You often so enthusiastically mention Shakespeare and the other great writers from the past on your travels. Sadly several universities are to stop teaching Shakespeare, Chaucer et al to appease the great unwashed woke brigade of students. We are facing a massive block on our cultural past which has to be challenged.
I worked for the Corporation of the City of London in the early 70s. I’d go in to my office via the door in the building with the angled roof to the left of the Guildhall. We had our staff Christmas dinner in the Guildhall itself, and Gog and Magog are a magnificent sight. I’m sorry you did not get to see them. I also was shown the Great Seal, still used then, and probably now. I think they used layers of a type of communion wafer to emboss into. Many times, in my early 20s, I walked to the Bank of England, with enormous sums of cash and cheques in my shoulder bag to pay in to the Corporation’s account, as every hour counted for interest. I was so much less conspicuous then the men who, in those days, had briefcases handcuffed to their wrists. I am so sad that the magnificent Mappin and Webb building opposite the Mansion House was demolished. The replacement is not a patch on the Victorian building. I have only recently discovered your channel and have subscribed and look forward to seeing all your content.
My daughter and I are going to London in November. We’ve been planning it for almost a year and I’ve enjoyed your videos very much. The Magna Carta is on my list. Your walks are so informative! Thanks from two California girls. Perhaps we’ll see you as we do our own London walks!
There is a copy of the Magna Carta in Salisbury Cathedral. Runnymede, where the Magna Carta was signed is near Windsor and easily accessible from London. There is a monument placed by the American Bar Association.
I happened to be walking in the same area on my last visit to London 2019; seems ages ago! Happened to see this Shakespeare plaque. I'm more excited that I walked where you did, John!
It’s always an absolute pleasure listening to you on your video trails throughout London, John. You’re such a mine of information, and your videos truly open another window on the past.
I envy you the "streets littered with history." How wonderful to stumble upon various scenes of history as you walk. Thanks for showing us around this interesting part of London.
@@valpayne2963 True, I am particularly interested in the pre-Columbian Mound Building cultures and enjoy visiting places like Poverty Point in Louisiana and Mound City in Alabama.
Nothing to do with Shakespeare but some of the bricks from the house of Charles Dickens are contained within the gardens of the British Medical Association.
A good walk through in the church and city .You made another video of good creativity The pigeon reminds me Thomas gray poem 'An elegy written in a country churchyard'.Great architecture of Guildhall.Shakespeare drama,comedy and play and poem are very famous in India 🇮🇳 😀 ❤ and at that time of Shakespeare university wits are also very famous . In English literature it is must to read Shakespeare in Indian courses.I also went to the site in description.Sir nobody can told us so much about England except you. You have a good knowledge about your country 'England' 🇬🇧. Really nice video respected sir.🙂💖💝✍👩💻At that time England was in control of Church Pop's rights.This is most important thing.good walk sir 👍 😀..
Just this very afternoon I have taken Australian friends to the Guildhall Amphitheatre. Threw in Postman's Park and the view of St Paul's from the roof of One New Change for good measure. I really can't beat the City when I want to persuade visiting friends to love London like I do.
What a great way to start my week. I woke up early this morning and thought I'd kickstart my day by watching your adventures through London. I've asked before and I'll unashamedly ask again - I would love to see you cross the river and start a walk from the southern side of London Bridge. Your curiosity and enthusiasm would lend itself perfectly to a wander around one of my favourite areas of London - Southwark, the gateway to the old City of London. Have a great week, John.
Nice one, John. At the end there you were just a few steps away from (Ex)Change Alley and the memorial to my ancestor's coffee house (Garraway's - I am a Garraway too)- confusingly apparently the first person in the UK to sell tea!
Always enjoy your informative walks. Thank you Mr John Rogers. Like to dream you are waking in the steps of some of my ancestors. Surnames Northrop, Holden, Nunley, Powell. Thank you again for all your walks! Blessings from East Tennessee USA.🌿🌾🌳🍃
I'm visiting London from Germany this September and enjoyed this first video I found from your channel. I'm going to visit Guildhall during my visit, so got a nice walk to that from here. Thank you all the information around the old London.
It's good to see both the Guildhall Art Gallery , The Bank of England Museum, Bartholomew Lane are now free. When I last went there only people who lived or work within the City could get in Free on a Friday afternoon. My son who was around 13 (now 30) was only slightly impressed with the Roman Amphitheatre, but enjoyed looking at the pictures. Also tiring to pick the gold bar in the Banks Museum. Little did we know at that time, my 6 times grandfather was born just a short walk from the Royal Exchange, in the 1700s.
Great walk John, really enjoy them. See episode 2 of BBC “In search of Shakespeare” time stamp 29:35 for some old photos, Shakespeare’s parish church in London and a theatre in Shoreditch. Also episode 4 time stamp 4:15 for Silver street / London Wall.
Once again a wonderful walk. Your attention to the minutiae of the urban environment is brilliant. The amphitheatre was long lost and rediscovered when the corporation was redeveloping the Guildhall site. In fact it appeared to be lost in plain site as Aldermanbury and Basinghall Street both respect it in older maps. The Anglo-Saxon use of the site was probably for the purposes of a moot. A public meeting place to administer the community with an open space and possibly extant terracing, its evolution into the Guildhall should not be much of a surprise given the propensity for singular urban activities to be conducted on the same site for long periods of time. Again a terrific walk keep up the good work.
