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MYTHS, LEGENDS AND THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF LONDON

Virtual Guided Walk for London Walks

Currently, not programmed.

  • Bran's head taken to Tower Hill

This virtual walk is led by Kevin Flude, a former archaeologist at the Museum of London, who has an interest both in the archaeological evidence as well as the myths and legends of London’s origin.

A Walk for London Walks.

Archaeology in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries has revolutionised our view of the early history of London while its rich set of myths and legends have been largely forgotten. This walk is designed to set that right and give an insight into London’s legends, and how they relate to modern archaeological discoveries.

According to legend London was founded in the Bronze Age by an exiled Trojan called Brutus. He called the new City Troia Nova or New Troy, which became corrupted to Trinovantum. Around the time of Julius Caesar the name changed to Lud’s Dun and eventually to Londinium. Early archaeologists therefore looked for a prehistoric City, to add to the history they could read by classical authors of a City founded shortly after the Roman Invasion of 43 AD. When the Roman system broke down in 410 AD, historical and archaeological records become almost non-existent, until the foundation of St Pauls Cathedral in 604 AD. The two hundred year gap, sometimes called the Dark Ages, has another rich selection of legends. The walk will explore these stories and compare to the archaeology.

The route starts at Tower Hill, then down to the River at Billingsgate, along the River to London Bridge, up to the Roman Forum at the top of Cornhill, into the valley of the River Walbrook, passed the Temple of Mithras, along Cheapside to the Roman Amphitheatre, and finishing up in the shadow of St Pauls.

This is a London Walks Guided Walks. Look at their web site for a list of more of their amazing walks

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Myths, Legends and the Origins of London

Myths, Legends and the Origins of London

2.30 Sat 2 May 2020 Tower Hill Tube (meet by the Tower Hill Tram)

Please check that the walks have not been cancelled.

The Head of Bran by John Everett Millais

The walk is led by Kevin Flude, a former archaeologist at the Museum of London, and it looks at the archaeological evidence for the origins of London and reconsiders London’s myths and legends.

London has a rich set of origin myths and legends which are not as well known as they should be. This walk is designed to set that right and give an insight into London’s myths and legends.

Worth knowing for their own right do these origin myths have anything to say about the actual origins of London? This is what this walk explores. It is split into two halves – the first reveals the myths and the second finds out where the ‘truth’ of the origins of London may lie.

 

This is a London Walks Guided Walks. Look at their web site for a list of other of their amazing walks

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Southwark & Bankside Pub Tour. London Bridge Tube, 7.15 22nd Feb Tooley St Exit

Southwark & Bankside Pub Tour.

London Bridge Tube, 7.15 22nd Feb Tooley St Exit

Southwark has a unique historic and literary heritage and an authentic historic ambiance, with beautiful views of the Thames and the City of London. Plus some of London’s most famous Pubs!

Historic Southwark is chock-full of famous people, and we encounter traces of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Dickens as we explore the history of London’s most famous suburb. Its location at the south end of London Bridge made it a key strategic and commercial site. This was where the great Medieval Inns were located, and from where Chaucer’s pilgrimage set off for Canterbury. Its independence from the City made it a haven for ‘undesirable’ elements and it became the home of the Medieval Stews (Brothels), and also the home of the Shakespearean Stage. On the walk we explore the sites of the Globe, the Rose, the Swan and the Bull and Bear Baiting Pits and Shakespeare’s role in the area. By the Victorian period its nature had changed completely into an industrial centre, home of notorious slums, of debtors prisons, and of charitable hospitals. It became one of the main inspirations for Dickens London fiction whose father was imprisoned here for debt when Dickens was a young boy. It was at the White Hart that Dickens introduced Sam Weller into the flagging story of the Pickwick Sporting Club – the character who saved Dickens literary career.

This is a London Walks Guided Walk by Kevin Flude

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Tower to Rotherhithe Riverside Walk. Feb 1st 2.30

Tower to Rotherhithe Riverside Walk.
Tower Hill Tube. Feb 1 2020 2.30

This is a lovely walk along the River Thames from Tower Bridge to Rotherhithe Tube Station. We walk in the City, Southwark, Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, through areas famous for Dickens. lived in by Gulliver, painted by Turner and Whistler, and we end where the Mayflower began its journey to the New World.

We will see great views of the River and its architecture and look at the history of the River Thames from the Roman period to the 21st Century. We will be. exploring old warehouses, old palaces, former tea gardens, churches, council estate and infamous areas of slums which are now much prized housing areas.

This is a London Walks Walk by Kevin Flude

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Romans in London 2.30pm Monument Underground Sun 26th January 2020

Romans in London
2.30pm Monument Underground Sun 26th January 2020

This walk will investigate the ground breaking archaeological discoveries of Roman London. We will also try to reconstruct life in a provincial Roman Capital using archaeological and literary sources.

