Explore the eccentric and eclectic Borough of Camden by joining a walking tour. Below you will find a list of our current tours available. Some you can book in advance, others you can just turn up on the day. Variety is the spice of life — Camden offers this to no end!
“Camden Saturday” – Are you looking for something to do on a Saturday morning? Join us for a variety of scheduled walks – from well-known topics to the quirky and unusual. There is something for everyone.
2019
LONDON POSTAL MUSEUM WALKING TOURS
London Postmen – leaving King Edward Building on delivery. A group of postmen, carrying bags over their shoulders, leave King Edward Building to begin their deliveries.
Join an accredited guide for walking tours through 350 years of London Postal History. Tours take place in the City of London, Islington and Camden and trace the major developments in Post Office history – from transport innovations like the Mail Coach, the Railway, and the Mail Rail service; to key reformers such as John Palmer, Sir Rowland Hill, and Anthony Trollope. Discover why pillar boxes are coloured red, why the post is called the ‘post’ and the mail is called the ‘mail’, and why the floors of all telephone boxes slope.
All walking tours are led by trained and accredited guides for Camden, Clerkenwell and Islington, and the City of London.
There are three tours, each running once a month / 11.00am – 13.00pm £10.00 per person, £8.00 for concessions (60+), £6.00 for The Postal Museum Members, Free for accompanied children under age 12. No need to book — simply arrive at the meeting point a few minutes before 11am and pay your guide.
Tour 1: From Pillar to Post – 24 March, 27 April, 19 May, 22 June, 21 July, 24 August, 22 September, 26 October, 24 November
An extraordinary look at the history of the mail, in conjunction with the busy financial history of the City of London.
MEETING POINT: On the steps of the Royal Exchange at Bank Junction – near to Bank Underground Station
Tour 2: From Mail to Rail — 11 May, 13 July, 14 September, 9 November
This walk looks at the major changes in the Post Office history – from transport innovations like the Mail Coach, the Railway, and the Mail Rail service; and key reformers such as John Palmer, Sir Rowland Hill, and Anthony Trollope.
MEETING POINT: Next to the Robert Stephenson statue in front of Euston Station
Tour 3: From Tudors to Telegraphy — 13 April, 8 June, 10 August, 12 October, 14 December
Take a walk through 350 years of London postal history. Meet key reformers, discover why pillar boxes are red, why the post is called the post and the mail is called the mail… and why Charles Dickens had his own post box.
MEETING POINT: By Exit 1 of Chancery Lane Underground Station, on the North side of High Holborn
FINDING FITROVIA
“Camden Saturday”
THE GARRETTS OF GOWER STREET
Doctor, decorator, prisoner, politician, militant suffragette and mathematical genius. Join Sue in Bloomsbury to explore the life and legacy of the extraordinary women of the Garrett family. A TURN-AROUND KINGS CROSS
Starting at the John Betjeman statue in St Pancras, we take a turn round the Kings Cross area, finding hidden corners and extraordinary stories about a district which has changed beyond recognition in the last 15 years and is still changing.Turn up and pay a fee of £10/£8 concessions
Sunday 24 March – 2:00pm Guided by Judy Dixey and Cathy Chivers
DOROTHY L SAYERS BLOOMSBURY
Discover some of the places and (sometimes surprising) events from DL Sayers life as an independent young woman in 1920’s London that inspired her detective novels.A BIT OF INDIA IN CAMDEN
“Camden Saturday”
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST
“Camden Saturday”
were treated as “expendable”. The movement for women’s suffrage began in the 1860s with organised campaigns for votes for women but it was not until the early 1900s that the more militant suffragette movement began. At the outbreak of war in 1914 the suffrage movement scaled down and many of those involved devoted their energies to the war effort. On this walk through some of Bloomsbury’s squares we hear about some of those women, about the first ever hospital specifically for children; a hospital founded thanks to the efforts of sisters seeking care for their grandmother and meet some the women pioneers of medicine and science.
HAMPSTEAD: FOR RICHER, FOR POORER
“Camden Saturday
DOROTHY L SAYERS BLOOMSBURY
Discover some of the places and (sometimes surprising) events from DL Sayers life as an independent young woman in 1920’s London that inspired her detective novels.A TURN-AROUND KINGS CROSS
“Camden Saturday”
Saturday 11 May: 11:00am Guided by Judy Dixey and Cathy Chivers
KENTISH TOWN A TO B (ASYLUM TO BREWERY)
“Camden Saturday”
Saturday 1 June: 11:00am Guided by Daniel Hausherr
Booking your place on a walk: *Click on the title of the walk to go to the booking link. If there is no booking link, and instructions are to “turn up & pay”, please follow instructions for that walk.
