15 pictures of London before it became the sprawling city it is today

Twenty-first century Londoners know London as a bustling metropolis where the tube comes every minute and an Uber is a click away.

However look above the traffic jams and you see a glimmer of the London that came before all this and you might remember that this is a city steeped in history.

Take a look at the pictures below to see how London has transformed over the years:

This is what London looked like in 1616.

It's a South-West prospect of London from Somerset House to the Tower.

That big tall building in the background is St Paul's Cathedral.

Here's London Bridge before the Great Fire in 1630.

Chelsea Bridge look distinctly un-Made-in-Chelsea-esque in A Prospect of Chelsea Bridge Water Works in London, from the south side of the River Thames, from around 1760.

Here are some workmen building the Metropolitan line outside Kings Cross Station in 1865.

Here is a Victorian 'fancy wears' stall.

Original Artwork: From 'Street Life In London by John Thomson and Adolphe Smith - published in 1877.

This is what Paddington Railway Station would have looked like in 1855. Painting by William Powell Frith

A watercolour by J Varley, (1778 - 1843), after a print of 1787 of London Bridge, showing the houses built on the bridge.

This is what going to your local swimming pool would have been like in 1949.

Sun worshippers and swimmers at the Oasis outdoor swimming pool in Holborn, London.

City workers walk to work after the Blitz in the 1940s.

The construction of Wembley Stadium in North London 1923.

London Underground workers building the Piccadilly Line extension at Turnpike Lane, 1930s.

Workmen using old salmon tins and other assorted containers for road foundations in Euston Road, London 1925.

Londoners take shelter in the Underground during WWII 1940.

1906 - Horse drawn traffic circles the Gaiety Theatre at the Strand, London.

More: 11 vintage photos of London that will change how you see the city