Showing Tag: " london" (Show all posts)

What Was London Like in 1888?

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, In : Jack the Ripper 

In 1888 the population of London was almost five million out of which I would say that over 2 million lived below the poverty line and that of those about 900,000 lived in the East End about 76,000 in Whitechapel.


Why was there so much overcrowding in areas like Whitechapel? From the 1840s farming was becoming mechanised and so farm-hands lost their jobs and came to London looking for work. From 1845 the Irish Potato Famine began from a disease that blighted the potatoes causing them to rot in...


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Who was Robert Hooke's neice?

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, November 5, 2021, In : Victorian 
Who was Robert Hooke's neice? Grace Hooke was the daughter of Grocer John Hooke and his wife Elizabeth. She was baptised on 2nd May 1660 at Newport parish church. She grew up in a large substantial property on Newport High Street. On 16th October 1668 her father John Hooke (brother of Robert Hooke) became Mayor of Newport. ​​John Hooke started to borrow money from his brother Robert during the 1670's. Robert, was not a big spender and was sensible with his own money, kept an account of ...
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When is a Hospital not a Hospital?

Posted by Susan Baker, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, July 22, 2021, In : City of London 

When it’s a school founded by a Tudor king. In the Middle Ages a hospital was not what we think of today. The word has the same origins as hospitality or hotel, coming from the Latin hospes meaning both guest/visitor and host. A medieval hospital could be almhouses for the poor, a hostel for pilgrims or a school for the poor.


The sculpture by Andrew Brown commemorates the founding of Christ’s Hospital in 1552 by King Edward VI on part of the site of Greyfriars, a Franciscan monastery in th...


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George Frederic Handel in London

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, In : Music 

Handel came over to London in 1710, initially. There was the question of the succession looming over the country, and it was pretty clear by this stage that the kings of Hanover were going to be coming in. George, who was going to become George I, was Elector of Hanover at this time and Handel already worked with him. He came over to England on a bit of a sabbatical almost for working with George I, a bit of a cultural scout here for that incoming Royal family. 

He comes in 1710 and it's not m...


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Great Fire

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, June 10, 2021, In : Great Fire of London 

The Great Fire of 1666 was devastating, destroying around four-fifths of the City of London. The main reason it was so destructive was the wind which was blowing from the south-east, and which was particularly fierce. The Dutch and English fleets vying for a fight in the Channel the night before the fire broke out had been unable to join the battle because the winds were so strong. 


The direction of the wind was important as it helped usher the flames away from the river which might in other c...


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Was The Crowd Not Amused By Queen Victoria?

Posted by Susan Baker, City of London Tour Guide on Wednesday, April 28, 2021, In : Victorian 

If you go through the Blackfriars Bridge underpass on the south bank of the Thames look out for this tiled replica of a picture which appeared in the Illustrated London News on 13 November 1869.


It was eight years since Queen Victoria’s beloved husband Prince Albert had died and since then she had been in deep mourning and had very rarely appeared in public. Her and the monarchy’s popularity had plummeted. In an effort to change this, the Prime Minister William Gladstone had persuaded her ...


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The Text on the Monument

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, March 11, 2021, In : Art 

The Monument was built between 1671-1677 to commemorate the Great Fire of London of 1666 which ended up destroying four-fifths of the city. It is a column standing on a very large pedestal, some 20 feet high, much of which is covered in dense Latin writing.

This goes unremarked today, partly because so few of us read Latin. Then as now only a minority of people would be able to read it, even if in the 17th century Latin was a more important language and in theory if you were a gentleman it was...


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Travel Podcast

Posted by Hazel Baker - London Tour Guide on Monday, February 1, 2021, In : Things to Do in London 

I don't know about you, but I am creating a looong list of things I want to do in London post lockdown. I am absolutely delighted to have been invited on Curious Pavel's Travel Podcast where we talked about the less obvious things to do in Covent Garden such as stuffing your face at Mariage Frere or exploring new food fashions at Seven Dials Market. 


Have a listen here and add your recommendations in the comments below!



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Trekking in London’s Hills

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Monday, January 4, 2021, In : Roman London 

One of the highest points near to the Thames is Cox’s Mount in Maryon Park, Charlton in South-East London. Here you can reach almost 100 feet above sea level. Yes, almost 100 feet! The views of the Thames are impressive, with the Dome and North Greenwich to the West, and beyond them Greenwich itself. The Thames Barrier is immediately to the North, and a little to the  East across the river is the Tate and Lyle factory at Silvertown. 


