title: Metroburbia: The Anatomy of Greater London
author: Paul L. Knox
description: <div>Paul L. Knox is a University Distinguished Professor and former Dean of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech. His recent books include The Atlas of Cities (Princeton UP, 2014); Palimpsests: Biographies of 50 City Districts (Birkh&#228;user, 2012); Cities and Design (Routledge, 2010); London: Architecture, Building and Social Change (Merrell, 2015)<BR> </div>
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  # Little Britain
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Washington Irving
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
      
      
      
  
  
  Prepared by:
  
  
  Anthony J. Adam
  
  
  
      
  
  
  What I write is most true...I have a whole booke of cases
  
  
  lying by me which if I should sette foorth, some grave auntients
  
  
  (within the hearing of Bow bell) would be out of charity with me.
  
  
  
  
  
  NASHE.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  IN the centre of the great city of London lies a small
  
  
  neighborhood, consisting of a cluster of narrow streets and
  
  
  courts, of very venerable and debilitated houses, which goes
  
  
  by the name of LITTLE BRITAIN. Christ Church School and
  
  
  St. Bartholomew's Hospital bound it on the west; Smithfield and
  
  
  Long Lane on the north; Aldersgate Street, like an arm of the
  
  
  sea, divides it from the eastern part of the city; whilst the
  
  
  yawning gulf of Bull-and-Mouth Street separates it from
  
  
  Butcher Lane, and the regions of Newgate. Over this little
  
  
  