The flag of the City of London

The Corporation owns and is responsible for a number of locations beyond the boundaries of the City. These include various open spaces (parks, forests and commons) in and around London, including most of Epping Forest and Hampstead Heath. Within the City, the Corporation owns and runs the Smithfield Market, but it also owns Old Spitalfields Market and Billingsgate Fish Market, both of which are within the neighbouring London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Corporation also owns and helps fund the Old Bailey criminal court, despite its use as a central criminal court for England and Wales.

The City has its own independent police force, the City of London Police. The Corporation is the police authority. The rest of Greater London is policed by the Metropolitan Police Service, based at New Scotland Yard.

The City of London houses one hospital - St Bartholomew's Hospital. Founded in 1123 and fondly known as 'Barts', the hospital is situated at Smithfield, and is about to undergo a much publicised, controversial but long awaited regeneration.

The City is a major patron of the arts. It oversees the Barbican Centre and subsidises several important performing arts companies.

The Port of London's health authority is also the responsibility of the Corporation, which includes the handling of imported cargo at London Heathrow airport.^[5] The Corporation oversees the running of the Bridge House Trust, which maintains five key bridges in central London, including London Bridge and Tower Bridge. The City's flag can be seen flying over Tower Bridge.^[6].

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Education

The Maughan Library, King's College

The City of London has only one directly maintained primary school,^[7] sited at Aldgate. The school is called the Sir John Cass's Foundation Primary School ^[8] (ages 4 to 11). It is a voluntary-aided Church of England school, maintained by the Education Service of the City of London.

City of London residents may send their children to schools in neighbouring Local Education Authorities (LEAs).

For secondary schools children enrol in schools in neighbouring LEAs, such as Islington, Tower Hamlets, Westminster and Southwark. Children who have permanent residence in the City are eligible for transfer to the City of London Academy, an independent secondary school sponsored by the City of London that is located in Southwark.

The City of London controls three other independent schools. Two are located in the City, City of London School (all male) and City of London School for Girls (all female); the third, City of London Freemen's School (co-educational), is located in Ashtead, Surrey. The City of London School for Girls has its own preparatory department for entrance at age seven.

The City is also home to Guildhall School of Music and Drama and parts of three of the universities in London: The Maughan Library, which serves King's College London's Strand Campus, the Cass Business School and the business school of London Metropolitan University. A third business school in the city is a campus of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. The London School of Economics is just located outside the City, in Westminister adjacent to Temple Bar.

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Gardens

Tower 42 rises behind Finsbury Circus.

Aerial view with 30 St Mary Axe and Tower 42 in the background. Also seen are the Willis Building, Aviva Tower, 99 Bishopsgate, Liverpool Street Station and the Stock Exchange Tower. At the bottom is the Broadgate Tower, the latest skyscraper to be built in the City.

Gardens are maintained by the Corporation within the City of London. These range through formal gardens such as the one found in Finsbury Circus (it contains a bowling green and bandstand) to churchyards such as one belonging to the church of St Olave Hart Street which may be entered from Seething Lane.^[9]

Gardens etc. include

• Barber-Surgeon's Hall Garden - London Wall
• Cleary Garden - Queen Victoria Street
• Finsbury Circus - Blomfeld Street or London Wall or Moorgate
• Jubilee Garden - Houndsditch
• Portsoken Street Garden - Portsoken Street or Goodman's Yard
• Postman's Park - Aldersgate or King Edward Street
• Seething Lane Garden - Seething Lane
• St Dunstan-in-the-East - St Dunstan's Hill or Idol Lane
• St Mary Aldermanbury - Aldermanbury
• the churchyard of St Olave Hart Street - Seething Lane
• St Paul's Churchyard - St Paul's Cathedral
• West Smithfield Garden - West Smithfield
• Whittington Gardens - College Street or Upper Thames Street

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Security

The City's position as the United Kingdom's financial centre and a critical part of the country's economy, contributing about 2.5% of the UK's gross national product,^[10] has resulted in it becoming a target for political violence. The Provisional IRA exploded several bombs in the City in the early 1990s, including the 1993 Bishopsgate bombing.

The area is also spoken of as a possible target for al-Qaeda. For instance, when in May 2004 the BBC's Panorama programme examined the preparedness of Britain's emergency services for a terrorist attack on the scale of September 11, 2001 attacks, they simulated a chemical explosion on Bishopsgate in the east of the City.

See also City of London's "Ring of Steel" for measures that have been taken against these threats.

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London Fire Brigade

The City has many risks, including: St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Old Bailey, Mansion House, Smithfields Market, the Bank of England, the Guildhall, Tower 42 (formerly known as the NatWest Tower) and the Swiss Re Tower. There is just one fire station within the City, at Dowgate - with just one pumping appliance. ^[11] The City relies upon neighbouring stations, in the surrounding London boroughs, to support it at some incidents. Within the City, on average, the first fire engine is in attendance in roughly five minutes - and when required, the second will be there in little over five and a half minutes. ^[11] 1,814 incidents were attended in the City in 2006/2007 - the lowest in Greater London, amongst the thirty two London boroughs. No one has died in an event arising from a fire in the City in the last four years. ^[11]

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Tallest buildings

Tower 42

Looking up at 30 St Mary Axe

This is a list of the highest towers in the City of London

This is a list of buildings over 150 metres that are either under construction or are proposed in the City of London.

An artist's impression of the City of London skyline in 2012

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References

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External links

Official websites

• Corporation of London, the City of London government website

• City of London research publications

• Museum of London
• London Fire Brigade - City of London Profile

General city information

• CityMayors.com profile of Corporation
• London, VisitTown.com
• London Tourist - City tourist trail

• Londoogle.com - Google customised by the London community

Maps, photos, and other images

• City of London Corporation: Ward boundary maps
• MAPCO : Map And Plan Collection Online - High resolution historic maps of London c. 1560-1925
• Street map — the boundary is shown in mauve-grey, and is easiest to pick up in the river. Click the arrow on the left for the western and northern most parts of the City of London.
• COLLAGE — images from the City of London Corporation's visual database.
• Visit The City Of London at imageLinka

Discussion forum

• SkyscraperCity.com Detailed discussions on the architecture, history, business and future development of the City. Includes many photographs.

Historical sources (full-text)

• Calendar of Letter-Books of the CIty of London: the primary document of record for the City's government, 1272-1509. Eleven volumes, part of British History Online.

• [1] London Letter Book D 1314-1337 surname-indexed
• Summarised History of London

Communications infrastructure

• [2] The Cloud brings WiFi Mesh to London
• [3] London switches on Europe’s most advanced City-wide WiFi network
• [4] Square Mile gets Mesh Wifi

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Coordinates: 51.5157° N 0.0921° W