The London Connection: Cultural Diffusion and the Eighteenth-Century Provincial Town
Abstract
The London Connection: Cultural Diffusion and the Eighteenth-Century Provincial Town PETER BORSA Y One of the most remarkable features of early modern England was the dynamic expansion of London. From a smallish city of perhaps 50,000 to 60,000 inhabitants in the 1520s, it grew to a sprawling metropolis of around half a million people by 1700; from accommodating roughly two per cent of the population of England and Wales at the earlier date, to around ten per cent by the latter. During the eighteenth century it further doubled its size to just under a million people, helping it to maintain - though not to increase - its share of the national population.1 The fall out from this urban explosion was profound. Historians such as Fisher, Wrigley, and Chartres have graphically demonstrated its impact on the demography, communications system, and economy of the whole country. 2 This paper examines the cultural repercussions of London's expansion. It concentrates on provincial towns and their provision of fashionable products, especially architec- ture, in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The first part explores the case for London being the dominant source of taste and ideas in the urban system; the second part outlines