PROGRAMME OF WALKS: October-December 2009

LONDON FOOTSTEPS
Walking tours in and around the City of London
DAVID WILLIAMS
City of London guide/lecturer

70, Hadleigh Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex SS9 2LZ
Tel: 01702 710232 Mobile: 07831 857382
Email: davidwilliams@dwmedia.co.uk http://www.londonfootsteps.co.uk/

PROGRAMME OF WALKS

OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2009

The days are shorter and there’s a nip in the air but a walk through some of the historical areas of London will warm the cockles of your heart! This group of walks take us to places just beyond the City of London and into areas that not have obvious tourist appeal but are fascinating for anyone who wants to know more about the capital’s history.

If you are interested in coming along then please let me know beforehand. You can get an off-peak rail ticket and the £5 cost of the walk is payable on the day. If you have a Senior Railcard or a Bus Pass then bring that along as well.

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Saturday, 24th October, 2009:

SOLICITING IN HOLBORN
Some strange and inspiring stories are revealed in an area squeezed between the City and the West End. It is hard to imagine that Holborn was once an over-crowded, squalid area with a reputation for hard-drinking, prostitution and crime. Charles Dickens lived here for a time and was shocked by what he saw happening on his doorstep. Today, the area is closely associated with publishing and the legal profession but behind the modern office blocks are some intriguing stories.
Meet at Leigh-on-Sea Station at 9.15 am or near the ticket barrier of Holborn Underground Station (Central Line) at 11.00 am

Wednesday, 28th October, 2009:

MURDER, MEAT AND MEDICINE
The walk starts near Smithfield meat market so it may be appropriate that this was also a place of hangings, riots and bawdy entertainment. The surgeons and doctors at nearby St Bart’s Hospital, founded in the 12th century, were always busy but their skill has saved many lives over the past 900 years. There’s also a chance to visit the Hospital museum with its famous Hogarth wall murals.

Meet at Leigh-on-Sea Station at 9.15 a.m. or outside the Barbican Station (Circle and Metropolitan Line) at 11 a.m.

Saturday, 7th November 2009:

COVENT GARDEN
Covent Garden is a busy and fascinating place with a variety of shops, restaurants as well as displays from street performers and musicians. But that’s not all. It’s also about crime, violence and poverty and the theatre. Starting at Temple Station, this walk includes a visit to Somerset House, passes the home of the BBC World Service and establishes links with the Mercers Livery Company, the Bow Street Runners and many great British actors who are remembered in St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden. The walk finishes in Covent Garden, once a great flower and vegetable market, where you are free to enjoy the atmosphere.
Meet at Leigh-on-Sea Station 9.15 am or Temple Station (Circle and District Line) at 11.00 am

Friday, 13th November 2009

KING’S CROSS: RAILWAYS AND REGENERATION
One of Europe’s biggest re-development programmes is now taking shape around what was once an area better known for prostitutes and cheap hotels. Shops, apartments, a University and concert hall are the modern face of King’s Cross – but who can recall the misery of Agar Town, the slums and rookeries and the commercial importance of the Regent Canal which left a deep impression on the young novelist Thomas Hardy; all this nearly 200 years before Eurostar arrived at nearby St. Pancras Station.
Meet at Leigh-on-Sea Station at 9.15 am or at the ticket barrier of Platform 11 Liverpool Street Station at 10.45 am

Friday 27th November, 2009:

STRIPPING SOHO BARE!
A wicked and sinful part of London? Not really. This walk takes us a mile or two away from the busy financial heart of London to an area that has always had a ‘lively’ and sometimes dangerous reputation. This is where the stars of theatre-land often rubbed shoulders with pop stars and the more dubious characters of London’s underworld. Yet in the narrow streets and squares are the reminders that Soho’s history is so much more than night clubs, the film industry and smart restaurants.
Meet at Leigh-on-Sea Station at 9.15 a.m. You can also join at Tottenham Court Road station and should meet in the booking hall of the Central Line station at 11 a.m.

Tuesday, 15th December:

BLOOMSBURY SQUARES

This area on the fringe of the City attracted the rich and famous from the 17th century onwards. Fine squares and grand homes were created; actors, painters, writers, politicians and the aristocracy settled in Bloomsbury. You have the chance to walk through these spacious squares and along streets of elegant houses, starting at Holborn and finishing at Russell Square.
Meet at Leigh-on-Sea Station at 9.15 am or at the ticket barriers just inside Holborn Underground Station at 11 am.

COME ON A WALK ROUND DOCKLANDS

Anyone who has marvelled at the high-rise office buildings on the Isle of Dogs now has a chance to see them at ground-level and learn more about the DOCKLANDS development.