Go at the right time and you have the place to yourself, a...


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How Exmouth Market Got its Name

Posted by Rob Smith, Clerkenwell and Islington Tour Guide on Monday, November 16, 2020, In : London Street Names 

If youve ever had lunch in one of the excellent restaurants or the interesting street food stalls in Exmouth Market, you might wonder how the street got its name. After all, the Islington street is a lot nearer Sadler’s Wells Theatre than it is the little Devon seaside town of Exmouth. The answer involves a daring raid to rescue 3,000 people from slavery in 1816.

 

Viscount Exmouth was born as Edward Pellew in 1757 and he joined the Royal Navy at the age of 13. Due to his bravery fighting ...


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Lime Street’s Brief Moment of Catholicism

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, November 5, 2020,

Lime Street does not have much of historical interest today. It is dominated by two pieces of well-known modern architecture: the Lloyd’s Building, designed by Richard Rogers, and the Willis Building by Foster and Partners. Otherwise, it is undistinguished. In the late seventeenth century, however, this small City lane briefly became the site of religious controversy.


Here in 1686 for the first time since the reign of Queen Mary a Catholic place of worship was opened in England. The new chap...


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A Modern Monument to 2,000 Years of History

Posted by Susan Baker, City of London Tour Guide on Tuesday, July 21, 2020, In : City of London 

As you cross the Thames on the Millennium Bridge (the “wobbly bridge”) you may well not be aware that immediately below you on the north bank river path there is a fascinating record of the history of London and the UK, scientific instruments/inventions and religion in London over the last 2,000 years.

 

Leading up to the year 2000 the northern riverside, round where the bridge is now, was completely regenerated. An accessible and pleasant riverside promenade was created where previously it...


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London’s First Coffeehouse

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Monday, July 6, 2020, In : Eighteenth Century 

London’s first coffeehouse was founded in 1652 by the churchyard of St Michael’s, Cornhill. It was not quite the first coffeehouse in England, which had been founded in Oxford two years earlier, and it was not really a coffeehouse - more of a coffee shack. Business blossomed for the man behind it, Pasqua Rosee, and soon he was selling 600 dishes a day. From this start, the capital had acquired several hundred coffeehouses by the turn of the century, a development which set London apart fr...


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Coffee Houses - a hotbed for revolution

Posted by Hazel Baker - London Tour Guide on Saturday, June 6, 2020, In : Eighteenth Century 

Coffeehouses became a hub of news and inevitably a place where new ideas were formed. Boy runners were sent from coffee house to coffee house in order to relay information on major events of the day. After a while coffeehouses became members only clubs in order control the clientele and raise the status of the particular coffeehouse. This conversion of coffee houses into clubs came at the same time as coffee consumption began to decline due to import duties on coffee increased significantly....


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London's Folklore

Posted by Hazel Baker on Friday, May 29, 2020, In : Podcast 

Why is storytelling important? “It's the foundation of how we understand the world. When we're looking back on our own life, we make narratives about the people who we know and about ourselves and think about your life. You've always got the kind of grandparents who read out the same old stories again and again, and that's how you understand your own life. So our whole life and our whole thought is all structured around stories and a city like London is basically, you may say it's built br...


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The Monument to the Great Fire of London

Posted by Hazel Baker on Friday, May 15, 2020, In : Podcast 

The Great fire of London destroyed four fifths of the city. The monument on fifth street Hill is a memorial to the great fire, and those who rebuilt the city without rock and roll.


The monument is the tallest isolated stone column in the world. It took six years to build to the difficulty of getting a sufficient quantity of Portland stone or the required dimensions. This caused the King to issue a proclamation on the 4th of May, 1669 for bidding any person to transport stone from the Arla Port...


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The End of Londinium

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, May 14, 2020, In : Roman London 

Dating the precise collapse of Roman rule in London is hard. However, a lack of archaeological finds for the fifth century suggests that the Roman city was largely empty by about 450. The Anglo-Saxons developed a new port in the late seventh century, but that was upstream from the old settlement at what is now Aldwych.


It used to be thought that an imperial rescript (a set of answers to queries) of the Emperor Honorius dated to 410 was a reply to an appeal from the Britons for help, in which h...


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True London Spy Stories

Posted by Hazel Baker on Thursday, May 7, 2020, In : Podcast 

Have you ever wondered how much of the James Bond stories are true? We all know 007 is a fictional character but the inspiration for the stories has to come from somewhere.


