The Ultimate London Walk – Section 8: Central Westminster to Stockwell  New Walk!

St. James' Park underground station, London (Westminster Abbey/Broadway exit, opposite 40 Broadway)

Guided by Charlie

Adult: £20 · Students & Seniors: £15 · Children: £5

Walk Times

From pinched Old Queen Street, the Broad Sanctuary opens up wide ahead – boasting the twin towers of Westminster Abbey’s west end.

Turn north for its medieval majesty and east for its English perpendicular chapel echoed in the Palace of Westminster opposite. In front the great survivor, the Great Hall has witnessed 900 years of lawmaking.

Pull away – the Thames is in sight, rubbing up against Victoria Tower Gardens.

Here Lambeth Palace beckons.

It’s time to cross from north bank to south.

A shoreline once thick with high factory chimneys is now thick with high rise homes – the frontage of Doulton’s pottery a lonely reminder of that past. With dining, dancing, music and misconduct, Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens were an escape from the city – revived today without their 18^th century reputation.

Nearby Vauxhall Park would have succumbed to Victorian developers but for campaigners and today provides a respite from neighbouring and overbearing blocks. Demolition of adjacent slums was interrupted by the war. The 1950s saw a new neighbourhood of council homes, with delightful sculptures of children at play on its walls.

Clapham Road is a fitting end, where Annie Mc Call one of our first women doctors provided care for poor women from her own home.

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE GUIDING