Urban Geology in St Giles
Tottenham Court Road Underground Station, Exit 2 (meet outside the Dominion Theatre)
Guided by Ruth
Walk Times
| Day | Walk Type | Start Time | End Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2024 | Tour du Jour | 2.30 pm | 4.30 pm | Summer | Reserve Online |
Urban Geology in St Giles
This walk – guided by the distinguished Geologist Ruth Siddall– will look at the geology of building materials in the ‘Rookery’ of St Giles. Once a place associated with poverty and vice, this part of midtown London is now a thriving business and shopping centre. The walk will look at the history of building materials here from the 17th Century Church of St George’s Bloomsbury to the 2022 installation of street furniture as art: ‘Swivel’ by Sabine Marcellus.
This group of public seating in the form of swivel chairs in St Giles Square are made of a selection of particularly exotic and colourful stones sourced from around the globe.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE GUIDING
Ruth’s the real deal – she’s a top-flight, award-winning, professional geologist.
Sue –
This is the second walk that I have done with Ruth and again, it was brilliant. Lots of wonderful looking stones and details about their formation and usage. Fossil oysters to swivel chairs, pub stones to Portland limestone, it was all there. It will be hard to drop “pegmatite granite ” into a conversation, but I will try! Ruth is so enthusiastic about her subject, I am just about to book her June Westminster walk.
Huw –
The St Giles geology walk was absolutely fascinating. Ruth did a superb job of pointing out the geological details of the stones we saw at each site as well as providing interesting back stories for how the they ended up there. I’ll definitely be taking a closer look at the pavements and buildings next time I visit a new city …!
Mary Crossey –
A fascinating walk. And a really interesting guide. Will never look at London buildings – or pavements- the same way again!
Joseph Cowan –
What a wonderful guided walk. We learned so much. Ruth makes the experience great fun. I cannot recommend highly enough