The best Roman sites in London

Almost 2,000 years have passed since the Romans established Londinium on the banks of the Thames, but centuries on, you can still spot Roman sites in London among the modern city.

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If your kids are studying Ancient Rome at school – or you’re simply a little bit fascinated by what the Romans did for us – there’s plenty of chance to discover Roman London with kids.

From the best museums on Roman history to ancient walls, temples, baths and amphitheatre, and a walking route to follow, here’s where to find the best Roman sites in London.

The Roman city walls

The two-mile wall stretching around Londinium was one of the biggest construction projects carried out in Roman Britain, along with Hadrian’s Wall and the network of roads.

With a few medieval additions, the walls formed the boundary of the City of London for centuries – and even stopped the Great Fire of London spreading any further than it did.

Two of the easiest sections to spot are by the former Museum of London site on London Wall and the Tower of London, where you can also spy a statue of the emperor Trajan in front of the stone and tile wall, built in 200AD.

For one of the oldest pieces, head to St Alphage Garden, not far from Moorgate tube and the Guildhall. Part of a Roman fort, it was incorporated into the city wall. You can also see ruins of the Roman fort on Noble Street and London Wall.

London Mithraeum

One of the most impressive Roman sites in London is the London Mithraeum. Hidden for centuries until it was rediscovered in 1954 at a Second World War bomb site, the Roman temple of Mithras was founded in the 3rd century by the Walbrook, one of London’s lost rivers.

And in 2017, the reconstructed temple was reopened in its original underground site, beneath Bloomberg’s European Headquarters at 12 Walbrook.

As well as interactive displays on the men-only Roman cult, there’s information aimed at kids. It’s free to enter but prebooking tickets is advised.

Check out my mini guide to Roman London for kids

Billingsgate Roman House and Baths

Everyone knows the Romans loved their baths – most famously in Bath itself, although we’ve also seen reconstructed ones at Chester and there are others at Roman sites around the UK.

So there’s no surprise that the citizens of Londinium had their own public bathhouses, while the wealthy enjoyed private baths attached to their house – using either was as much of a social occasion as a chance to get clean.

And you can still visit the Billingsgate Roman Bathhouse at 101 Lower Thames Street, tucked away in the basement of an office block, with the remains of several of the different rooms – the cold frigidarium, the tepidarium and the hotter caldarium where iron scrapers called strigils would remove the dirt and sweat, with perfumed oils applied.

The site is normally open to the public on Saturdays between April and November (suitable for kids aged 8+ only). Or you can take a virtual tour of the baths.

The London Museum

EDIT: The museum is now temporarily closed until reopening in its new site at Smithfield in late 2026

While the London Museum (formerly the Museum of London) isn’t a specific Roman site itself, it’s easily one of the best places to discover Roman London with kids.

The museum has one of the best collections to learn about Roman Londinium, with everything from models to mosaics, information on daily life as well as jewellery and the tombstone of a Roman soldier. And that’s just for starters.

You can see a teenage skeleton, a girl who started life in north Africa but travelled to Londinium at least four years before her death, and who can trace her ancestors to the fringes of the Roman empire. There’s also a stone inscription featuring the first known use of the term Londoners – or ‘Londiniensi‘.

For more free things to do in London with kids, check out this post

Visit an amphitheatre

Life in the Roman Empire wasn’t always easy, but the Romans famously knew how to have a good time – which was why experts were puzzled not to find the remains of Londinium’s amphitheatre in this important city.

Until 1988, when Museum of London archaeologists taking part in a dig before a new Art Gallery building project, discovered it, hidden in Guildhall Yard, next to the city’s historic Guildhall.

A black line in the courtyard follows the outline of the amphitheatre underneath, so you can trace it before you explore, to get a good idea of the size.

Only a section remains (don’t expect to find the Colosseum tucked away beneath London’s streets) but the clever displays help transport you back to the time when wild animal fights and gory gladiatorial games were the best way to spend your free time.

It’s free to enter as well.

Walk along the Thames

The river has been at the heart of London since its earliest days, and I still believe that no visit to the city is complete without a walk along the Thames.

Roman artefacts have been dug up on its banks by archaeologists and mudlarks for centuries, including an oil lamp and bone hair pin within the past decade alone, as the tides and wakes of the boat traffic stir up the silt.

Towards Southwark, an amphora containing fish sauce was found, marked with the words ‘Lucius Tettius Africanus excellent fish sauce’ – empty except for a few fish bones.

It’s here too that the original London Bridge would have crossed the river. The Romans built the wooden construction in 55AD, leading from Londinium to what’s now Southwark.

A short distance from the current London Bridge, it stretched from near the church of St Magnus the Martyr to Hay’s Wharf (and today’s Hay’s Galleria) on the south bank.

See a Roman Road

If you had crossed the bridge from Roman Londinium across the Thames, you’d have found yourself at the start of roads leading to the south coast, part of Rome’s famous network.

One of the roads passed straight through the point where Southwark Cathedral stands today and as you exit the building, you can look down to see a section of road dating back to the 1st century AD.

Excavations also unearthed Roman objects in a well, including statues and part of a tombstone. Previously on display at the Cuming Museum, you can now see them online.

Spot part of a Roman wharf

If you walk down Fish Street Hill, you’re in the heart of Londinium, possibly on one of the earliest streets in Roman London.

And as well as following the path to the original London Bridge, you can even find a timber from a Roman wharf – or potentially even the Roman bridge – at the church of St Magnus the Martyr.

