Great Cities Collection: Victorian London (Black Box). The Romans built a settlement at a key crossing point of the River Thames in AD 47-50, which was abandoned during the Iceni rebellion a decade later. After the Romans defeated Boudica, a military installation was put there, and the city rebuilt. Londinium, or Roman London, evolved into the capital of Roman Britain. London served as a major part until the Romans left Britannica for good in the fifth century. The city lay in ruins for centuries, until its re-founding by King Alfred the Great in 886. It grew into perhaps the most important city in the world during the long 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria, whose portrait adorns this British penny.