There's a LONDON FOOTSTEPS walk on Wednesday, 12th August 2009

We meet outside the main entrance of the Canary Wharf station at 10.45 am. Cost of the walk is £5 per person and will last about 2 hours.

If you're interested then let me know. I can be contacted at info@londonfootsteps.co.uk.

INK SPOTS: FRIDAY 31ST JULY

Are you interested in joining a walk around the Fleet Street area? It will always be known as the home of the newspaper world. INK SPOTS is a journey through journalism and a fascinating insight into a street that gave its name to a whole industry.

We meet at St. Paul's Station (outside) at 11 am and the walk lasts for two hours. Great value for £5 per person.

Give me a call if you would like to come along.

DAVID WILLIAMS

THEATRICAL FUN IN COVENT GARDEN

The atmosphere in Covent Gardens is what makes this place so popular with visitors. The street performers, the restaurants, the shops - all combine to make this an exciting experience; it's a place where people have fun; they can laugh and applaud some talented and often bizarre acts yet also step inside the peace and quiet of St. Paul's Church and be reminded of some of the greatest names in theatrical history.

The attraction of a walk to Covent Garden is that you can turn a corner or stroll down an alley and be surprised and mystified. Why are there still so many gas lights in the streets; what has Punch and Judy to do with the Piazza; why are their eight Mercer's Maidens high on on the buildings in Dryden Street; what is the significance of Drury Lane Gardens.

Join me on the next Covent Garden walk to find out some of the answers. There are clues everywhere. Turn back the clock 150 years and you get a completely different impression of the place. In those days thousands lived in conditions that encouraged crime and spread disease. The area around the market were some of the worst slums in London. Fun meant going to the tavern and getting drunk or spending time with prostitutes. If you could afford it there was entertainment at the Royal Opera House or the Theatre Royal.

Make a note of the next time the COVENT GARDEN WALK appears on the LONDON FOOTSTEPS programme and make an effort to come along. You'll be surprised and sometimes shocked to learn more about this part of London.

PROGRAMME OF WALKS: JULY-SEPTEMBER

Summer is an ideal time to explore the history of London and this programme of walks between July and September will include some new themes alongside the old favourites. The usual meeting places will be Leigh-on-Sea station, Fenchurch Street station although Some of the new themed walks will mean going to other stations to join the group.

If you are interested in coming along on any of these LONDON FOOTSTEPS walks then please let me know beforehand. You can get an off-peak rail ticket and the £5 cost of the walk is payable on the day. If you have a Senior Railcard or a Bus Pass then bring that along as well.

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Saturday, 11th July 2009
LONDON BRIDGE ANNIVERSARY FAYRE
You may like to enjoy a day out on the Bridge which will be closed to traffic all day. There will events, performers and stalls and plenty of entertainment – including sheep being driven across the Bridge by Freemen of the City of London. This is not a LONDON FOOTSTEPS walk.

Wednesday, 15th July 2009
CART-MARKING CEREMONY
This is another well-established tradition that takes place every year. The Carmen’s Livery Company organise a parade of wheeled vehicles through Guildhall Yard where the Lord Mayor performs the traditional ‘licensing’ with a branding iron! There will be a short City walk through the narrow streets and alleys around the Bank before and after the Cart-Marking Ceremony.

Meet at Leigh Station at 9.15 am or join the group at Fenchurch Street station near the ticket barriers at 10.30 am. Those who want to meet at Guildhall Yard can do so at 11 am.

Thursday, 24th July, 2009
COVENT GARDEN
One of the popular tourist areas of London holds many dark secrets. This was a an area that was created in the 17th century and was later to become one of the capital’s busiest fruit and vegetable markets. The walk follows in the footsteps of many great writers and artists and takes in Drury Lane, Long Acre and St. Martin’s Lane. It was the rich, aristocratic who flocked to the area yet close by was St. Giles, one of London’s most notorious slums.

Meet at Leigh-on-Sea Station at 9.15 am or join the group at Fenchurch Street Station by the ticket barrier at 10.30 am. The walk starts at the Temple Station and you can meet there at 11.00.

Friday, 31st July, 2009
INK SPOTS
Fleet Street was once the home of Britain’s newspaper industry – but not any more. The great names of journalism are still remembered in and around the narrow streets and alley ways so our walk traces the literary history of the area and recalls some of the Fleet Street stories stretching back 600 years. We start on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral and finish near Chancery Lane Station.

