Gresham College provides outstanding educational talks and videos for the public free of charge. There are over 2,500 videos available on our website. Your support will help us to encourage people's love of learning for many years to come.
Edward VII had an instinctive understanding of the human side of monarchy. At home he faced a constitutional crisis when the House of Lords rejected the budget in 1909. The crisis remained unresolved at Edward’s death in 1910.
With London already Europe’s biggest metropolitan consumer market and continuing to grow, and the move to ever larger container ships in the Port, what is the future for the River Thames?
The lecture will look at the industrial river Thames and consider the changing needs of shipping with the transition from sail to steam and the impact on London as a port.
How might the study of the first 1,500 years of London's port history (encapsulating profound changes ranging from location, infrastructure and technology to variations in river levels) help when making predictions for the future?
The lecture will examine the changing shape of the Thames Valley (the London end in particular), evidence of population movement and urban growth and the appearance of agricultural and industrial activity from the earliest times to the arrival of the Romans.