Darkest Victorian London
Monument Underground station, London (Fish Street Hill exit)
Guided by Catherine or Karen or Richard III or Sue
Adult: £20 · Students & Seniors: £15 · Children: £5
Walk Times
| Day | Walk Type | Start Time | End Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Weekly | 10.45 am | 12.45 pm | Winter Summer | Reserve Online |
Short read: Elsewhere is always surprising… Especially when elsewhere is the dark side of the moon – the Victorian underside of 21st-century London.
Long read: Here’s how we get there. We poke around in forgotten corners of the real London just over the river. We make some thrilling – and chilling – “finds”. Everything from trace evidence – archaeological fragments – to the whole kit and caboodle. Stuff from the old, furtive, toil-worn, hard-scrabble, soon-to-be-passing, villainous past: a paupers’ burying ground, a ragged school, “model dwellings”, Little Dorrit’s prison, Octavia Hill’s cottages, etc. We see it. And hear the people. Really hear them. Because they speak through the guides: chimney sweeps, prostitutes, the soon-to-be-executed “Black Maria”, pickpockets, street sellers, the Body Snatching Borough Gang, etc. It’s history as a seance. As for lunch after the walk, well these two words will suffice: Borough Market. Guided by Richard III and Karen (winner of the London Tourist Board’s Guide of the Year Award*).
Walker’s read: “Darkest Victorian London is one of the best tours I have taken in any city.” Andrysharose, TripAdvisor April, 2019
DARKEST VICTORIAN LONDON – THE PRACTICALS
Darkest Victorian London takes place at 10.45 am every Monday morning. The meeting point is just outside the Fish Street Hill exit of Monument Tube Stop.
WANT A PRIVATE DARKEST VICTORIAN LONDON WALK?
If you can’t make one of the regularly scheduled, just-turn-up, public Darkest Victorian London walks do think about booking one as a private tour. If you go private you can have the Darkest Victorian London Walk – or any other London Walk – on a day and at a time that suits your convenience. We’ll tailor it to your requirements. Ring Fiona or Niamh or Peter or Mary on 020 7624 3978 or email us at [email protected] and we’ll set it up and make it happen for you. A private London Walk – they’re good value for an individual or couple and sensational value for a group – makes an ideal group or educational or birthday party or office (team-building) or club outing.
GIVE THE GIFT OF LONDON WALKS
A private London Walk makes a very special (and unusual) gift – be it a birthday or anniversary or Christmas present or whatever. Merchandise schmerchandise (gift wrapped or not) – but giving someone an experience, now that’s special. Memories make us rich.
LONDON WALKS REVIEWS
“award-winning London Walks are unrivalled for quality and range” American in Britain Magazine
“Even jaded Londoners find these London Walks a source of astonishing gems of information about the city in which they live.” Daily Mail, Top London Treats
“by far the most impressive series of walks that I have ever encountered are those offered by London Walks” Travel and Enjoy
MIND THE GAP
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE GUIDING
LONDON WALKS – STREETS AHEAD!
“If this were a golf tournament every name on the Leader Board would be a London Walks guide”
Jessica Parra –
Amazing walk! Sue was very knowledge, warm, and kind and offered a great perspective into this often romanticized time period. Educational and entertaining
Michael –
I went on the May 12 “Darkest Victorian London” with Richard III — very enjoyable, informative and insightful comments by Richard. Looking forward to another opportunity to attend a Richard III walk next time.
Maureen –
Our walk was Darkest Victorian London, led by Richard III who was very well informed and descriptive of what life would have been like for the ordinary people. We thoroughly enjoyed the walk, thank you Richard.
Vibeke Arentz –
A superb walk to get a real sense of what Victorian London was really like. We always hear about the glory of this time, but there’s an incredible back story that Richard III tells so well. He shows you the real and unknown sites, and paints pictures with his words of what it was really like. On both sides of the River Thames, an excellent walk indeed.
Tricia Collins –
Richard III led us on a walk around darkest Victorian London. He was informative, witty and offered light amongst the dark in small, pretty garden areas in unexpected places. Having a microphone meant that it was easy to hear Richard above all the traffic noise and myself and two friends appreciated his knowledge and enjoyable tales of a darker age.
Margaret –
Really enjoyed the tour on dark Victorian London.
Catherine brought it ro life very well. She was very engaging and well informed. Would recommend it.
Patty –
Catherine made this seedier side of London come to life with her tales of poverty and destitution. The writings of Dickens featured quite prominently in her descriptions of life in the day which fed the imagination !
A morning well spent and we look forward to the next one ……..
Diana –
Really enjoyed the tour today led by Catherine. We looked at a paupers grave yard, early examples of social housing, looked down what would have been very dodgy alley ways and heard about the appalling lives that so many Londoners at that time endured. Catherine was very well informed and an engaging guide. Looking forward to going on one of her fires of London walks.
Steven C. Smith –
Today’s tour with Catherine was a thrilling journey of contrasts: gritty London back-alleys haunted by centuries-old vice, with modern skyscrapers staring down at them from a bright blue sky. Word pictures of London at its most dangerous, with the modern-day echo of children’s laughter as ironic counterpoint. Catherine brought the past to life. I look forward to joining her Great Fire of London walk on my next visit.
Wendy B –
Catherine gave us a vivid picture of the crowded dirty smelly streets and the poverty of the time, also how different the river was in the nineteenth century. Included too were philanthropic works. A very engaging guide who did well to make herself heard despite the traffic and overhead planes, and a really enjoyable tour.