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The church is home to several ancient sections of previous London Bridges, including medieval stones and an 18th century archway, and inside the arch sits the timber, thought to date back to 75AD and found on Fish Street Hill.

Find the Walbrook

The Thames wasn’t the only river which Roman Londinium was dependent on – the main source of water for the original settlement was the River Walbrook.

One of London’s ‘lost rivers’ it still flows deep underneath the city, although the stream itself has long been built over. But you can still walk along its route, flowing along the path of today’s Curtain road towards Finsbury Circus down to the Thames between Southwark and Cannon Street bridges.

At Cannon Street, make a slight detour to no 111 where you’ll find the London Stone, a block of limestone which is thought to date back to Roman times, possibly used as a distance marker.

A string of legends have grown up around it, including the one saying that if the stone is removed, London will fall (although conservationists took the risk when it was moved temporarily to the London Museum a few years back and thankfully the city still seems to be standing).

The Temple of Mithras also lies along the path of the Walbrook, so you can combine both. It’s around the river’s path that the most recent discoveries have been found, including a fresco at Liverpool Street Station and an early Roman site with an astonishing 14,000 plus artefacts.

British Museum

If you want to understand Londinium’s place in the Roman Empire, head to the British Museum, which traces 1,000 years of Rome’s history, from its legendary founding to Emperor Constantine’s creation of his new capital of Constantinople, and the beginning of the fall of the empire.

There’s also a separate room on Roman Britain – take a virtual tour of this gallery here – and most excitingly for kids in London, a gladiator’s helmet found in Suffolk, as well as another brought from Pompeii.

But you can also spot everything from everyday details, such as the food eaten in Roman Britain and the sports they would have watched, such as the statue of a famous discus thrower, along with jewellery and gold.

Leadenhall Market

No Roman city was complete without its Forum – more than a marketplace, this was the heart of Roman society, with major temples and government buildings like the basilica around it too.

And Londinium’s Forum is thought to have been the largest one north of the Alps, a centre for trade that Roman historian Tacitus called “much frequented by a number of merchants and trading vessels”. The basilica alone was bigger than St Paul’s Cathedral is today.

Little remains but the site has kept its old purpose and is now the location of Leadenhall Market: you’ll have to use your imagination as you wander – there’s only the base of an arch to be seen in a basement of a hairdresser’s at the corner of Gracechurch Street and Leadenhall Market, if staff are happy to show you.

WATCH THIS SPACE! A new site has also been uncovered by archaelogists digging nearby on Gracechurch Street, who have found a section of stone wall from the city’s first basilica in early 2025, dating back to around 70-80CE. There are plans to incorporate this into a basement visitor centre, although you’ll have to wait a little while until it’s open to the public.

If you’re looking for Roman London with kids who are also Harry Potter fans, the market doubled as Diagon Alley for an added excuse to visit.

Find the site of a Roman temple

While most of the Roman buildings in London are concentrated around the City of London and Southwark, if you venture a little way south-east of the centre, you can find the remains of a Roman temple in Greenwich Park.

Thought to be a Romano-Celtic temple, dating from before 100AD it would have been close to the main road of Watling Street, running to Kent and is thought to have been used until the Romans left Britain in the 5th century.

As well as tessellated floors and pavements, a 1999 dig found part of an inscription to Jupiter and the spirits of the Emperor, as well as coins.

There’s not a huge amount to see any more, but what’s left is protected behind railings on Temple Walk in the eastern side of the park.

For more things to do in Greenwich with kids, check out my top picks

Follow a Roman walking tour

Although it’s easy to create your own walking tour, or team together different Roman sites in London, you can also follow this suggested Walk Roman London route, taking you past some of the key locations.

There’s also a shortcut part-way through if you’re exploring Roman London with kids and want an easier option, or to split the walk into two sections.

As a bonus, if you venture west from Roman Londinium, you can spot the statue of Boudica in the middle of Westminster Bridge. Not itself a Roman site, but if you’re fascinated by Roman history, you can’t miss this depiction of one of their greatest enemies, the Queen of the Iceni who burned Londinium during her revolt.

For more Roman places to visit in the UK, check out my pick of the top sites across the country.

Roman London with kids: reading and activities

To help bring Roman London to life, as well as learning more about the Roman Empire, I’ve rounded up some of the best books and activities that my daughter enjoyed.

Horrible Histories are always a fun and easy way for kids to learn more about the past, and there’s both Ruthless Romans and Rotten Romans in the collection. Or So You Think You’ve Got It Bad: A Kid’s Life in Ancient Rome is another fun way to make history feel real (who fancies washing clothes in wee?), created in collaboration with the British Museum.

Check out some more of the best kids’ books about Rome here too

DK Find Out Ancient Rome is packed with facts about Roman life, while A Visitor’s Guide to Ancient Rome is also full of information on everyday life, from fashions to festivals and the most important buildings.

The Story of Rome is another good overview of the history of the Roman Empire, and to learn more about the beliefs of Ancient Rome, this book of Roman Myths has background on legends as well as gods and goddesses, all aimed at kids.

For wannabe centurions (and gladiators), check out So You Want to be a Roman Soldier, including how to care for your sandals and operate a catapult, and the more in-depth Roman Soldier’s Handbook.

There’s also this Sticker Romans book, with information on life in the Roman Empire as well as plenty of different outfits to play with. The Horrible Histories series also has a Rotten Romans sticker book.

For more unusual things to do in London with kids, check out my pick of the best

PIN FOR LATER: THE BEST ROMAN SITES IN LONDON

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Museum of London images copyright MummyTravels, all others courtesy Depositphotos

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