History of London minor crimes. Public hangings were common in London, and were popular public events. In 1780, London was rocked by the Gordon Riots, an uprising by Protestants against Roman Catholic emancipation led by Lord George Gordon. Severe damage was caused to Catholic churches and homes, and 285 rioters were killed. In the year 1787, freed slaves from London, America, and many of Britain's colonies founded Freetown in modern-day Sierra Leone. Up until 1750, London Bridge was the only crossing over the Thames, but in that year Westminster Bridge was opened and, for the first time in history, London Bridge, in a
St Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Laxton Place St Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Laxton Place St Anne's is a Roman Catholic church in Laxton Place near Regent's Park in London. The church was constructed in 1970 but fell into disuse at the turn of the 21st century. There had been a school chapel in Little Albany Street since 1857, replaced in 1938 by a new church in Seaton Place. The redevelopment of the area in the 1960s included provision for a new church on the corner of Laxton Place and Longford Street. Cardinal Heenan laid the foundation stone on 30 May 1970 and the church opened later that