During the Second World War, the James Bond author Ian Fleming was a Naval intelligence officer at the time involved in the Goldeneye operation. Goldeneye eh - seem familiar? Fleming oversaw two of the intelligence units, 30 Assault Unit and T- Force throughout the Goldeneye operations.


His wartime service experiences provid...


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Queenhithe: Queen Matilda's Small Port

Posted by Susan Baker, City of London Tour Guide on Monday, May 4, 2020, In : City of London 
Over the last 20 years the riverfront in central London has been transformed. In many places it used to be dominated by derelict warehouses and seedy streets – not the sort of place for a pleasant stroll. How things have changed! In particular, on both the north and south banks of the Thames between Waterloo Bridge and Tower Bridge the pleasant river paths now make the regenerated river frontage accessible in most areas.

Whilst the path on the south has much of cultural interest (galleries,...
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Connecting the World from South-East London

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Friday, April 17, 2020, In : Local History 
In the latter part of the nineteenth century the new industries of chemicals, electrical engineering and pharmaceuticals increasingly took the place that cotton and railways had occupied as the leading sectors in an earlier phase of industrialization. Increasingly too, it was the fast-growing economies of Germany and the US that blazed the path for the new technologies.

One of the new industries, electrical machinery under the influence of German know-how put down roots in Charlton in south-...

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Looking for Old London Bridge

Posted by Rob Smith, Clerkenwell and Islington Tour Guide on Friday, April 17, 2020, In : Great Fire of London 
London Bridge is Falling Down. Anyone know a song about that? London Bridge certainly has a record of having been built and replaced many times. The first Roman bridge was built around 43AD but was replaced by a more permanent structure in 55AD (there is a great model of this bridge in the Museum of London). When the Roman’s rule ended their bridge fell into disrepair and London was left bridgeless until 878 when a Saxon bridge crossed the Thames slightly downstream from the Roman one. Acc...

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The Crown Jewels at the Tower of London

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Wednesday, April 15, 2020, In : Podcast 

The Crown Jewels reside under armed guard in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. 


Over 30 million people have seen them in their present setting at the Tower. They are possibly the most visited objects in Britain, perhaps the world.


It’s such a unique working collection of royal regalia with some still being used by The Queen for important national ceremonies, such as the State Opening of Parliament. Others are only used at a monarch’s coronation. 


Since 1066, coronation ceremonies have ...


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An evening tour of Moorgate

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Monday, February 17, 2020, In : Corporate Tour 

Last week Cubitts Opticians celebrated the opening of their new City of London store with a private tour of the local area for their staff. 

Private tours in the evening add a wonderful sense of drama to the events. Part of the Roman London wall route originally taken by the northern wall is commemorated, although now only loosely followed, by the road also named London Wall. With the store having a London Wall address I would have been remiss to not have mentioned it. 

This alignment, however,...


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Rare objects paint a new picture of Bronze Age London

Posted by Hazel Baker on Monday, February 10, 2020, In : Things to Do in London 

A total of 453 bronze objects dating between c.900 and c.800 have been discovered in Havering, Greater London. They were uncovered by archaeologists from Archaeological Solutions, as part of a planned excavation.

A pair of terret rings will be on display at the Museum of Docklands’ new exhibition: Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery. 

What are terret rings?

Terret rings are believed to have been used to prevent the reins of a horse from tangling on carts. 

These are the first Bronze Age ex...


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Aaron Kosminski - Jack the Ripper Suspect

Posted by Jenny Phillips - Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Thursday, February 6, 2020, In : Jack the Ripper 
Arron Kosminski, the suspect hinted as being Jack the Ripper, by Sir Melvlle MacNaughton as being the most likely suspect. Also, the subject chosen by Author Russell Edwards, who bought the shawl in 2007 Results from a forensic examination of this stained silk shawl that investigators claim was found next to the mutilated body of Catherine Eddowes, the killer’s fourth victim, in 1888. The shawl is speckled with what is claimed to be blood and semen, the latter believed to be from the killer...
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Keep Calm and Carry on Worshipping

Posted by Susan Baker, London Tour Guide on Thursday, February 6, 2020, In : 20th century 

August this year will be the 80th anniversary of the start of the Blitz, that constant bombing in the Second World War which, second only to the Great Fire of London, changed the face of this great City.

A symbol of the Blitz spirit can be found inside a church in the City of London, only a stone’s throw from that great survivor of the bombing, St Paul’s Cathedral.  St Vedast in Foster Lane, rebuilt after the Great Fire of London, was not so fortunate.  On 30th December 1940 it wa...