Meet at Leigh-on-Sea Station at 9.15 am or join the group at Fenchurch Street Station at 10.30 am. Those who want to meet at St. Paul’s should wait at the Queen Anne statue at the front steps of the Cathedral (11.30 am)

Wednesday, 12th August, 2009
DOCKLANDS
This riverside area has changed dramatically in the past 30 years yet behind the towering office blocks and smart shopping arcades is a fascinating story of poverty and wealth, slave trading and long hours of work in terible conditions. Life in Docklands was harsh yet it was right at the heart of Britain’s world-wide trading empire. Those who come on this walk may like to visit the Museum of Docklands afterwards.

Meet at Leigh-on-Sea Station at 9.00 am. We travel to Limehouse and then get the Docklands Light Railway. Those joining the group at Docklands can meet at Canary Wharf Station (DLR) at 10.45 am.

Wednesday, 2nd September 2009
THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON
It was on this day in 1666 that the fire started in Thomas Farryner’s bakery. Fires were not unusual in the City but this time it was to have disastrous consequences. Over 70 per cent of the buildings were reduced to smouldering ruins. The commercial life of the City was devastated and thousands were homeless. This walk traces the course of the fire from its start near the Monument until the flames finally died down four days later near the Old Bailey.

Meet at Leigh-on-Sea Station at 9.15 am or on the forecourt of Fenchurch Street Station at 10.30 am

Tuesday, 15th September, 2009
STROLLING IN SOUTHWARK
This area was once part of the City of London so its history and importance stretches back 2,000 years. Away from the busy streets around Borough Market and the riverside attractions of Bankside, Southwark has a turbulent history which touches on the worlds of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Dickens as well as having a fair share of crime and poverty.

Meet at Leigh-on-Sea Station at 9.15 am. Alternatively, you can join the group by meeting us outside W.H.Smith on the forecourt of London Bridge Station at 11.30 am.

Weekend, 19th & 20th September, 2009
OPEN HOUSE IN LONDON
This is an opportunity for you to visit some of the historic places of interest which are not normally open to the public. The City and West End attract thousands of people over the two days so it’s worth finding out what’s open and planning where you want to go and what you want to see.


IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ANY OF THESE WALKS THEN PLEASE LET ME KNOW. NUMBERS ON SOME OF THE WALKS ARE LIMITED. IF YOU WANT MORE DETAILS THEN CALL ME ON 01702 710232 OR SEND AN EMAIL TO davidwilliams@dwmedia.co.uk

HEADLESS IN HOLBORN

Perhaps one of the more gruesome stories about Holborn concerns the execution of Lord William Russell for his part in the unsuccessful plot to get rid of Charles II in 1683. Russell was thought to be one of the Rye House Plotters who were worried by the King's Catholic tendencies and wanted to see him out of the way.

Their scheming was discovered and the King took revenge. Lord Russell, son of the 1st Duke of Bedford met his end on the execution block in Lincoln's Inn Fields. But it was a messy finale. The executioner, Jack Ketch, has been described as clumsy and sadistic. It took five blows of the axe to severe Russell's head from his torso - and it wasn't the first time Ketch had botched a beheading.

He lost his job and was replaced by Paskah Rose and he didn't fare much better. He made the fatal mistake of stealing the Prosecutor's coat and for that criminal act, the executioner became the executed. Rose was hanged at Newgate.

This is just one of the anecdotal stories that the LONDON FOOTSTEPS group heard on the Holborn walking tour which started in Lincoln's Inn Fields and ended at Holborn Circus. It's just one of the walks in the Summer programme and if you want to come along then just get in touch through http://www.londonfootsteps.co.uk/

COME ON A CITY WALK

Isn't it about time you came on a LONDON FOOTSTEPS walk? The programme for April, May and June can be accessed on http://www.londonfootsteps.co.uk/ and places on these popular historical strolls round the City of London are filling up fast. At £5 per person it's a real bargain in these credit crunch times.

CARRY ON LONDON!

The bankers are suffering; a few windows have been smashed and London's reputation is looking a bit suspect at the moment but this is just another pebble on the beach of history. For nearly 2,000 years, this great city has seen triumph and tragedy, violence, bravery, tears, smiles, honour and tradition and so much more.

This is not the end of the world - it is an example of why London is one of the world's great capitals and stirs the emotions of so many. History has a way of repeating itself. Go back to 1780 and the time of the Gordon Riots; there was mayhem and murder as the Bank of England was just one of the targets of rioters who demanded change and a new order.

So don't think 2009 is a watershed in the history of London; it's another chapter. And if you don't believe me then come on LONDON FOOTSTEPS walking tour of the capital. Just go to our website http://www.londonfootsteps.co.uk/ to find the latest programme of walks and join the hundreds of history enthusiasts who know and appreciate that London is a great experience.

Walk the streets of this City with your guide David Williams and London will come alive. The present problems are just a brushmark in the canvas of history.