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In 1666 the Great Fire of London swept
away much of the mediaeval City but
the flames died to ashes to leave this one
corner untouched. The Hidden London
walk takes us from the Aldersgate to the
Newgate via a maze of narrow streets
and bygone alleyways surrounding the
smooth field, now known as Smithfield.
For centuries Londoners came here
for the raucous Bartholomew Fair, to
watch grisly public executions and visit
London’s first hospital and the meat
market. To this day if you see a man in
a bloody white coat you don’t always
know if he’s a butcher or a doctor!
We’ll visit Postman’s Park to see the
memorial plaques telling of tragic and
brave acts of heroic self sacrifice and
walk beneath a Tudor gatehouse into
the yard of London’s oldest parish
church. On our walk you’ll see
Sir John Betjeman’s town house where,
as he grew older and increasingly more
forgetful, he often locked himself out
and nearby the famous Smithfield Meat
Market where the Bummaree porters
kept a special ladder to climb into the
Poet Laureate’s house and retrieve his
front door keys from the kitchen table.
Ghastly things happened at Smithfield
from the execution of Sir William
Wallace (1305 but Scots still put flowers
by his memorial plaque) to the boiling
alive of the Bishop of Rochester’s cook
but it was also a place of great joy and
celebration where Londoners came
to let their hair down each year at the
Bartholmew Fair. Unless you opt for
the shorter version of the walk we
will continue on to see the London
home of Hercule Poirot, the stately
Charterhouse and the site of a plague pit
before breaking for lunch at Smithfield.
There’s a good choice of pubs and cafés
including one in the old priory cloisters
of St Bartholomew Church.
The first canal to reach London was the
Grand Junction Canal - 143 slow miles
from Birmingham. It got as far as the
Paddington Basin before the goods had
to be loaded onto carts to complete the
journey to the heart of the city, the new
docks and the River Thames. A company
was set up to build a linking canal but it
failed to persuade landowners to allow
it to be cut through their properties until
the architect John Nash, a director and
investor in the canal company, included
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This day, with a gentle walking tour
in Smithfield and a cruise on the
Regent’s Canal through Regent’s Park
and London Zoo, has been a favourite
for 25 years. With a bit on foot, a bit
on the coach and a relaxing cruise
at four miles an hour from Camden
Lock to Little Venice (or vice versa)
the day provides plenty of variety
and interest making it a really good
choice for 2013. The walk is gentle
enough for most people but if you
have got particularly elderly folk or
lots of sticks we can lop a bit off, quite
seamlessly, making it shorter, but
no less entertaining, for your group.
Just ask when you book.
Start the day at 10.30am and follow the
itinerary as described below or arrive for
a Later Start Day at midday for an early
lunch around St Paul’s followed by the
walking tour and a break for tea before
the canal cruise and still be heading
home by 5.00pm.
Arrive at 10.30am and the day will begin
with time to buy coffee at the Museum
of London on London Wall, which
follows the line of the old Roman city
walls.
Hidden London & The Regent’s Canal
City & Village Tours: 0845 812 5000