Historical London Walk King’s Cross to Farringdon
Underground Railways, Shakespeare, Dickens, Health Spas and Stark Prisons: London’s amazing change through the centuries.
This is a fascinating part of London, unknown to many and yet with a rich history with links to the Crusades, Shakespeare’s Falstaff, and even ‘Robin Hood’!
The walk starts with the engineering marvels of the Victorian Railway era; Kings Cross and St. Pancras Stations, now reborn with the arrival of High Speed Rail from Paris. And yet also the site of London’s very first road ‘by-pass’ in the mid 18th Century-why?
Following the route of the World’s first Underground Railway we see evidence of how London changed over the centuries; from areas of market gardening, health spas, monasteries and grand properties for the growing middle class, to tenement buildings, London’s most depraved street and the spot where Lenin and Karl Marx planned their ‘Revolution’!
Why did Clerkenwell have several prisons and why do we mention Charles Dickens both at the start and the end of the walk?
We quickly leave the bustle of Kings Cross and walk through quiet, undiscovered streets and tree lined avenues, learning some of the history of this unique part of our great city, a history of change-both above and below ground and for both rich and poor.
Please note: the cost of food and drinks is not included in the price of this walk.
Did you know?
- King’s Cross was formerly known as Battlebridge – the site of Boudicca’s last battle.
- Travellers would visit this area in the Middle Ages to ‘take the waters’ from the springs that ran into the River Fleet.
- Lenin was a resident here in the early 20th century.
- The area is the location of London’s first underground railway.
- Mount Pleasant is the tongue in cheek name given by local residents to an area that was once used for dumping waste!
- Buried in the churchyard of St James, Clerkenwell are the remains of 200 Protestants burnt at the stake in the 1550’s.
- Turnmill Street, Farringdon was one of the most infamous streets in London. Shakespeare’s Falstaff was fully aware of what went on here!
