About the The Blitz- London During the War Walk in London
Twice in its history, the City of London has been nearly destroyed. In 1666 the medieval city all but disappeared in the Great Fire of London. The City was rebuilt on the footprint of its predecessor and then seriously damaged during the Blitz of 1940-1941. One of the worst nights was the Sunday between Christmas and the New Year, the 29th December 1940, when the warehouses and offices were empty with people at home enjoying Christmas break.
That night the area around St Paul’s was devastated and those working on the ground dubbed it 'The Second Great Fire of London’. Generally only those buildings with firewatchers on their roofs survived.
Our walk will start at the Museum of London with its new sensational post 1666 galleries, here we will discuss the life of Londoners before and during the war. We will continue with a walk into the Barbican and then to Guildhall, telling the story of that night and the people who fought to save what they could of the City and its people.
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Twice in its history, the City of London has been nearly destroyed. In 1666 the medieval city all but disappeared in the Great Fire of London. The City was rebuilt on the footprint of its predecessor and then seriously damaged during the Blitz of 1940-1941. One of the worst nights was the Sunday between Christmas and the New Year, the 29th December 1940, when the warehouses and offices were empty with people at home enjoying Christmas break.
That night the area around St Paul’s was devastated and those working on the ground dubbed it 'The Second Great Fire of London’. Generally only those buildings with firewatchers on their roofs survived.
Our walk will start at the Museum of London with its new sensational post 1666 galleries, here we will discuss the life of Londoners before and during the war. We will continue with a walk into the Barbican and then to Guildhall, telling the story of that night and the people who fought to save what they could of the City and its people. Thanks to the vigilance of the firewatchers on the roof of St Paul's, the cathedral was saved as Churchill had demanded.
Much of the City of London was rebuilt; important buildings were restored and others removed altogether. We will see churches carefully put back together and others which were left as ruins – a memorial to that awful night. We'll pass by the original location of St. Mary Aldermanbury dismantled and shipped to Fulton, Missouri after the war.
Our walk will end at St Paul's with a visit to the beautiful cathedral. If time and stamina allow, we will climb to the very top, above the dome and marvel at all the roofs of the cathedral so carefully protected every night by its teams of volunteers. From there we have a bird's eye view of the City through which we have been walking.
