Talking about my walking plans for 2025 while walking over Wanstead Flats. So many great walks in the year ahead!
A walk through London’s Little Italy up to the fields of Islington
This walk is based on the first part of Chapter 8 of my book This Other London.
Starting at Chancery Lane Station on High Holborn, we go into the curious anomaly of Ely Place, owned by the Bishops of Ely and once technically part of Cambridgeshire. We visit the Old Mitre Pub where Sir Christopher Hatton danced with Elizabeth I. We go along Hatton Garden, the centre of Britain’s diamond trade, and into Leather Lane Market. The walk through Little Italy takes us in search of Fagin’s den in Saffron Hill, a place visited by Charles Dickens who drank in the One Tun pub. We walk along Hatton Wall into Portpool Lane where the Kings Ditch ran and through the Bourne Estate.
The Heart of London’s Little Italy
The heart of London’s Little Italy lay in the streets falling away from Clerkenwell Road into the Fleet Valley – Back Hill, Eyre Street Hill, Herbal Hill. From here we go up Crawford Passage to Coldbath Square and Mount Pleasant. We stroll through Spa Fields – now Exmouth Market and Wilmington Square where Merlin was said to have a cave in the heart of the hill. The Merlin’s Cave Tavern stood in Merlin House on the site of Charles Rowan House. Next we walk through Lloyd Square to Percy Circus where Lenin stayed in 1905. Back on Amwell Street we recount E.O Gordon’s powerful mythology of London at the head of the Pen Ton Mound, now the New River Head Upper Reservoir on Claremont Square. Passing down Penton Street our walk ends at White Conduit House, once a celebrated pleasure garden and the true home of cricket.
Video filmed January 2021
Starting in Old Broad Street we go looking for the Dutch Church in Austin Friars where Vincent Van Gogh Worshipped. We then go along Throgmorton Street and admire the exterior of Drapers’ Hall and Throgmorton Avenue. We emerge behind the Bank of England and get drawn into Tokenhouse Yard, Telegraph Street, Whalebone Yard and King’s Arms Yard. Then we go inside the magnificent St. Margaret Lothbury with its fascinating relics from other City of London Churches and its association with five City Livery Companies.
Filmed July 2024
A walk through the City of London visiting some of the city’s most historic churches. Including All Hallow on the Wall, St Botolph Aldgate, St Katherine Cree, All Hallows Staining, St Olave’s Hart Street, and All Hallows by the Tower. We explore the rich history and beguiling architecture of these sacred spaces. Along the way, we’ll learn some of the fascinating stories behind these churches and discover hidden gems. Continuing the series of walking tours around the churches and ancient historic sites of the City of London we start at Bishopsgate outside Liverpool Street Station. Our route takes to All Hallows on London Wall and then we walk down Houndsditch which was once a deep ditch outside the Roman Wall. This leads us to St Botolph Aldgate where the City meets the East End. From here we walk along Aldgate High Street to Leadenhall Street and the church of St Katherine Cree with its stone Tudor tower. Crossing to Mark Lane we visit the tower of All Hallows Staining and then on to St Olave Hart street where I was fortunate to catch the end of the Sunday service. The final church on our walking tour is All Hallows by the Tower with its magnificent crypt containing a section of Roman tesserae and Anglo-Saxon stone work from a previous church on the site beside the Tower of London.
Filmed December 2022
A London walk through some of the most historic locations in the City of London
We’re back to unpick more of the City of London’s stories and discover some of its treasures. This classic London history walk includes some of the City’s most important locations as well as its centres of power. We start by going in search of a plaque marking the site of Shakespeare’s lodgings in London and this leads us to the site of St Mary Aldermanbury and the garden that marks the location of this church that was destroyed in the blitz. We next visit St Alban, Wood Street, the lonely tower all that remains of the Wren Church built after the great fire on a site that has had a church since at least the 10th Century. We cross London Wall, visit the location of St Olaf Silver Street, the Roman Wall in Noble Street, and the site of St Mary Staining. Our walking tour then takes us to the magnificent Guildhall, home of the Corporation of London, and ‘an enduring symbol of London’s past and present’. In the basement of the Guildhall Gallery I visit the remains of the Roman Amphitheatre that once occupied the site and was said to have a capacity of 6000. Moving on to Lothbury we visit the Bank of England, the first privately owned Central Bank and also the Royal Exchange and the Mansion House all situated around Bank Tube Station.
Filmed August 2022
A walk linking together a series of churches and sacred sites in the City of London
This is episode five in the City of London churches walks. Churches on this walk: St. Paul’s Cathedral, St. Nicholas Cole Abbey, St. James Garlickhithe, St. Mary Aldermary, Site of St. Mildred’s, St Peter’s Churchyard, St Mary-le-Bow, St. Mary Woolnoth. We also visit the birthplace of St Thomas Becket.
Streets: Bow Lane and Watling Street, Queen Victoria Street, Cheapside, Lombard Street, Groveland Court
Pubs: Ye Olde Watling Pub, The Pavilion End, Williamson’s Tavern
Filmed June 2022
Our walking tour starts at St Andrew Holborn before we follow Shoe Lane to Farringdon Road and Ludgate Hill where we visit St Martin Ludgate. Our next church is St Andrew by-the-Wardrobe. Crossing Queen Victoria Street we find St Benet Church. Our walk ends with what I believe to be one of the most special places in the City of London – St Swithun’s Church Garden which contains the Catrin Glyndwr memorial.
Filmed March 2022
Part of my ongoing series of walks around the Churches of the City of London