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Medieval London: Holy Trinity Priory

Posted by Ian, City of London Tour Guide on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, In : Medieval 

If you peer in the window of a modern office building at the end of Leadenhall Street, where it meets Fenchurch Street, you can see what is left of Holy Trinity Priory. All that remains is an arch which once led from the choir to a side chapel. There is little to indicate the priory’s former grandeur.

Holy Trinity was one of England’s wealthiest religious houses, and after the crown it was the largest landowner in the capital. We have a papal taxatio - a valuation - from 1291 whic...


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What is the strange contraption in St Magnus the Martyr church?

Posted by Susan Baker, London Guided Walks tour Guide on Saturday, January 4, 2020, In : Great Fire of London 

As you enter the church of St Magnus the Martyr, just to the east of London Bridge, you would be forgiven for missing this strange wooden contraption to the right.  What is it?  Not a mobile pop up food stall.  It’s a very early fire engine.  How appropriate it should be in this church as a reminder of the dangers of fire, particularly in medieval London.

St Magnus was the second church to be destroyed in the Great Fire of London – the Monument being built on the site of the first...


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Leadenhall Market: the Heart of Roman London

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, London Tour Guide on Friday, January 3, 2020, In : Roman London 

Leadenhall Market stands in the very centre of Londinium, for underneath its buildings and avenues lie the remains of the forum.

The Romans began their conquest of Britannia in 43AD, and the settlement of London began sometime after. We do not know exactly when, but perhaps the most important find from a great deal of archaeological digging in the capital points to very rapid development. A timber drain found under No 1 Poultry dates to 47AD, indicating that a road was constructed by ...


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Hidden Roman London

Posted by Susan Baker on Tuesday, December 10, 2019, In : Hidden 

When I wander round the City of London ( “the City” or “the Square Mile”) it is always a delight to find remains from our past amongst the hustle and bustle of the modern business centre.  Many City workers rush around without seeing their history all around them – I know I was guilty of this when I worked in an office in the City.

However, some things are rather more difficult to spot than others.  This remnant of the ancient (originally Roman) city wall is an example.  I h...


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Things to do in London (for Londoners)

Posted by Hazel Baker on Thursday, May 2, 2019, In : Things to Do in London 

We are so lucky to live in such a vibrant world city. Sometimes though, it's hard to find events off the tourist trail and experience the real London.

I am excited to announce the creation of a new Facebook Group 'Things to do in London (for Londoners). This Facebook group is something I have been wanted to do for a while. It's designed as a place to find and share London events which Londoners would enjoy.

Hazel
London Guided Walks / Things to Do in London (for Londoners)

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Beasts of London: a Review

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, In : Events 
Rats, horses, a dormouse, pigeons and geese, the Museum of London is turned into a menagerie of beastly wonder.

In partnership with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Museum of London's latest exhibition 'Beasts of London' is a journey through London’s history, told through its animals who have lived in London and those who still call it home.

It's described as an experience rather than an exhibition even though there are a handful of artefacts on display including an impressive prese...
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Beasts of London, Museum of London

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, In : Events 
When: 5 April 2019 – 5 January 2020
Where: Museum of London
Suitable for: 7 years+
Price: Variable. Family tickets from £20

Beasts of London experience at the Museum of London explores the fascinating role animals have played in shaping the capital. Step into a self-guided tour through London’s beasty history, narrated by the animals who once lived here. 

Follow the footprints to travel through time, from the Roman era through Medieval London and right up to present day, narrated by the b...
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FREE music festival at the Barbican

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, In : Events 
Music will burst from the Barbican and out across Culture Mile’s architectural gems with a line-up of artists for whom the boundaries between classical and contemporary, experimental and jazz are blurred – or never even existed in the first place.

Venues include:
Barbican Lakeside, Hall, Conservatory and Cinema
St Giles' Cripplegate
Silk Street Music Hall
LSO St Luke's
Museum of London
fabric
The Charterhouse
St Bartholomew the Great
Cloth Fair
St Bartholomew the Less
Piano Smithfield

From authentic m...
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#BeBoldforChange - looking back to move forward

Posted by Hazel Baker | London Guided Walks on Wednesday, March 8, 2017, In : Tudor 



International Women's Day is a day where people come together to help forge a better working world, a more gender inclusive world. This year's International Women's Day is #BeBoldForChange

By definition bold means 
(of a person, action, or idea) showing a willingness to take risks; confident and courageous. Bold, taking risks, confident and courageous aren't words often associate with women, not in a positive light. But why?

Women such as Anne Askew, Edith Cavell and Fanny Burney are all wom...


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