We begin at the site of the Roman Bridge, and then explore Roman Government as we walk towards the Roman Town Hall. We then walk to the site of the excavation called ‘the Pompeii of the North’. and the Temple of Mithras. We finish with a walk along the Roman High Street to end at the site of the Roman Amphitheatre.

This is a London Walks Walk by Kevin Flude

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Blackfriars to Fleet St. Pub Tour. Jan 25th 7.15 Blackfriars Tube

Blackfriars to Fleet St.  Pub Tour.
Jan 25th 7.15 Blackfriars Tube

We take a slice of London’s history as we explore the banks of the River Fleet. On the East Bank, the Roman Wall and Blackfriars Monastery in the shadow of St Pauls. On the West Bank, Fleet Street and Legal London. To reflect on our discoveries we stop in some of London most historic and beautiful pubs.

Our timespan will stretch from the Romans to the Present day, and we will discover Palaces, Monasteries, Roman Temples, and visit the home of Katherine of Aragon; the Street of Shame, the best modernist building in the City, and Wren’s best Spire. A feast of topography, history, architecture and literature not to mention the best pubs!

This is a London Walks guided walk given by Kevin Flude

 

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Myths, Legends & the Origins of London. Tower Hill Tube 5th Jan 2019

Myths,  Legends & the Origins of London.  

Jan 5 2019 10.45

Tower Hill Tube (meet by the Tower Hill Tram |

London like Rome has its myths of origins, and its legends of Gods, giants and super-heros. They are mostly derided by modern archaeologists. But is there any truth in them or are they just really interesting stories?

This walk, led by Kevin Flude, a former archaeologist at the Museum of London looks at the archaeological evidence of the origins of London and reconsiders London’s myths and legends.

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London’s East End – The Peasants’ Revolt to Street Art. Dec 21st 2019

London’s East End – The Peasants’ Revolt to Street Art.

Aldgate Tube High Street Exit 2.30pm Sat Dec 21st 2019

The walk sets out to explore as much of the East End as is possible in 2 hours. We start at Aldgate London’s ancient East Gate to investigate Roman and Medieval origins as well as the dramatic events of the Peasants Revolt of 1381.

The fields, Monasteries and villages of Whitechapel, Brick Lane, Spitalfields, Shoreditch and Hoxton became the home for poor people and groups of immigrants excluded from the City’s Guild system. From the 16th century it gave refuge to European protestants fleeing from French Catholic.repression. From the 17th century it welcomed Jewish refugees particularly from Russian, and in the 19th Irish, and exiles joined in.
The area was one of the main centres of industry for London until the 20th Century when the vacant workshops and the crumbling historic housing began to attract artists and bohemian incomers. The opportunities this gave created a vibrant new area and eventually must people began to appreciate the street art that covered virtually every inch of its walls.

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Smithfield Pub Tour

The Smithfield Pub Tour takes place at 7.15 pm

on Saturday, November 30.

Meet Kevin just outside the exit of BarbicanTube Stop.

One of the greatest place for London history. Just outside the Roman City Wall and used by the Romans as a cemetary. The “smooth field” became the main live stock market of London, occassional tiltyard and place of public executions. The Peasants’ Rebellion climaxed here. On 23 August 1305 William Wallace (‘Braveheart’) was hanged, drawn and quartered here. Religious martyrs were burnt here and forgers boiled in oil. There are two monasteries which give a great insight into the Reformation, with connections to Thomas More. St Bartholemews hosted Britains’s greatest fair, and provided the oldest hospital in the United Kingdom – the second oldest in Europe. There are more pre-Great Fire buildings than anywhere else in London. There are also the trace of World War 1 bombing and Zeppelin raids. There are street names that sing: Cow Cross Street, Giltspur Street, etc. There are people names that resonate: Ben Franklin, John Milton, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rahere, to name but a few.  Oh,  and did we mention this is where Holmes met Watson and where Benedict Cumberbatch fell off the roof.

 

This is a London Walks walk given by Kevin Flude

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In Search of Saxon London 2.30 30/11/2019

In Search of Saxon London
2.30 Nov 30th  Moorgate Tube Exit (West side)

The period between the end of Roman Londinium and the Norman Conquest of 1066 has long been controversial. In this walk we explore the evidence for Saxon London, from the Roman Walls to the River Thames and London Bridge.

The Romans gave the name of Saxons to barbarian pirates that plagued the North Sea region in the Late Roman Period. Historians link them with the Angles to create the germanic Anglo-Saxon period of which London was the leading town. But excavation and DNA analysis make the traditional story more difficult to sustain and although the Anglo-Saxond have a rich history how much of it can be trusted? Was there a Dark Age? When did London recover from the decline and fall of the Roman Empire? How did English become the main language sweeping aside native Celtic languages? In the streets of the City we will try to glimpse the reality behind the myths.

 

This is a walk for London Walks by Kevin Flude