HISTORICAL LONDON SOUNDS | RADIO ACTUALITY | HISTORICAL LONDON MAPS

A collection of descriptions and references to sounds drawn mainly from primary sources such as autobiographies, diaries and statutes, as well as novels written around the times they depict.

 Sub-category 1st to
10th
11th to
15th
16th to
17th
18th Early
19th
Late
19th
Early
20th
Late
20th
 General sounds of street and town     7 1 3 12 12 6
 Open-air markets     1   2 2    
 Road traffic       1 1 2    
 Communal living and confinement     1 1   2 3  
 River traffic and related sounds     5     2 3  
 Plague, war and disaster   1 6 2   1 4  
 Sound qualities of buildings     1          
 Sounds of crowds   1       1    

Period referred to: Early 11th century

Sound category: Ambient > Plague, war and disaster

Title of work: The Saga of Olaf Haraldson

Type of publication: Saga/Epic poem

Author: Snorri Sturluson

Year of publication: 1225

Page/volume number: n/a

King Olaf destroys London Bridge c. 1014

London Bridge is broken down.
Gold is won, and bright renown.
Shields resounding,
War-horns sounding,
Hild is shouting in the din!
Arrows singing,
Mail-coats ringing –
Odin makes our Olaf win!

[Here Sturluson quotes the 11th century skald Ottar Svarte.]