That would be Liverpool, 200 miles north-west :-)

or a two thousand year old city, London has no antique palaces or medieval streets

It's hard to say what "antique" is in terms of a palace, but I'd argue it has at least one: the Tower of London (officially Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress) was founded in 1066 and much of what stands today was the result of building in the 13th century. This is older than anything in Paris, say, but hardly on a par with Greece ;-)

For a casual stroller London looks like a loosely linked collection of small villages

It is. Even when my dad was a kid, even suburbs as far in as Kidbrooke, Blackheath and Lewisham were essentially considered unique places, often separated by greenery, and not physically joined to the larger conurbation. A lot of gaps have been filled in the past 50 years to make it feel like more of a whole. Heading south, I don't think you even see a field until you hit Coulsdon now..