About the Hidden London Walk in London
As a complement to the ‘Portrait of London’, this walk focuses on the hidden physical remains of London’s past, rather than the more obvious sites and the space between. London does not proudly display most of its history like Rome or Venice, one needs to seek it out, and this walk will try to find some of the physical reminders of that past, now often off the beaten path.
We begin our walk at the Museum of London where a few minutes away is one of the hidden gems of London: the remains of the western gate of the Roman fort that once stood here, something not normally accessible to the public, and now incongruously within a car park. While here we will look at the remains of the Roman city wall in the area, and signs of its continued use up to the 18th century. We will then walk to the area around the church of St. Bartholomew the Great, an important part of medieval London. We will visit the church (entrance fee £3) and find ourselves surrounded by perfect 12th c. Norman architecture
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As a complement to the ‘Portrait of London’, this walk focuses on the hidden physical remains of London’s past, rather than the more obvious sites and the space between. London does not proudly display most of its history like Rome or Venice, one needs to seek it out, and this walk will try to find some of the physical reminders of that past, now often off the beaten path.
We begin our walk at the Museum of London where a few minutes away is one of the hidden gems of London: the remains of the western gate of the Roman fort that once stood here, something not normally accessible to the public, and now incongruously within a car park. While here we will look at the remains of the Roman city wall in the area, and signs of its continued use up to the 18th century. We will then walk to the area around the church of St. Bartholomew the Great, an important part of medieval London. We will visit the church (entrance fee £3) and find ourselves surrounded by perfect 12th c. Norman architecture that survived both the 1666 fire and the Blitz.
We will then walk to the western gate of the Roman and Medieval city, Newgate, an area once infamous for its prison. Here, under a Victorian pub lies the cells of the Giltspur Street Compter, an 18th c. debtor’s prison. From here we will take the short stroll to St. Etheldreda’s, another remarkable medieval survival where the crypt and chapel still survive. We may then stop for a quick drink in the famous Old Mitre pub, a 16th c. establishment a few yards away (closed at weekends), which has the remains of a cherry tree by the bar, said to have been danced around by Queen Elisabeth I. We move then to the Silver Vaults, built as a Victorian safe deposit, but now a set of underground silversmiths and shops, little known outside the silver dealing world.
Across the road lies the medieval Lincoln’s Inn, one of the four remaining ‘Inns of Court’ in London, where aspiring lawyers lived and learnt their trade. This particular inn contains many 15th – 19th c. architectural gems.
Further along Fleet Street lay large Carmelite and Dominican Friaries, now recalled in the street names Whitefriars and Blackfriars respectively. The remains of the former we will see under a modern office building and a short walk away in a 17th c. pub. This pub, the Olde Cheshire Cheese is notable for its age and its former regulars, Samuel Johnson, G. K. Chesterton and Charles Dickens to name but a few. You can have a drink or eat here, which will provide a suitably enigmatic end to the walk.
