Lombard Street, once the centre of banking in Britain.

When Edward I expelled England’s Jews in 1290 their banking and money lending services were replaced by the Pope’s bankers, the Lombards, from Lombardy, centering their trade in what is now Lombard Street.

The Lombards were originally a Germanic/Nordic tribe that invaded the Italian Peninsula in the 9th Century. They were followers of the  Norse god Odin, the bearded one. The name Lombard being a corruption of the Italian- lungo barbe – or the Latin longe barbam  – long beards

Lombard Street was the centre of British banking until Canary Wharf opened up in Docklands in the 1980s.