English School, circa 1850

The Royal Exchange was founded by an Elizabethan merchant, Sir Thomas Gresham in 1565 as a centre for trade. He designed it as a four sided building with a central courtyard where merchants and traders could carry out their business. The building was then destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666 and rebuilt, before again being destroyed by fire in 1838 and the Royal Exchange we see today is the third to stand on this site and dates from 1844, its structure follows Gresham's original layout. The Exchange was imbued with its Royal title by Elizabeth I and is one of the few sites from which the accession of a new monarch is announced.