A Classical Tour Through Italy and Sicily

Travel writer, photographer and ancient history addict Ethel Davies chats to Heritage Key about her adventures in the Roman world.

The foundation of Roman Londinium in 47 AD is the starting point of the history of London as a city. But there’s lots of evidence to suggest that humans lived, farmed, fought, worshipped and died on the banks of the Thames for hundreds and even thousands of years before that.

From humble beginnings as little more than a bridge across a river, London was the city built by Romans, burnt by the Britons, then rebuilt many more times until becoming an uninhabited ruins by 500 AD.

Tucked away on an unremarkable street in central London is a chunk of oolite rock known as the London Stone. Said to date back to the founding of Roman London, the Stone is one of Britain’s most enigmatic and overlooked monuments.

In 2003, Professor Antonia Vicziany, of Australia's Monash University, pioneered a groundbreaking project to record and preserve Kashgar's little documented heritage sites.