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NEW SEASON OF VIRTUAL GUIDED WALKS

Reconstruction View of Roman Riverside Wall being built
Reconstruction View of Roman Riverside Wall being built

January – March 2021

To Book follow this eventbrite link

ROMAN LONDON – A LITERARY & ARCHAEOLOGICAL VIRTUAL WALK

Sunday 17th Jan 2021 6.30pm

The virtual walk looks at the amazing archaeological discoveries of Roman London, and an attempt to bring to life through archaeology and Roman literary sources what it was like to live in a provincial Roman Capital.

To book

THE REBIRTH OF SAXON LONDON ARCHAEOLOGY VIRTUAL WALK

Sunday 24th Jan 2021 6.30pm

An exploration of what happened following the Roman Period. How did a Celtic speaking Latin educated Roman City become, first deserted, then recovered to become the leading City in a germanic speaking Kingdom?

To book

CHAUCER’S MEDIEVAL LONDON VIRTUAL WALK.

Sunday 31st Jan 2021 6.30pm

A Virtual Walk around Medieval London following in the footsteps of its resident medieval poet – Geoffrey Chaucer

To book

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF LONDON BRIDGE & THE HISTORIC BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK VIRTUAL WALK

Sunday 14 Feb 2021 6.30pm

The walk explores London Bridge and Southwark which are at the heart of pre-Roman, Roman and Medieval London’s Archaeology

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THE LONDON OF THOMAS MORE AND THOMAS CROMWELL. THE CITY OF WOLF HALL VIRTUAL BOAT TRIP AND WALK

Sunday 21 Feb 2021 6.30pm

We begin on the River touring by boat the Tudor Palaces that were the backdrop to the drama of Henry’s Court. We then walk around the City to find where the two Thomases lived and died.

To book

JANE AUSTEN’S VIRTUAL LONDON WALK

Sunday 28 Feb 2021 6.30pm

Exactly what it says on the tin. With sense, sensibility, pride but no prejudice we’re on the trail of the great novelist. Jane Austen’s London.

To book

ZEPPELIN NIGHTS – A VIRTUAL WALK FOLLOWING THE 1915 BOMBING RAID THROUGH WW1 LONDON

Sunday 14 March 2021 6.30pm

8th of September 1916, the Zeppelin dropped its first bombs near Russell Square and we follow it to its last bomb at Liverpool Street. On the way we discover London in World War 1

To book

RING IN THE EQUINOX VIRTUAL WALK

Saturday 20th March 2021 7pm

On this walk we look at London at the Equinox, its calendars, folklore and events associated with the beginning of Spring

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MYTHS, LEGENDS OF LONDON VIRTUAL GUIDED WALK

Virtual Guided Walk Sunday 21 March 6.30pm

The walk will tell the story of the legendary origins of London as told by Geoffrey of Monmouth.

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SULAWESI WARTY PIG PAINTING 44,000 YEARS AGO

This is the oldest animal art found, and it takes the focus of early art from Europe to the Far East. What is remarkable about it is that it isn’t a scribble. It is clearly done by someone who knows how to make a likeness and a pleasing piece of art.

The hands created using the human hand as a stencil and by blowing paint from the mouth are a feature found all over the world.

Cave Painting of the Pig found Leang Tedongnge cave on Sulawesi.

The BBC has an excellent article about the subjects here:

Sulawesian Warty Pig Cave painting
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ARCHAEOLOGY OF LONDON WALK – A TALE OF FOUR CITIES

Every Thursday (from 7th January 2021) at 2.30pm Exit 2 Bank Underground Station

Legend says that London was founded as New Troy. Historians believed it was founded as Londinium after the Bridge was built by the legionaries of the Emperor Claudius in AD 43.   Archaeologists in the 1970s and 1980s discovered that London was refounded as Lundenwic in the 7th Century and again in the 9th Century when it was called Lundeburg.

This walk tells the epic tale of the uncovering of London’s past by Archaeologists. And provides an insight into the dramatic history of the Capital of Britannia, and how it survived revolts, fires, plagues, and reacted to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.  It became the foremost English City but with periods under Viking and Norman control.

We tell the story in the streets of the City of London, beginning in the valley of the River Walbrook by the Temple of Mithras, and visit many sites where important archaeological discoveries were made, including the Roman Forum, Amphitheatre. Bath Houses, Temples, Roman roads and the City Walls.

We explore the origins of London. The walk is given alternately by Kevin Flude & Leo Heaton

This is a walk for London Walks

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FLOWER OF CITIES ALL – THE CITY OF LONDON FROM CHAUCER TO SHAKESPEARE

Every Thursday (from Jan 7th 2021) at 6.30pm Exit 2 Bank Underground Station

A walk which explores the City of London that was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. By 1400 London was dominating the affairs of the Kingdom in spectacular fashion and had grown into a sophisticated medieval Capital, competing against the great capitals of Europe.

