Highlights of the City
A tour for people who want to explore a bit of everything that
the City of London has to offer and why it is such a unique place. This 2 hour tour starts at Cannon Street Underground
Station and ends in Cheapside between St Paul’s and Bank Underground Stations. The route will open up the history of the
City including, the Guilds and their importance in the 21st Century, the truth
behind the City’s most famous mayor, Dick Whittington, his legend and if he
really had a cat, how did a bomb site inspired a beautiful garden, where mass communication
happened in medieval times, and what else happened there, the purpose of the
strange antenna on the stock exchange and what the Romans did for us.
Crime, Death and Debauchery - A walk on the dark side of the City
A tour for people who want to explore the less pleasant side
of the City of London’s History. The
City of London is the richest City in Europe, it was also its crime and execution
capital. This 2½ hour tour starts at
Tower Hill Underground Station and ends at Old Bailey (near City Thameslink
Station, Blackfriars Main Line and Underground Station and St Paul’s
Underground Station). The route will discover
the history of the death penalty and other laws in the City including; where people
witnessed strange and unusual punishments, how crowds were amused while someone
was slowly executed, where rebellion against Charles II broke out on the
streets of the City, London’s first recorded school for thieves, how people’s
gardens were stolen and by whom and, London’s first anti-tax rebel and what
happened to him.
Spirits in the City
A tour for people who want to explore the restless spirits
and spectres as well as the weird, strange and, possibly, terrifying parts of
the City of London. This 2 hour tour
starts at Barbican Underground Station and ends at Bank Underground Station. Best done on a winter’s evening, the route will
open up the supernatural side of the City including, the City’s most haunted
square, a churchyard where ghostly women are said to fight, the need for a
watch room on a church yard, the story of a mummy discovered in a church, a
mystic stone, all rounded off with some haunted Pubs and a trio of ghostly
monks. (Please note: Ghostly appearances not guaranteed!)
Money, Money, Money - No! It's not an ABBA tribute
A tour for people who want to explore how the City of London
became the centre of world finance and why it happened here. This 2 hour tour starts at Cannon Street Main
Line / Underground Station and ends near Tower Hill Underground Station. The route will open up the history of trading
in the City and take you through the labyrinth of alleyways around Royal
Exchange, then through the insurance district including; finding out just how many Lloyd’s / Lloyds of
London are there, how an auction by candle works, what coffee did to help to
sell shares and insurance, what does the Bank of England really does, and what
happened to the man that founded it, and why a Greek flag flies over a City
street.
Great Fires of London
As a firefighter for over 30 years, this is my specialist subject!
A tour for people who want to explore the incendiary side of
the City of London; A City going to blazes for nearly 2000 years! This 2½ hour tour starts at the Royal
Exchange (Bank Underground Station) and ends in Tooley Street near London
Bridge Station (Underground and Main Line).
The route will open up the story of the Great Fire of London in 1666,
how one great fire helped stop the Great Fire, what a Salvage Corps did, where the
largest loss of life in a single accidental fire anywhere in recorded history
happened, how the Romans organised a Fire Brigade, how the phrase, “hast Christ
not died for thee thou wouldst be damned” influenced firefighting, rounded off with
a cathedral destroyed four times, changes in building design and firefighting
by the Guilds
We Built this City (Architecture 1)
A tour for people who want to explore the architectural
heritage of the City of London. Concentrating
on the east and north of the City, this 2½ hour tour starts at Tower
Hill Underground Station and ends at Guildhall (close to Bank Underground
Station and Moorgate Underground / Main Line Station). The route will open up 2000 years of
architectural history within the City and identify some hidden gems, including;
a small art-deco church like building with a surprising use, the remodelling of
the East India Company warehouses, a church with 2000 years of history in its patchwork
structure, the first building with its entrails on the outside, and the Eastern
cluster of tall buildings.
We Built this City Too (Architecture 2)
A tour for people who want to explore the architectural
heritage of the City of London. Concentrating
on the South and East of the City, this 2 hour tour starts at Cannon Street and
ends in Fleet Street ((near City Thameslink Station, Blackfriars Main Line and
Underground Station and St Paul’s Underground Station)). The route will open up 2000 years of
architectural history including; what Christopher Wren did in his parish church,
an explanation of how the dome of St Paul’s was constructed, a church known as
the Tardis, how to access the temple of Mithras and a look at what “public
gain” is, and why it is so important in the City.
Beyond the Walls - Tour of Fleet Street
A tour for people who want to explore the Street that links the
City to Westminster – the Money to the Power – the street of ink. This 2 hour tour starts at Blackfriars Station
(underground and Main Line) and ends in Fleet Street (near City Thameslink
Station). The route will discover just
how diverse this street really is including, the true story of Sweeney Todd,
how knights on a horse became Pegasus, Sir Christopher Wren’s argument with
lawyers and how he solved it, a most tragic death on 30 November 1926 –
announced in 200 newspapers worldwide, where the most lawless area in London was
and how it came about, all rounded off with an assortment of writers, bankers,
barristers and printers with a huge variety of architecture for good measure.
Power, Compassion and Money - Stories of Women in the City of London
A tour for people who want to explore the role women have played
in the City of London over 2000 years. This
2 hour tour starts at Cannon Street Station and ends at the Royal Exchange near
Bank Underground Station. The route will
open up women’s stories, often hidden, and take you on a journey through social
history including, the rights Saxon women had that Victoria women fought for, connections
between Anne Boleyn and a hat maker, the women known as witches and what they
did, our most merciful Queen, the women that came to the City to prove they
were women, rather than three men, rounded off with Suffragettes, Suffragists,
motorcycle dispatch riders, abolitionists and an influential “She” surgeon.
Tales of the Riverbank
A tour for people who want to explore the history of the
City from the aspect of its world-famous river, the Thames. The Thames is the reason we have a London and
connects the City with the rest of the world.
This 2 hour tour starts at Blackfriars Station and ends near Tower Hill
Underground Station. The route will open
up the north side of the Thames and discovers a quieter side of the City of
London, that is steeped in history including, where the modern City of London
began, how all the bridges are looked after, why there are no theatres in the
City of London, the difference between and Waterman and a Lighterman, and their
part-time job, the bridge closed due to “synchronised excitation”, the two
things Billingsgate is famous for, rounded off with a fortress, a battleship
and the smelliest part of the City.
Walking Shakespeare's London
A tour for people who want to explore the William
Shakespeare’s London. William
Shakespeare did not write anything, that we know of, when he lived in Stratford-upon-Avon.
When he came to London, he wrote plays that have stood the test of time
and continue to be performed today. As
far as we know he did not write anything when he returned to Stratford-upon-Avon. This 2 hour tour starts on Ludgate Hill outside
City Thameslink Station and ends near London Bridge Station (Underground and
Main Line). The route will discover
where Shakespeare worked and lived, the people that saved his work, the
theatres he was associated with, rounded off with three historical
entertainment sites on the South Bank and his parish church while in London.
Memories of Samuel Pepys
A tour for people who want to explore the rich and colourful
life of Londoner Samuel Pepys made famous thanks to the detailed diary he kept
from 1660 to 1669. This 2 hour tour
starts in Salisbury Place, off Fleet Street (near City Thameslink Station) and ends
in Seething Lane (near Tower Hill Underground Station). This walk starts where he was born and ends
where he lived with his wife Elizabeth.
Returning to places mentioned in the diary, Samuel’s experiences will be
relived using his actual entries to discover the love of his life, his quest
for knowledge, his love of a good execution, good food and good company all against
the backdrop of the Great Plague, The Great Fire of London and war with the
Dutch.
