We must start this period some 100 years earlier in 1660 that is just before the Great Fire of London. The population of London had increased from 80,000 in 1500 to 250,000 in 1600 and 375,000 in 1650.

During the short period when England was a republic under Oliver Cromwell London was continuously under threat from the pro-Royalists so Cromwell built a new defensive city wall which conveniently defines the limits of London at that time.
Starting on the Thames well to the west of Westminster Abbey at present day Vauxhall Bridge the wall went north east to Hyde Park Corner. Then turning north west to present day New Oxford street and further North and east along present day Pentonville and City roads. Then in a southerly circular route along Great Eastern Street, Commercial street and south to the Thames at Wapping. The south side of the river had a city wall for the first time starting in the east, south of Wapping close to the southern entrance to present day Rotherhithe Tunnel along to an east west wall running from the Old Kent Road (Old Dover Road) to the Elephant and Castle to the Imperial War Museum then South West to Vauxhall Bridge. In all eleven miles.
This wall was never attacked and was demolished in 1647 such that today almost nothing remains.

In 1665 London was hit by another massive bout of Bubonic Plague which mainly hit the poor areas outside the old Roman city walls. (Although all areas were affected to some extent)

The Great Fire of London 1666
On Sunday the 2nd September 1666 a fire started just a few yards north of London Bridge in a bakery in Pudding Lane. The spot is marked by "The Monument" to this day. The summer of 1666 was particularly hot and dry, there was a strong wind from the east (the usual wind direction in the south east of England with high pressure in the North Sea) and London dwellings were made of wood. Even worse the fire spread along the river bank to the west through the small docks crammed with pitched and oiled timbers. On the first day, an area from Billingsgate docks to Queenshithe was burnt to the ground. On the second day, 50% of the area within the old Roman walls was effected including St Paul's Cathedral. On the third day most of the area west of the Tower within the city walls was destroyed. On this day the fire also jumped the river Fleet (Ludgate Circus) and demolished everything east of Fleet Lane. (Leaving the Inner and Middle Temple intact) At this point the wind dropped.

In all some 13,000 houses were destroyed together with 87 churches and 52 company halls. (Mainly beautiful religious buildings taken from the church by Henry 8th )
This was more than three times the damage done to the City of London than during the second world War by the German Luftwaffe. Charles 2nd was the King at this time and was resident at Westminster. He put his son the Duke of York (afterwards King James 2nd ) in charge.

The rebuilding programme.
After three years work and without state finance, London was habitable again with 9000 new houses built and some of the very narrow streets widened. Replacement public buildings were financed from a new tax on coal. The rebuilding of St Paul's was not completed for 14 years when London was cleaner and safer with buildings not made from wood, which was banned, but fine brick and stone. The two architects who had submitted grand plans for relaying out London within a grid pattern (Christopher Wren and John Evelyn) obviously did not get their way. Their plans were too expensive.

100 years on 1750 (250 years ago)
At the time of Henry 8th , say 500 years ago, London was smaller than Paris, Venice and Naples. By 1750 London had outgrown all of them (population then about 750,000) even though the population of France was more than double that of England.
This population growth had been achieved without the niceties of clean water, clean food, good clean roads or any main sewage disposal system. As a result TB and Cholera were endemic and life expectancy amongst the poor was short.

This was the period illustrated by a well known artists of the day showing a mother and baby both drunk out side a pub on cheap gin. London was now becoming divided geographically into areas for the rich, the new middle classes and the poor. Those rich, who needed to move, chose the new areas of Mayfair and Marylebone that is in the area now best described as north of Piccadilly and south of Regents Park. This area is still one of the most sort after parts of London. The new middle classes chose to leave the centre of London for the new suburbs. Initially Blackheath, Twickenham and Islington then Dulwich, Putney and Richmond. It is interesting to note that other than Islington all the other new "villages" at were on the virginal rural sites in a new South London.

This demanded a massive Thames bridge building programme. We have from east to west:
Blackfriars 1769 (by the Fleet river)
Westminster 1750 (First alternative to a ferry crossing between the area of the Kings at Westminster and the church HQ at Lambeth.)
Battersea 1772
Putney 1729 (new suburbia)
Kew 1759
Richmond 1777 (new suburbia)

The poor people built new shacks in the outlying areas of:
Rotherhithe, Blackwall, Deptford, Greenwich, Poplar, Wapping, Limehouse, Seven Dials, Bethnal Green, Petticoat Lane and Southwark.
Poor people were getting poorer and some 120,000 poor Londoners took to crime to eke out a living, notably prostitution and pickpocketing.
There was no police force and no street lighting. (Gas street lighting came in in 1738.)