Walks on offer
Bow Belles
`Meet at Bow Road Station
3 miles
90 minutes
Price £20 per adult
This walk takes you on a journey, rediscovering the female protestors in Bow who helped improve the lives of working-class women in the late 1800s and turn of the 20th century. On this tour, you’ll hear about Sylvia Pankhurst who as a Suffragette felt that she couldn’t ignore the root causes of poverty in her fight for votes for women. Hear how she worked tirelessly to build Sylvia’s Army of volunteers. We’ll visit the sites of arrest on Bow Road, the places on the Roman Road where she sold The Women’s Dreadnought (the newspaper). Interwoven in her story is that of Annie Besant. Annie was a fearless campaigner for women’s rights and she supported the women and girls in The Matchstick Factory encouraging a mass walkout to improve their conditions. We also hear about Angela Burdett Coutts the wealthy benefactor who bequeathed Victoria Park with a drinking fountain and established a house for ‘fallen’ women along with Charles Dickens.
This is a circular walk which can also end outside a very nice local pub. It’s 3 miles and is 90 minutes long.
Pioneering Women
Starting at Cannon Street
2 miles
90 minutes
Price £20
This is my signature tour in the city of London. Hear about the rarely mentioned female architects who have contributed to our city’s skyline but don’t always get the namecheck. Hear about the women who invested wisely or sometimes unwisely in the 1700s, the first woman to become a chartered accountant, and the successful female shopkeepers of Cheapside. Find out about the four Queen’s heads and three ghosts alongside the first woman to be acknowledged for heroic self-sacrifice and whose good deeds helped create a memorial in Postman’s Park. This 90-minute walk introduces you to some inspirational ‘female firsts’. We meet at Cannon Street station - for details on how to book, click here.
Secrets of Spitalfields
Starting at Liverpool Street
2 miles
90 minutes
Price £20 per person
Historically, Spitalfields has always been the place that has welcomed outsiders, the ‘nomads of London’ who might just be passing through or might be trying to settle. It was once a very large priory St Mary in Spital, before Henry VIII dispensed with it in the dissolution of the monasteries. In the 1700s the district welcomed The Huguenots, a group of French protestants who fled a hostile France in search of refuge, and introduced the word refugee into our lexicon. For a while, they prospered as silk weavers, and the merchant houses that adorn Brick Lane served as an elegant reminder of their skills as developers. Interwoven in Spitalfield’s history is poverty and a fight for survival, it is evident in the alleyways, the Crispin Street dosshouse, and the Jewish soup kitchen. This area is compact but richly diverse.
Slavery & the City
Starting at Cannon Street Station
2.5 miles
90 minutes
Price £20 per person
This tour of the City of London unveils the history of the Square Mile's deep involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. The walk explores sites with direct links to this dark chapter, including financial institutions that profited from slavery and locations connected to the abolitionist movement. Visitors learn about influential merchants who amassed wealth through the trade, as well as the brave individuals who fought for its abolition. The tour highlights how London's economy and society were intrinsically linked to slavery, examining key locations like the Royal Exchange, Fen Court, and the site of the former Quaker bookshop where the British abolitionist movement began. This thought-provoking journey offers a nuanced perspective on London's complex past.
Traitors and Troublemakers
2 miles
90 minutes
Price £20 per person
The City of London is home to traitors, troublemakers and other rebels. Not all of them escape intact. We start at the Tower of London hearing about the most infamous traitors who met with an unhappy end. We move to London Bridge the place where heads were displayed on spikes as a warning to others for turning agains their monarch. We pause at Fishmongers Hall to hear about riots between two livery companies. Then onto Bank to hear about the Gordon Riots in the 17th century which were worrying close to the financial heart of the country. At Mansion House, we hear about the female suffragette whose rebel antics cost her a night in a basement jail. We hear about the 12th century expulsion of the Jews from the City before visiting St Paul’s Cross, the home of protest over several centuries. We finish at Smithfield where religious rebels were burnt at the stake, Wat Tyler was slain by a Mayor and William Wallace met an undignified end. We can tailor content for our younger audience members.