Thursday 10 September: Our London Guided Walk
From medieval intrigue to modern scandal, London's legal quarter has seen it all!
Our walk wends its way through a warren of cloisters, courtyards & gardens that make up the mysterious Inns of Court. We begin at Holborn and step almost immediately back in time, winding through the atmospheric precincts of Lincoln’s, the largest of the Inns, to examine the weird and wonderful world of wigs, gowns & other eccentricities of the English legal system. Dickens knew this world intimately — he worked as a law clerk nearby as a young man, and his loathing of the courts' labyrinthine delays found its most savage expression in Bleak House, whose interminable case of Jarndyce v Jarndyce grinds on somewhere in these very precincts. From there, crossing Fleet Street, (once the roaring heart of the press, where editors and lawyers eyed each other with mutual suspicion) leads us to the jewel of the morning, Temple Church, consecrated in 1185 built by the mysterious Knights Templar, suppressed amid accusations of heresy, sorcery and worse.
After a lunch break (not included in the ticket price, and with the option of dining under the 16th century hammer beam roof of the Great Hall of Middle Temple with its surprising Shakespearean connections) the afternoon walk continues through the Middle Temple to discover the Strand's hidden histories. An encounter with the most famous man of 18th century letters, the “Danish” church, the grandeur of Somerset House; and the remains of what was once a great riverside palace Our walk concludes in front of the glorious gardens of the Embankment with a view of London’s oldest man-made monument.
THE PRACTICAL DETAILS
Holborn Station 11 AM start. Finish: Embankment Station 3.30 PM
Tickets: £40, including entrance into Temple Church.
A buffet lunch will be available at Middle Temple Hall, paid for individually.
Please email Alison Vaissiere (alison@arvaissiere.com) to secure your tickets. Confirmation will be sent together with payment details.
Simon in action on a previous year’s walk, taking in often unseen areas of London.