Footprints of London

History of working people in 18th-19th century Knightsbridge: Horse Guards, lodginghouse keepers, famous courtesans and Champagne Charlie. You’ll see the Hyde Park barracks from behind and from the front, where the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment leave for Changing the Guard ceremonies. Rotten Row was long the scene of high-society socialising, and you’ll hear about Skittles,…

Richmond is Sir David Attenborough’s favourite place on the planet, and the stretch of the river to Twickenham is the very best part. Your fantasy of classic English countryside come true in the city. This stretch of the River Thames will put you in mind of boating holidays with Mole and Ratty, unless your first…

Primrose Hill is now one of London’s desirable areas, but it was born with the blood, sweat and toil that built canals and railways. The neighbourhood radiates brilliant industrial solutions of Victorian engineers, but who built it? This walk puts hard-working navvies at the centre of the story and tells how the area developed in…

History of two girls condemned for theft in Goswell Road, jailed in Newgate, spared death and sent on a convict ship to Australia. And then? From 1821 English courts began to sentence convicted criminals to penal servitude in Australia, for a set term or for life. Most never returned to England, becoming settlers of different…

From WWII Brixton is a centre for black Britons as well as South London fairies, squatters, poets, Latin American migrant entrepreneurs The neighbourhood radiates brilliant industrial solutions of Victorian engineers, but who built it? This walk puts hard-working navvies at the centre of the story and tells how the area developed in the face of…

Thief and escape-artist Jack Sheppard sparred with thief-taker Jonathan Wild in streets thronged with gin-sellers, sex workers and beggars. Now it’s trendy and pretty, but 18th-century Seven Dials, in the parish of St Giles, was notorious for poverty and crime. With no organised police force, thieves, highwaymen and fences bribed those hired to catch them,…

From the 17th century Shadwell heaved with ship-suppliers, sailors on leave, pirates, runaway slaves, lascars, opium-eaters and sex workers. Shadwell was an early centre of Docklands, developed to supply both navy and merchant ships. Trades included sail makers, instrument makers, ship chandlers, ship brokers, victuallers, rope makers, glassmakers, sugar refiners, coopers, brewers, distillers and that’s…