Walk One
River Thames - The Gateway to the World
Route: Greenwich to Tower Hill
Distance: 4-5 miles (flat terrain)
From Roman times – London Bridge, and Viking times - the Strand, to mediaeval London -Greenwich, Deptford, to the time of developing Empire -the evolution of the Docks, the environment of the river is one of regular and frequent change. Commercialisation and globalisation – Canary Wharf, replaces industry, residential housing fills old warehouses in Wapping and tourism provides a new source of income at St Katherine’s Docks. ​
This is a walk between the Observatory atop the river terrace that is Blackheath and London Bridge, one which visits the palace at Greenwich, goes under the river to the north bank and via the Millwall dock and Canary wharf before it rejoins the river at Limehouse. The sad site of Tobacco dock represents a development ‘failure’ – not every ‘good idea’ works well, like the hydrological ‘power plant at the Prospect of Whitby. Are the St Katherine’s Dock developments a success then? Tower Hill and Old Billingsgate are visited en route to our terminus.
Walk Two
Some Nooks and Crannies in the City
Route: Holborn to Tower Hill
Distance: 3-4miles (mostly downhill and flat terrain)
Whilst constant change is the norm in a dynamic place like the City of London there remains within it one or two places which seem to have been forgotten about and some, although modified, that retain enough of their originality to give an insight into their original purpose.​ A Danish immigrant community’s legacy forms the start of this walk and after Fleet Street and the Ludgate comes to the notorious Newgate, the eastern end of a long ride to the public gallows at Tyburn.
The role of religious foundations in the City is discussed before a very moving look at ‘sacrifice’. City governance is examined and (historical) coffee houses and markets visited before a descent into the stamping ground of Samuel Pepys, finishing with a reference to a SVS alumnus who also made the ultimate sacrifice.
Walk Three
Royal London
Route: A circular walk from St James’ Park via Green and Hyde Parks and Kensington Palace Gardens
Distance: 5 miles (flat terrain)
Trafalgar Square, once the mews of the palace of Whitehall, today houses many memorials to those who have served royalty and the country well. After a discussion of the Tudors and the Stuarts, the Hanoverians, seemingly permanently at war with each other, take centre stage as the Mall leads us from Carlton House, Clarence House St James’ Palace to Buckingham Palace. During this traverse the impact of the gradual release of the private parks into public use is discussed. Is Green Park a melancholy place? And is this perhaps something to do with it once housing a leper colony?
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At Hyde Park corner we learn that the Grand old Duke of York was not the silly billy the singalong nursery rhyme suggests. “The place where soldiers are shot” is easy to find but more difficult to explain. The royal family kept moving westwards and Kensington Palace forms the end of our walk, but not before we have looked at the tribute to one unfortunate princess and the acclaimed sculpture made by another. No consort has done as much to support the monarch than Albert, so it is fitting that he be given full recognition of his efforts as we return to Hyde Park corner - who was Hyde anyway.
Walk Four
The London of William Lambe
Route: Coram Fields to The Golden Hind on the South Bank
Distance: 3-4 miles (mostly downhill terrain)
He dammed a stream and built a conduit, linking an area that became itself associated with efforts to make the plight of children so much better, with the river bank near the Strand. He built a school in Kent and perhaps he got the inspiration for that from another landmark on our walk. He was charitable towards women as a memorial in Guildford Place can testify and the Saffron Hill he knew might have some connection with that, but he died before the infamous ‘doings’ in Bleeding Heart Yard.
He would have had many dealings with the lawyers of Grays Inn. He might have avoided Smithfield, its Bartholomew Fair and riotous behaviour, but he would be a frequent visitor to Cloth Fair and to his properties adjacent to London Wall and to his radical clergymen friends at St. Giles, Cripplegate. St Paul’s cross was a favourite place of his but in later life how frequently did he cross the river into Southwark to revisit that place ‘beyond the pale’ where his fortune was made?
Walk Five
In The Shadow of the Wall
Route: A circular walk from London Bridge Station following the route of the Roman wall of London
Distance: 3-4 miles (flat terrain)
The outline of London’s Roman wall simply defines the route. However, before we reach that boundary, we look at the hospital of Guy, the bookseller (how, on earth did he become so rich?), and the importance to London, an avowedly north bank city, of its southern approach to its only bridge (until 1748). Markets form the early topic of conversation but move on to the massive incomes that could be made taxing imports and exports.
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London has always been cosmopolitan. A Norman Frenchman built the Tower, the romans built the walls, Dutchmen were royally rewarded for their help during a fire in 1666. City finances owed much to a religious community that was banned for hundreds of years before being allowed to return and immigrants from Europe have brought their skills to enhance the City’s wealth-making capacity. The management of the City is discussed leading to a visit to the Guildhall, where rather than management we look at the Roman amphitheatre preserved underground. We consider how damage gives opportunity for redevelopment, e.g. fires and bombs, and how this opportunity may have been squandered. We finish on a feel-good message of service to the community in the actions of a first-rate administrator, a religious community and finally a charitable organisation wanting to record the bravery of common people who perished whilst trying to save the lives of others.
Walk Six
'Posh' Monopoly London
Route: Charing Cross Station to Oxford Circus
Distance: 3-4miles (mostly flat terrain)
This walk concerns itself with the top right-hand diagonal of the Monopoly board, the red, yellow, green, and purple properties. The route of the red properties from the City to Whitehall has been of major importance since roman times, though Trafalgar Square is a recent addition. The yellow suite are more than hotels and houses and have varied histories; a major thoroughfare once where landed gentry lived who, in their turn gave up their land to shopping outlets, a speculative property development that failed, and a twentieth century retail innovation serving the clients of the entertainment industry. Oxford Street has a very macabre history and Regent Street might be described as a Georgian/Victorian slum clearance programme.
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Bermondsey-boy made good, Thomas Bond, did not live long enough to see the conclusion of his demolition of Clarendon house, but long enough to be embroiled in the ‘Oyster wars.’ Richard Grosvenor benefitted from the adversities of his immediate forebears and Park Lane, or Tyburn Lane as it was called originally spent much of its early life ‘about face.’
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In between an explanation of these locations the adventures of the 4th Earl of Bedford and the 1st earl of St Albans are discussed and evaluated, as is the way in which George Cavendish resolved the ‘Oyster Wars’. A Tudor collar and a Tudor sporting event each play a part in bringing to light some of the deeper mysteries of this part of the capital.
