Welcome to our October newsletter of walks and events. A week later than normal due to a few website issues last weekend, and for October and early November we have a diverse range of walks to help you discover and explore Clerkenwell and Islington, starting with:
Tufnell Park Tales
From manor house to picture house – the making of a Victorian suburb.
This walk takes place on the 17th of October, and can be booked by clicking here.
The Diary of a Nobody – Mr Pooter’s High Brow Holloway
The Diary of a Nobody started as a popular satirical column in Punch magazine in 1888 before being extended and published in book form a few years later.
This guided tour brings the book to life, taking you back to the late Victorian middle-class Holloway that Mr. Charles Pooter and his family and friends might have experienced had they been real people.
We’ll look at relevant buildings, shops, and street furniture to link to the stories in the diary, such as Pooter’s silly arguments with the ironmonger, the shirt dresser and the stationer. Find out about 1880’s Holloway in the form of theatre venues, transportation, tradesmen and gin palaces as you roll your eyes at his clunky puns.
You don’t need to have already read the book to enjoy this tour, but it’s likely you’ll want to do so afterwards!
This walk takes place on the 19th of October and can be booked by clicking here.
Clerkenwell & Islington Tour Guiding Course 2026: Meet the Guides
Would you like to develop the skills to become a tour guide? Would you like to know more about history of Islington? Why not apply for the Clerkenwell & Islington tour guide training course starting in January 2026?
If you’d like to find out more, join guides who have completed the course at our free ‘Meet the Guides’ event. The course tutors and other guides who have completed the course will take you on a walk to show you their favourite parts of Clerkenwell followed by a chance to ask questions and socialise in a local pub.
We meet outside Farringdon Station at 6:30pm and the walk will last approximately one hour
The event is free but please book a place so we know who to expect. We anticipate high demand for this event so if having booked you find that you are unable to attend we would be grateful if you would cancle your ticket so that someone else can attend.
This event takes place on the 22nd of October and free places can be booked by clicking here.
Regent’s Canal, a walking tour of its industrial past & sustainable future
On this linear walk along the Regent’s Canal from Angel Station, led by qualified Clerkenwell & Islington guide and conservation architect Minerva, you will:
• Discover how Victorian industrial wasteland became London’s most desirable waterside living – and what this transformation cost some communities
• Learn why adaptive reuse of old buildings is the ultimate climate action – and which developers are getting sustainable regeneration right
• Compare two contrasting estate regenerations: Packington’s success story vs Colville’s cautionary tale of poor workmanship and displaced tenants
• Understand how the canal that once moved coal now moves gentrification – spotting genuine community benefit vs expensive window dressing
• Explore mixed-use developments and warehouse conversions that either honor or erase the area’s working-class heritage
” This tour was an incredible experience! The walk, combined with Minerva’s explanations, helped me rediscover the canal’s rich history and evolution. The tour highlights some of the key buildings along the canal, but it’s presented in a way that’s engaging and accessible, even for those who aren’t architecture enthusiasts. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to explore and learn more about this fascinating part of the city!”
This walk takes place on the 26th of October and can be booked by clicking here.
Canonbury Tower Tour
Canonbury Tower was built in the late 16th century and is a rare survivor of Tudor domestic architecture in London. The Tower was added onto a manor house built in the early 1500s as the country retreat of the Canons of St Bartholomew’s Priory in Smithfield.
On this 90-minute tour you’ll see the existing Tudor interiors and hear about the many notable characters associated with the building. Over the centuries these have included Thomas Cromwell of Wolf Hall fame, Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, Francis Bacon and the writers Washington Irving (Sleepy Hollow) and Oliver Goldsmith (The Vicar of Wakefield). You’ll also have the chance to climb up to the rooftop which affords wonderful views over London in all directions.
Canonbury Tower is owned by the Marquess of Northampton and has been in the same family since the 16th century. All visitors are guests of the seventh Marquess, Spencer Compton.
This walk takes place on the 29th of October and can be booked by clicking here.
