Discover the fascinating history of King's Cross, one of the most successful regeneration project in London, with our accredited guide Elena Paolini. 200 years ago King's Cross was a rather desolate place, marked by brick kilns, rubbish heaps and slums. The arrival of the railways changed the area forever: join Elena's walk to discover the […]
This walk explores some of Camden's rich history of radical theatre over the last 100 years from the propaganda plays of the Actresses Franchise League, through pacifist plays of WW1, agitprop and "alternative" theatre of the 1970s and more. We start at Kings' Cross and finish near Holborn station
Discover the fascinating history of King's Cross, one of the most successful regeneration project in London, with our accredited guide Elena Paolini. 200 years ago King's Cross was a rather desolate place, marked by brick kilns, rubbish heaps and slums. The arrival of the railways changed the area forever: join Elena's walk to discover the […]
Charles II lifted the Puritan ban on theatre-going, and by 1700 London was sex-capital of Europe. This walk starts with the stage at a time when all actresses were assumed to be prostitutes and theatres a place for clients to find them. We pass through areas where street-walkers and bawdy houses were closely linked with […]
Perched on a North London hilltop, Hampstead has retained the charm of a country village with wisteria covered cottages, atmospheric pubs, cobbled street and a history that goes back centuries. This “urban village” attracted, and continues to attract, artists, actors, writers, musicians and glitterati of all kinds: indulge in a bit of celebrity spotting while […]
This walk reveals where many key London events took place in British campaigns against slavery and slave-trading between the mid-1700s and mid-1800s. Fugitive and former slaves, white lawyers, activists and orators along with black activists, authors and musicians come alive in a walk from Chancery Lane to Fleet Street, Lincoln’s Inn and Covent Garden, ending […]
This fascinating area, located on the West bank of the now subterranean River Fleet, is home to so much more than gold and diamonds. Once the site of medieval monasteries and noble estates, it later became the heart of the London Jewish diamond trade. The Italian community made this area their home in the 19th […]
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. Millicent led the non-violent suffragists, Elizabeth was the first woman to qualify in England as a doctor, Louisa ran a military hospital in WW1, Agnes and Rhoda established […]
High Holborn was originally a westward path up from a crossing over the River Fleet, leading through green fields and connecting the mediaeval City to Westminster. The areas to either side featured bishop’s palaces, the first church of the Knights Templar, legal inns and ancient markets. Later, smart residential enclaves developed, then coaching inns, industry, […]
This walk traces the route of the now-subterranean River Fleet, which also marks the border between today's Camden and Islington boroughs. ‘Beating the Bounds’ around the borders between parishes, land ownerships and similar is an ancient tradition, where the boundary was literally paced out and marked with stones each year. Our route also explores nearby […]
This walk begins 200 years ago in St John’s Wood, where family arrangements routinely diverged from Victorian rules of respectability. What did it mean to be a Kept Woman? Was it only disreputable or an act of shameful immorality? Some mistresses were movers and shakers, like Harriet Howard who financed the return of Louis Napoleon […]
The neighbourhood radiates brilliant industrial solutions of Victorian engineers, but who built it? This walk puts hard-living navvies at the centre of the story and tells how the area developed in the face of the railway's soot and smoke. The walk follows a beautiful stretch of the Regent's Canal, and from the top of the […]