Discover the history of Islington’s first parish church and enjoy a panoramic view across London from its 18th-century tower. St Mary’s, Islington on Upper Street has played a central role in the history of Islington for a thousand years. During this time several different churches have stood on the site, leaving an eclectic range of ... Read More
This year Bart’s Hospital is celebrating its 900th anniversary on the same site that it was founded in 1123. It was originally part of St Bartholomew’s Priory, founded by a courtier of Henry 1 in thanks for surviving a bout of malaria while on pilgrimage to Rome. St Bartholomew’s was only one of four great ... Read More
This walk winds along the Regent’s Canal through north/north east London from Islington to Hackney. It is varied, picturesque, passes the route of an even older waterway from 1613 and ends at the Roman Ermine Street. We will see busy working locks, repurposed factories including film and photography studios, charming canal barges, old horse stables ... Read More
On this two-hour tour we'll be walking through the many ways that Islington has met that most unusual of human needs: the need to have fun. Fun, like all culture, is subject to the whims of fashion, and Islington is littered with traces of activities and institutions that have gone from ubiquity to obscurity. We'll ... Read More
Tours take place on Saturdays and, during the summer, on some weekday evenings. The Saturday Tours cover the history of the Tower and Park while the weekday tours are shorter looking at the Clock and its mechanisms as well as affording the views from the top of the Tower. Our guided tours are led by ... Read More
On this Sunday afternoon stroll along and around the Islington section of Regent’s Canal we will follow the history of the canal from its hey-day in the nineteenth century, through its decline in the 1960s to its subsequent re-invention as a place for people to live, work and play. We’ll see buildings old and new ... Read More
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 ... Read More
Remnants of advertising for bygone brands and businesses still cling to the walls along and above our busy streets. These are today commonly referred to as 'ghostsigns' and they offer a fascinating window into the past. Most of the ads we will look at on this tour will be the hand-painted variety applied directly onto ... Read More
A wander along Upper Street looking at remnants of lovely old shop fronts in the form of doorway mosaics, curved glass and gilded signs harking back when this thoroughfare was known as Islington's Golden Mile, offering top quality products in beautifully presented surroundings – a truly A1 shopping experience. See evidence of, and hear about, ... Read More
Who made it her mission to empower women and is linked to the first hospice in Europe for patients with HIV/ AIDS? Who stood up for Jewish women’s rights and was described as having ‘a touch of genius’? Who criticised Britain’s colonial project and defended the rights of animals in the 18th and 19th centuries? Traces of ... Read More
Tours take place on Saturdays and, during the summer, on some weekday evenings. The Saturday Tours cover the history of the Tower and Park while the weekday tours are shorter looking at the Clock and its mechanisms as well as affording the views from the top of the Tower. Our guided tours are led by ... Read More
From St Paul's via Greyfriars & Old Bailey to Smithfield, St Bartholomew's & Charterhouse. The Priory and Hospital of St Bartholomew were founded at Smithfield 900 years ago in 1123. London has a long and dark history of martyrs, public executions, body snatchers, crime and punishment - and butchery. Hear tales of hangings and burnings; ... Read More