Category: Guided Walks

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Bishopsgate Ward Walk. 2nd Feb 20 10.45.

Bishopsgate Ward Walk. 2nd Feb 20 10.45.
Liverpool St Tube. Bishopsgate Exit. Top of Escalator

The next in a series of occasional Ward Walks. This is a chance to explore a small area of the historic City of London in detail. The area in question Bishopsgate is split into 2 parts – Within Bishopsgate and Without the gate. This means that the Ward covers two of the most fascinating areas of the City of London – from the Gate to Leadenhall Street, and outside the Gate to the border of Shoreditch. The extramural section was an area of monastic settlements, burial grounds, grand housing, and on the periphery slums. Inside the Gate were prime business locations, important markets and Parish Churches. Along the way we will look at the archaeological discoveries and the historic and literary associations of the area, including local resident William Shakespeare.

This is a London Walks 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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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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Thomas More & Thomas Cromwell’s London – The City of Wolf Hall

Thomas More & Thomas Cromwell’s London – The City of Wolf Hall
14:30 Sat 25th Jan 2020 Liverpool Street Station

The Walk creates a portrait of London in the early 16th Century, with particular emphasis on the life and times of Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More.

More and Cromwell had much in common, despite being on opposite sides of the religious devide, both lawyers, commoners, important figures in the City of London. They both rose to be Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII, and ended their career on the block at Tower Hill.

The walk visits the sites of Thomas More’s birthplace, and the Town houses of More and Cromwell before exploring the Tudor City of London, including the Guildhall and St. Pauls where Martin Luther’s books where burnt.

We end with an exploration of the Reformation at its London epicentre in Smithfield – site of the stake where Heretics were burnt alive, surrounded by Catholic Monasteries and playing a significant part in the life and downhall of Thomas More.

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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Shakespeare’s London Locations – The places in the plays Guided Walk Dec 21 2019

Shakespeare’s London Locations – The places in the plays

2.30pm 21 Dec 19 Shoreditch High Street Overground Station

Most Shakespeare walks in London are biographical, this one is different. It is about the places in his plays. Exploring the places, the plays and the people the walk will hope to bring Shakespeare’s London to life amd give some insight to Shakespeare. And OK, there will be, perchance, something about his life in London, but we hope to keep this as one of those walks ‘which does what is says on the tin’. i.e. keeps focussed on the ‘places in the plays’. Sadly, in the 2 hours we have we won’t be able to get to Verona, or Venice but we might be able to shed some light on those locations by exploring their London equivalents.

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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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Hampstead Village Pub Walk 23 Nov 2019

Hampstead Village Pub Walk

Hampstead Underground station, London 7.15 Saturday 23 Nov 2019

Hampstead is one of the best place to be on a Saturday night in London. It’s the roof of London. We’ll look down and see the lights of the greatest city on earth spread out before us. On a clear night we’ll even nip into the Old Observatory for a look through the telescope at the starry heavens above. What else? Well, it’s London at its most picturesque – a perfectly preserved Georgian village. There’s a superb cast of characters – ranging from the highwayman Dick Turpin to the painter Constable to the poet Keats; The Du Mauriers, Freud and D.H. Lawrence to Liam Gallagher and Boy George; from Elizabeth Taylor and Rex Harrison to Peter O’Toole and Jeremy Irons. There’s London’s most villagey atmosphere, great cafes, magnificent Hampstead Heath, and well-hidden, cosy old pubs you’ll fall in love with. This is a great walk – they just don’t come any better. N.B. the walk ends just round the corner from Hampstead Tube.

 

This is a London Walks Guided 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