London

The City of London was a small walled city in the heart of the area most people think of as London. The villages surrounding the city gradually became regarded as part of London but were actually in the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent. CuriousFox uses traditional historic counties. This means that places you may have thought of as part of London such as Chelsea, Kingston or Woolwich are listed under their traditional counties.

As well as the individual villages and hamlets listed under their original counties, CuriousFox has two distinct sections on London. A general London page, called London Capital of England, and a section on the tiny ancient walled City of London.

If you only know your ancestors came from somewhere in London but you don't know where, use the London Capital of England page.

More about London

The County of London was created in 1889 and covered the area generally known as "Inner London". It is not one of the ancient traditional counties. It was an administrative area formed by taking territory from Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent. This the area most likely to be referred to as London and is probably where your family lived if you only know your ancestors came from somewhere in London.

Greater London was created in 1965. It included all of Middlesex, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire, and yet more of Surrey and Kent. The newer areas are generally known as "Outer London".

Somebody from "Inner London" usually accepts they are part of London. They will probably say they come from London and use it in their postal address.
Somebody from "Outer London" is far more likely to say they come from their traditional county of Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, Essex, or Berkshire.

If you know the name of a place within London, for example Chelsea, Cheam, or Woolwich, always search for the name of the place first.

If you only know that your ancestors were Londoners, use our London Capital of England page.

If you definitely know that your ancestors were connected with the tiny and ancient walled city in the middle of London, read on to find out more.

The City of London 33/119

The City of London is the very small ancient city in the heart of the area widely known as London. It has an area of just over one square mile.It was very densely populated but the population declined rapidly in the 1800s and it gradually became a banking and commercial centre. Unless you know that your ancestors were definitely connected with the ancient City of London it is very unlikely to be the area you want.

The City was divided into wards and parishes. Because the population was so dense a parish might cover only a couple of streets or just a few corners, alleys and houses. Each parish was known by the name of the church.

If you don't know the name of a parish but do know your ancestors definitely lived within the walled city, use our City of London page.

This is a list of the 33 City of London parishes with entries.
CuriousFox has pages for 119 City of London parishes so use the search box at the top of the page if the parish you want is not shown.

Can't find your parish?
CuriousFox has pages for 119 parishes in the City of London, this page only shows the parishes where users have added entries about their family history, a family business, or the history of the parish. To find a parish not shown on this page, use the search box at the top of the page.

Don't know the name of your parish?
Adding an entry to CuriousFox works much better for you when you add it the correct village or parish page but if all you know is that your family came from somewhere within the tiny and ancient walled City of London, you can add an entry to our City of London page.