historic wall is hidden underground demonstrates how the natural street level has risen over the years. Since the walls construction (around 1800 years ago), the street level has elevated around five-metres in certain places, leaving the remnants of the wall nestled beneath the busy roads and bustling pavements above.
If you fancy feasting your eyes on this rather peculiarly-placed piece of London history, you don’t even need a vehicle to visit it. The underground parking facility is accessible to those on foot, meaning that any non-driving Londoners wanting to get up close and personal with a wall that dates back almost two millenniums have the chance to do exactly that.