We will walk in the footsteps of Geffrey Chaucer, in the muddy City Streets, exploring the unhealthy conditions and poverty amidst great riches and pageantry. It was a cosmopolitan City with colonies of Italians, Germans, Dutch, and French who lived cheek by jowl with native Londoners.

By the 16th Century despite repeated visitations of plague, the huge influx of newcomers created non-stop growth in London. There was a corresponding increase in trade, in crime, in violence, and in creativity.
There were riots against foreigners, riots against May Revels, and burnings at the stake of both protestants and catholics as society struggled to cope with the impact of religious change.

With so many young people drawn into the City to work in its expanding industries, entertainment grew more sophisticated and poets could make a living penning entertainments to the masses. The London landscape changed dramatically as new renaissance inspired architecture began to replace the medieval timber framed buildings and the old medieval monasteries were pulled down.

We explore London in one of its greatest periods of change. The walk is given alternately by Kevin Flude & Leo Heaton

This is a walk for London Walks

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RING IN THE NEW YEAR VIRTUAL WALK

On this walk we look at how London has celebrated the New Year over the past 2000 years, and using our crystal ball look forward to what will befall London in 2021

Friday 1st January 2021 7pm

We look at London’s past to see where and how the Solstice might be celebrated. We also explore the different New Years we use and their associated Calendars – the Pagan year, the Christian year, the Roman year, the Jewish year, the Financial year, the Academic year and we reveal how these began. We look at folk traditions, Medieval Christmas Festivals, Boy Bishops, Distaff Sunday and Plough Monday, and other New Year London tradition and folklore.

At the end we use ancient methods to divine what is in store for us in 2021.

The walk finds interesting and historic places in the City of London to link to our stories of Past New Year’s Days. We begin, virtually, at Barbican Underground and continue to the Museum of London, the Roman Fort; Noble Street, Goldsmiths Hall, Foster Lane, St Pauls, Dr Commons, St. Nicholas Colechurch and on towards the River.

To book

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Upcoming Events: Walks: Physical and Virtual

GUIDED WALKS

ARCHAEOLOGY OF LONDON WALK – A TALE OF FOUR CITIES

Every Thursday at 2.30pm Exit 2 Bank Underground Station – Click here for details

FLOWER OF CITIES ALL – THE CITY OF LONDON FROM CHAUCER TO SHAKESPEARE

Every Thursday at 6.30pm Exit 2 Bank Underground Station Click here for details

VIRTUAL WALKS

RING IN THE NEW YEAR WALK

Friday 1st January 7pm Click here for details

Myths, Legends And The Origins Of London Virtual Walk

Sunday 3rd January 2021 6.30pm – Click here for details

All walks are with the brilliant London Walks – Click here for more details


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Myths, Legends And The Origins Of London Virtual Walk

Sunday 3rd January 2021 6.30pm

The 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.

The walk will tell the story of the legendary origins of London which record that it was founded in the Bronze Age by an exiled Trojan called Brutus. The new City was called Troia Nova or New Troy, which became corrupted to Trinovantum, and then changed to Lud’s Dun and eventually Londinium. The legends provide a host of characters in the rich mythic past of London. Kevin will tell the stories, and relate some to the archaeological evidence.

The route starts at Tower Hill, then down to the River Thames at Billingsgate, 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 other of their amazing walks.

To buy tickets click here:

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The London of Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell. The City of Wolf Hall Virtual Walk

Sunday 29th November 2020

The Walk creates a portrait of London in the early 16th Century. It has a particular emphasis on the life and times of Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More who feature in Wolf Hall, the novel by Hilary Mantel.

Listen to the Tour Podcast (6 min 55)

The Virtual Tour will start with a boat tour from Hampton Court, via Chelsea to the City, and then a Walk around the City.

More and Cromwell had much in common, both lawyers, commoners, who rose to be Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII and they both ended their career on the block at Tower Hill. But they found themselves on the other side of the gulf that suddenly opened with the religious ferment that accompanied Henry’s obsession with Anne Bolyen.

The Walk will include visits to the sites of More’s and Cromwell’s town houses and then walk through the market streets of Tudor London, to Cheapside and the Guildhall, St Pauls and outside the Walls to Smithfield where most of the religious executions took place. We visit Charter House where More took a break from the stress of public office, and whose Prior, Cromwell had hanged, drawn and quartered. We exit via the plaque pits, and finish off with a walk around the City Walls until we come to Tower Hill where both men ended their lives on the scaffold.

Saint or Sinner? What better place to ponder that question that the streets of Wolf Hall London?

To buy Tickets click here: