This sixty-minute Virtual Walk explores the wonderful variety of buildings in the Borough of Hackney from Tudor Sutton House to modern Bridge Academy. Once a village outside London, with its parish church, houses of the wealthy and its old Town Hall, in the Victorian period Hackney’s population boomed and elegant town houses started to be joined by furniture factories and warehouses. By the 1930s the mix included wonderful examples of civic pride like Haggerston Baths, Shoreditch Town Hall and Hackney Police Station as well as innovative social housing. More recently, Hackney has had a programme of building new schools and converting 20th century warehouses for a changing population. Whatever your taste, you are bound to find buildings you like on this virtual walk.

Virtual Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Online Event

There’s so much more to Walthamstow than just its famous mile-long Market. The grand tombs in St Mary’s Churchyard offer a bit of a clue. Starting at the teenage home of William Morris, later home to publisher Edward Lloyd, who brought to us the tale of Sweeney Todd, and today home to the William Morris Gallery, this Guided Walk takes in a set of mews built by a local butcher/property developer, a theatre hidden within a school and a remnant from Robert Smirke’s General Post Office before visiting the real and original Walthamstow Village with its Ancient House, almshouses, workhouse and church to hear how Lord Mayor of London George Monoux was a great benefactor to the area and finishing in an industrial park which is not only home to the jaw dropping God’s Own Junkyard but the Wild Card Brewery and Mother’s Ruin Gin Palace too.

Guide: Joanna Moncreiff

TICKETS

Meet at William Morris Gallery (outside front entrance), 531 Forest Road, London E17 4PP

This walk with Rob Smith from Royal Victoria Dock to Pontoon Dock looks at the vast Royal group of docks, built for steamships by entrepreneur engineers and at some of the industry that was created by the docks. Rob will also talk about the dock workers strike of 1889 and the creation of the Port of London Authority. One of a series of walks by Rob covering different periods in the development of the Port of London from the Romans to Canary Wharf, uncovering some of the legacy of the Port of London through street names, mooring posts, cranes, plaques etc. and using old maps and photographs.

Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Meet at Royal Victoria DLR Station, Seagull Lane, London E16 1BZ

In 1514 the warship Great Harry - the pride of Henry VIII's fleet - was constructed at Woolwich Dockyard which went on to be the site of shipbuilding and repairing for nearly 350 years with huge store houses, dry docks and a ropery which was one of the largest in the world. In 1869 the dockyard closed but you can still find traces of it and this Guided Walk will reveal its remaining features and tell the stories of the ships built there and the people who worked there. We will also explore the industrial area that replaced the dockyard and has its own story to tell.

Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Meet at Woolwich Dockyard Station, Belson Road, London SE18 5JY

In the 1980 classic thriller The Long Good Friday, Bob Hoskins’ character, Harold Shand, gives his view on the future of Docklands: “I believe this is the decade in which London will become Europe's capital. Having cleared away the outdated, we've got mile after mile and acre after acre of land, for our future prosperity. No other city in the world... has got right in its centre, such an opportunity... for profitable progress.” While things don't go well for Harold - his vision of the future proves fairly accurate and the old docks are redeveloped and London does host the Olympics. On this Guided Walk, Rob visits many of the East London locations from the film -- some recognisable, some changed beyond Harold's wildest dreams -- and also talks about the recent history of Docklands that brought the changes about.

Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Meet at Tower Hill Tube Station, Trinity Square, EC3N 4DJ

This two-hour Guided Walk looks at the exteriors of very different buildings, all built during the 20th Century. From the grandeur of the famous Hackney Empire, civic pride of Hackney Town Hall, and the post war simplicity of Brett Manor, to more recent buildings like Sutton Square and Hackney Academy, Hackney has a range of buildings built in response to a variety of needs. Rob Smith will talk about the buildings and some of the social history context in which they were built.

Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Meet at Hackney Central Overground Station, Amhurst Road, London E8 1LL

This walk with Rob Smith along the River Lea takes us through the Olympic Park, passing London Stadium and many former industrial sites before reaching the beautiful tide mills at Bow. It then takes us to Canning Town to see the last loops of the Lea before it joins the Thames at Trinity Buoy Wharf. The Lea is one of the longest and most important tributaries of the Thames. It has formed the boundary between the Saxons and the Danes, been home to medieval mills and numerous other industries. This is one of series of walks by Rob which will look at the history of the River Lea, tracing its 42-mile course to the Thames.

Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Meet at Hackney Wick Station, Wallace Road, London E9 5LH

This sixty-minute Virtual Walk explores the buildings of the London Borough of Newham, the southern part of which is dominated by the vast Royal Docks and the industries that built up around them. These have been partially redeveloped with some striking new buildings like the University of East London's Halls of Residence and the Crystal, the new home for the Greater London Assembly, while some of the heritage of the old docks remains. And Newham also offers much more than Docklands: you'll find a 12th century church, a memorial to Tudor Martyrs, a fine theatre and plenty of civic pride. The borough has some marvellous former industrial buildings along the River Lea and is home to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with buildings that put London on the world stage as part of London 2012. Whatever your taste in buildings, you are bound to find something you like.

Virtual Guide: Rob Smith

TICKET

Online Event

See the architectural treasures of Barking and Dagenham in this Virtual Walk, part of a series by Rob Smith on the best buildings in London Boroughs. Barking was home to one of the most powerful medieval religious houses in the country, of which you can still see the ruins. Another medieval survivor is Valence House, home to the borough museum. There are the beautiful Eastbury Manor House - one of London's best Elizabethan buildings - and the buildings associated with Barking's huge fishing fleet by the River Roding. Rob will also explain how the area became industrialised in the 20th century with the building of the huge Ford works, Barking Power Station and the Becontree Estate - built for Ford workers - and will discuss the buildings being built in the borough today.

Virtual Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Online Event

The Royal Group of Docks in East London were one of the largest engineering projects in London's history. Comprising The Royal Victoria, Albert and King George V Docks, when built, they were also the largest enclosed body of water in the world. They still make an imposing sight - 12 miles of waterfront undergoing redevelopment. This 50-minute Virtual Walk via Zoom tells their story. Your guide, Rob Smith, will show slides about the building of the docks, the people who built them, the technical advances that had a huge impact on London's economy, and the factories that were built alongside them. Rob will look at the communities that worked in the docks, how they struggled to improve working conditions and how they faced challenges like the Silvertown explosion of 1917 and the Blitz. You will hear about the decline of the docks and the long-running plans to redevelop them, and get to see heritage features that remain today so you can go and explore for yourself.

Virtual Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Online Event

Blackwall in London’s Docklands has as much maritime history as Greenwich – it’s just that you have to look a bit harder to find it. In this two-hour Guided Walk, Rob Smith uses fragments of the old dockyard and street names to tell the story of the East India Company, who made Blackwall their home for almost 250 years. You will hear stories of bravery, greed and ingenuity. The walk also visits the Leamouth Peninsula, one of the most unusual places on the Thames with a maritime history of its own. Rob will also tell the stories of some of the ships built in the famous Blackwall Yard and you’ll hear how Blackwall is at the heart of communications in the 21st century.

Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Meet at East India DLR Station, Blackwall Way, London E14 9PS

Ada Salter was the first female mayor in London and the first Labour woman mayor in the British Isles. With her husband, local doctor and MP Dr Alfred Salter, she made a significant impact on health, housing, employment and labour relations, helping to make Bermondsey world famous for its flowers and its Garden City estate, still occupied today. Find out about the legacy of Ada on this charming riverside Guided Walk, which tells her story from the Bermondsey Uprising of women jam factory workers in 1911, to her years as a pacifist in the First World War, and her radical policies as Bermondsey Councillor.

Guide: Sue McCarthy

TICKETS

Meet at Bermondsey Station, London SE16 4RX

In 1897, Chingford was ‘cut off, as it were, from the rest of the world.’ It is not cut off now, but it has a very different history to its near neighbour Walthamstow. Epping Forest has played an important part in that history and on this walk using old maps we will see how the area has evolved but also see what remains from the past. Hidden among allotments and a tip can be found a 17th century dovecote which is all that remains of one of Chingford’s lost manor houses. Characters who have made their mark on Chingford include T E Lawrence, Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria and Ivor Novello. Some paths on the walk may be muddy so please wear appropriate shoes.

Guide: Joanna Moncreiff

TICKETS

Meet at Chingford Railway Station, Station Road, London E4 6AL

This walk with Rob Smith from Royal Victoria Dock to Pontoon Dock looks at the vast Royal group of docks, built for steamships by entrepreneur engineers and at some of the industry that was created by the docks. Rob will also talk about the dock workers strike of 1889 and the creation of the Port of London Authority. One of a series of walks by Rob covering different periods in the development of the Port of London from the Romans to Canary Wharf, uncovering some of the legacy of the Port of London through street names, mooring posts, cranes, plaques etc. and using old maps and photographs.

Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Meet at Royal Victoria DLR Station, Seagull Lane, London E16 1BZ

There’s so much more to Walthamstow than just its famous mile-long Market. The grand tombs in St Mary’s Churchyard offer a bit of a clue. Starting at the teenage home of William Morris, later home to publisher Edward Lloyd, who brought to us the tale of Sweeney Todd, and today home to the William Morris Gallery, this Guided Walk takes in a set of mews built by a local butcher/property developer, a theatre hidden within a school and a remnant from Robert Smirke’s General Post Office before visiting the real and original Walthamstow Village with its Ancient House, almshouses, workhouse and church to hear how Lord Mayor of London George Monoux was a great benefactor to the area and finishing in an industrial park which is not only home to the jaw dropping God’s Own Junkyard but the Wild Card Brewery and Mother’s Ruin Gin Palace too.

Guide: Joanna Moncreiff

TICKETS

Meet at William Morris Gallery (outside front entrance), 531 Forest Road, London E17 4PP

This two-hour Guided Walk looks at the exteriors of very different buildings, all built during the 20th Century. From the grandeur of the famous Hackney Empire, civic pride of Hackney Town Hall, and the post war simplicity of Brett Manor, to more recent buildings like Sutton Square and Hackney Academy, Hackney has a range of buildings built in response to a variety of needs. Rob Smith will talk about the buildings and some of the social history context in which they were built.

Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Meet at Hackney Central Overground Station, Amhurst Road, London E8 1LL

This sixty-minute Virtual Walk explores the wonderful variety of buildings in the Borough of Hackney from Tudor Sutton House to modern Bridge Academy. Once a village outside London, with its parish church, houses of the wealthy and its old Town Hall, in the Victorian period Hackney’s population boomed and elegant town houses started to be joined by furniture factories and warehouses. By the 1930s the mix included wonderful examples of civic pride like Haggerston Baths, Shoreditch Town Hall and Hackney Police Station as well as innovative social housing. More recently, Hackney has had a programme of building new schools and converting 20th century warehouses for a changing population. Whatever your taste, you are bound to find buildings you like on this virtual walk.

Virtual Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Online Event

There’s so much more to Walthamstow than just its famous mile-long Market. The grand tombs in St Mary’s Churchyard offer a bit of a clue. Starting at the teenage home of William Morris, later home to publisher Edward Lloyd, who brought to us the tale of Sweeney Todd, and today home to the William Morris Gallery, this Guided Walk takes in a set of mews built by a local butcher/property developer, a theatre hidden within a school and a remnant from Robert Smirke’s General Post Office before visiting the real and original Walthamstow Village with its Ancient House, almshouses, workhouse and church to hear how Lord Mayor of London George Monoux was a great benefactor to the area and finishing in an industrial park which is not only home to the jaw dropping God’s Own Junkyard but the Wild Card Brewery and Mother’s Ruin Gin Palace too.

Guide: Joanna Moncreiff

TICKETS

Meet at William Morris Gallery (outside front entrance), 531 Forest Road, London E17 4PP

From fishing fleet to feminist icons there's more to Barking than you might think. Join Sue to find out more. This circular Guided Walk around Barking takes us past landmarks associated with its medieval abbey, its once huge fishing fleet, the noxious industries and civic pride of the 19th and 20th centuries, right up to today's riverside regeneration. Along the way we learn where Capt. Cook was married and where a local suffragette entertained Mrs Pankhurst. We find out what links prison reformer Elizabeth Fry to Barking's stunning Sikh temple and why there is a memorial to the victims of asbestosis.

Guide: Sue McCarthy

TICKETS

Meet at Barking Station, Station Parade, London IG11 8TU

Retrace the steps of the most famous radical women associated with Bow on this Guided Walk, starting with the Bryant and May matchwomen. Sylvia Pankhurst established the Suffragette East London Federation here, campaigning not only for the right of women to vote, but also to establish their social and economic freedom. Minnie Lansbury died here, after a heroic fight for justice for local residents. We will re-locate past struggles for social justice and take a look at the modern Bow on the way.

Guide: Oonagh Gay

TICKETS

Meet at Bow Church DLR Station, London E3 3AA

There’s so much more to Walthamstow than just its famous mile-long Market. The grand tombs in St Mary’s Churchyard offer a bit of a clue. Starting at the teenage home of William Morris, later home to publisher Edward Lloyd, who brought to us the tale of Sweeney Todd, and today home to the William Morris Gallery, this Guided Walk takes in a set of mews built by a local butcher/property developer, a theatre hidden within a school and a remnant from Robert Smirke’s General Post Office before visiting the real and original Walthamstow Village with its Ancient House, almshouses, workhouse and church to hear how Lord Mayor of London George Monoux was a great benefactor to the area and finishing in an industrial park which is not only home to the jaw dropping God’s Own Junkyard but the Wild Card Brewery and Mother’s Ruin Gin Palace too.

Guide: Joanna Moncreiff

TICKETS

Meet at William Morris Gallery (outside front entrance), 531 Forest Road, London E17 4PP

This two-hour Guided Walk looks at the exteriors of very different buildings, all built during the 20th Century. From the grandeur of the famous Hackney Empire, civic pride of Hackney Town Hall, and the post war simplicity of Brett Manor, to more recent buildings like Sutton Square and Hackney Academy, Hackney has a range of buildings built in response to a variety of needs. Rob Smith will talk about the buildings and some of the social history context in which they were built.

Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Meet at Hackney Central Overground Station, Amhurst Road, London E8 1LL

Blackwall in London’s Docklands has as much maritime history as Greenwich – it’s just that you have to look a bit harder to find it. In this two-hour Guided Walk, Rob Smith uses fragments of the old dockyard and street names to tell the story of the East India Company, who made Blackwall their home for almost 250 years. You will hear stories of bravery, greed and ingenuity. The walk also visits the Leamouth Peninsula, one of the most unusual places on the Thames with a maritime history of its own. Rob will also tell the stories of some of the ships built in the famous Blackwall Yard and you’ll hear how Blackwall is at the heart of communications in the 21st century.

Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Meet at East India DLR Station, Blackwall Way, London E14 9PS

Actresses, theatre managers, brothel keepers, suffragettes, ‘Molly of the Morgue’, nuns, 18th century businesswomen, engineers, ‘Queen of the Shoplifters’, 16th century writers and a First World War heroine. Shoreditch was home to these and other extraordinary women. Join us to hear their stories on this fascinating walking tour.

a Spitalfields Music Festival 2023 event

Guide: Sue Doe

TICKETS

Meet at Shoreditch High Street Overground Station, London E1 6GJ

Discover the area surrounding the Tower of London, all-to-often overshadowed by the Tower itself. By wandering through the streets and back alleys that surround the Tower, our story starts with the Romans and Medieval London before moving on to scandalous famous diarists, lighthouses, and the monks and nuns of long–lost holy orders.

a Spitalfields Music Festival 2023 event

Guide: Daniella King

TICKETS

Meet at Aldgate Tube Station, London EC3N 1AH

This sixty-minute Virtual Walk explores the wonderful variety of buildings in the Borough of Hackney from Tudor Sutton House to modern Bridge Academy. Once a village outside London, with its parish church, houses of the wealthy and its old Town Hall, in the Victorian period Hackney’s population boomed and elegant town houses started to be joined by furniture factories and warehouses. By the 1930s the mix included wonderful examples of civic pride like Haggerston Baths, Shoreditch Town Hall and Hackney Police Station as well as innovative social housing. More recently, Hackney has had a programme of building new schools and converting 20th century warehouses for a changing population. Whatever your taste, you are bound to find buildings you like on this virtual walk.

Virtual Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Online Event

A stroll down the Mile End Road reveals the richness of the area’s history. We will come across memorials to members of a radical political East End family, the site where a prime mover of the Arts and Crafts movement taught handicrafts, and a Georgian Square whose elegant facades hid the home of a respectable man turned murderer. We’ll pass through the park where the Men of Essex camped during the Peasants’ Revolt, and end at the magnificent Grade II listed People’s Palace.

a Spitalfields Music Festival 2023 event

Guides: William Sharp and Andrew Parnell

TICKETS

Meet at Bow Road Underground Station, London E3 4DH

The roads and riverside of Limehouse reveal evidence of its age-old connections with the sea and maritime trades, of its long journey from tiny riverside village – one of the “tower hamlets” – to today’s modern docklands area. Sailors passing through made it a truly cosmopolitan area – home to London’s first Chinatown – a bustling hive of industry with a dark side which philanthropists sought to address and some writers sought to exploit in sensational stories. Our Guided Walk takes us to the sublime St Anne’s church and Narrow Street’s fine 17th century house-fronts, to palatial sailors’ hostels, well- preserved 19th century warehouses and one of the very oldest urban railway viaducts, taking in splendid river views to Canary Wharf and the City along the way.

a Spitalfields Music Festival 2023 event

Guide: Andrew Parnell

TICKETS

Meet at Westferry DLR Station, London E14 8AD

Take the train to the end of the new Elizabeth Line for this Guided Walk and find some great views and a few hidden gems. The new line takes you in style to Abbey Wood – find out what lies beyond the station. You’ll discover some tranquil parts of London, lots of history and amazing views of the capital.

Guide: Rob Smith

TICKETS

Meet at Abbey Wood Station, Wilton Road, London SE2 9RH

Part of the Capital Ring circular route round inner London, much of this Guided Walk follows London's second greatest river, the River Lea and the Lee Navigation, joining the river at the Horseshoe Bridge, following the towpath by Walthamstow Marshes and Hackney Marshes and finishing by the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park near Hackney Wick Station, offering historical and industrial interest as well as wildlife and water, taking in the railway arch where A V Roe in 1909 achieved the first all-British powered flight, the remains of the filter beds that provided drinking water for East London and an outpost of Eton College.

Guide: Sue McCarthy

TICKETS

Guided Walk: Meet at Stoke Newington station, Stamford Hill, London N16 6YA

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