The Dark Side of Clerkenwell: Tales of Crime and Death – Guided Tour
The Dark Side of Clerkenwell: Tales of Crime and Death (18th–Early 20th Century)
Clerkenwell may have been crowned the best place to live in London in 2024 by The Times, but behind today’s calm streets lies a far darker past. Between the 18th and early 20th centuries, Clerkenwell was one of the most dangerous corners of London—a place where poverty, crime, and death walked hand in hand.
Once a thriving hub of industry, Clerkenwell drew in waves of migrants seeking work. But the promises of the Industrial Revolution soon gave way to grim reality: squalid housing, meagre wages, and desperate choices. For many, life narrowed to just two fates—the workhouse or the prison. And in this climate, crime flourished. The district gained a reputation as a den of thieves, pickpockets, and highwaymen, while its slums inspired some of Charles Dickens’ most vivid characters.
From the 17th century onwards, at least four different prisons operated here, packed with thieves, debtors, radicals, and the destitute. The Middlesex House of Correction—infamous for its severity—was once the largest prison in the country. Their looming presence gave rise to the magnificent Sessions House on Clerkenwell Green, for years the busiest courthouse in England.
On this walk we’ll uncover two centuries of Clerkenwell’s hidden history. From the escapades of Jack Sheppard, the infamous 18th-century thief and master of escape, to the rise of the Italian gangs of the Sabinis and the Cortesis, Clerkenwell’s streets echo with tales both thrilling and chilling.
If you want to discover the side of Clerkenwell that Londoners once feared, join me on this walk. Don’t worry—you’ll be safe.
This walk takes place on the 30th of October and can be booked by clicking here.
Diverse London: Radical Islington
From the 1960s Islington was associated with a range of radical causes, from Anti -Apartheid , CND and LGTB rights. First produced in conjunction with Islington Museum, this walk covers some radical decades where the feminist bookshop Sisterwrite was based in Upper Street, as well as the first LGTB registered charity London Friend. The Anti Apartheid movement had many activists in the borough and the ANC had its headquarters in Penton St N1. The local MP, Chris Smith, was the first openly gay MP in Parliament and the borough was the target of intense media attention as ‘loony Left’. Explore these memories and places on this fascinating guided tour.
This walk takes place on the 1st of November and can be booked by clicking here.
Union Chapel Guided Tour
The Union Chapel has towered over Upper Street in Islington since the 1870s and today thrives as an award-winning venue, homelessness project and a working radical church.
On the tour, led by an expert Islington Guided Walks guide, you’ll see this architectural gem up close and discover the building’s fascinating history.
The Grade I listed Victorian Gothic Chapel is one of the largest Nonconformist churches in London. It houses an important Father Henry Willis organ that is one of few left in the UK with an original hydraulic blowing system, stunning stained glass windows and a distinctive octagonal interior built for acoustics and visibility.
Take a tour and learn more about Islington’s heritage, the Chapel’s triumphant survival after a wartime bomb, and the fascinating story of its near demolition in the 1980s, at a time when Victorian architecture was only just being appreciated.
This walk takes place on the 5th of November and can be booked by clicking here.
The Slow Horses Stroll
Prepare to immerse yourself in the authentic London of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses novels and the acclaimed TV adaptation.
This walking tour takes you beyond the screen and pages, directly into the streets that inspired the stories and characters you love.
Your guides, Caroline and Nigel, will take you in the footsteps of your favourite bunch of MI5 misfits, and give you a whole new perspective on the city. You’ll see the actual Slough House and other real-life locations where memorable encounters with the Slow Horses take place. And along the way, you’ll discover the fascinating links between the series and London’s rich past — from the medieval heritage of its oldest parish church, to the Victorian grandeur of Smithfield Market, and the striking Brutalism of the Barbican.
The locations are brought to life with some of your guides’ favourite extracts from the novels and they’ll uncover the production secrets that transform this corner of the city into Lamb’s London.
The two-hour tour starts outside Barbican Underground Station (Hammersmith & City line) and ends near Old Street Station (Northern line).
Disclaimer: this walking tour of Slow Horses locations is in no way affiliated with Mick Herron or his publishers, See-Saw Films or Apple TV+.
This walk takes place on the 7th of November and can be booked by clicking here.
Our next newsletter will be on the first Sunday in Number, and walks are frequently added to the walks page of our website.
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