So the books I mentioned are "Londons hidden walks vol 1,2 and 3" by Stephen Millar. They are packed with his own photographs and ram packed with all sorts of info. Perfect for the budding London psychogeographer. They are only tiny pocket sized books but each has about 380 pages and a tube map in the back each one covers 12 or 13 walks. I highly recommend them. They're only 9.99 each. A real treat and bargain I'd say!
That certainly was a cracker! I was lucky enough to visit London in May and I visited the Guildhall. As soon as I walked in that courtyard, I just said Wow. It looks like it should be in Belgium. Even the modern buildings around it, look amazing. I just want to come back and delve deeper into Londons amazing history. I hope you got a good pint somewhere before heading home. 🍺
I was lucky enough to live in The City for several years. Sunday mornings were magical, being able to walk the empty streets and discover new things. I felt very blessed for the opertunity.
Snap. I lived in Stepney and on Sundays (Im 81 years old now) I would as a very young person, take a bus to the City, and run around the empty streets which I loved, as if I owned them. Dancing around and exploring. Thank you for bringing such wonderful memories to mind
I always love how your videos start John. This one in particular had serendipity as I was in Wood Street the week before last. Loving how this is panning out so far - I'm hooked already.
Just catching up now. I love all of your walks however these are my favourite. Uncovering the history that is being smothered by the the new London. Just allows us to take a moment and appreciate what’s right there staring us in the face hidden in plain sight by the hustle and bustle of modern life. Thanks John 🙂
There are 2 doubles of Gog & Magog. The giant wicker ones which sit just in the corridor of the hall and you have the smaller stone ones which sit up high keeping watch over the hall. It’s a wonderful place, your walk & talk are doing great justice sir. Thank you.
Great video John. I used to mark exams in the CII building in Aldermanbury and had lunch in the mini park in Love Lane. There is a wall plaque in Wood Street which was where the first bomb of the blitz was dropped on London.
You mentioned the Haberdashers' Hall, which was redeveloped in the 1990s. Fret not, as that hall (the third) only dated from the mid-1950s. The previous halls had both burned down - the first in the Great Fire, the second in the Blitz.
Hi John, thanks for another great video. Apart from your book, which I've bought and Ian Sinclair's numerous books, do you have a recommended reading list of books on London, is it on your blog? I tried looking without success.
Wonderful John, thank you so much! I also wanted to thank you for recommending 'Detectorists' recently👌I absolutely devoured the three series (and Christmas special!) A real treasure (pardon the pun☺) What next? KTF🙏
I was sitting on the 43 bus just beside those lovely side gates at 17.44 last Friday on my way to do some mooching with my old mucker Cath. We did the area round the back of the Tower - a very short walk as my Achilles tendons were pinging - but we regularly go walkies starting from London Bridge. We've been as far as Pimlico in the freezing winter, and down to Greenwich when the tall ships were all moored up there, via Bermondsey and the fabulous story of Dr Salter in Rotherhithe. Not to mention the trip via Wapping to Canary Wharf in and out of the old pirate pubs. I'm sure you must have done walks down Borough High Street with the wonderful coaching inn and the Marshalsea and Crossbones graveyard. We met some lovely ladies from Southwark Cathedral down at the parish office and they gave us chapter and verse about the area. Anyway, back to your video today. Another old mucker used to work for Museum of London archaeology and he was there when they unearthed the colosseum under Guildhall Yard. He told us that when the pavement had to be reinstated above the Yard, the work was so dangerous and intricate that they brought in an Irishman who was more used to tunnelling in the Tubes and the big sewerage projects as he was the only one who had the knowledge and wherewithal not to either kill himself or bring the whole yard down on his head. My friend said he was the bravest man he ever met.
Every day for the past few months I’ve thought I must ferret out John Rogers,I haven’t seen him for ages and then you popped up on my feed so I can along with you on this walk and as usual you didn’t disappoint.Thankyou John.
Thanks again John for another great video. Glad you managed to find the William Shakespeare plaque. I walk past it most mornings on my way though to Mansion House station, and thought you would have walked past it when you did the London Walk video!
Excellent video as always. Have you ever considered/ already done a video about historic pubs, taverns & cafes of The City of London? One of my favourite places in London on the rare occasions I visit is Simpson's Tavern, just off of Cornhill down an alley (Ball Ct). A lovely little hidden gem.
Fascinating wander around the City of London especially the magnificent Guildhall and the part of the Roman Wall.Another very historically interesting video John!!!
Love your content! I always enjoy walking through my state capitol of Hartford CT. Lots of history, but nothing compared to the abyss of history of London. Keep up the great work m8!
A wonderful watch, i went along to the Guildhall on a Saturday about 20 years ago , they erected a mock amphitheatre above the original ,they had Roman gladiators reenactors, including lady gladiators , there was a big spread in the Evening Standard about the amphitheatre and tickets for the event ,from memory they found a lady Gladiator burial in London ,seems like yesterday to me where does the time go !
Another great walk John. I'm currently living in Italy and I'm in hospital at the moment. Thankfully got very good news today from the Docs! Your videos have been an amazing help to me,and have helped me through some extremely difficult times. I was born in Whitechapel, brought up in Hoxton and Bethnal Green, so I absolutely Love to see all the London walks, keep up the Great work, and Thanks again. Ps, I ran The Lamb and Flag in Covent Garden for 28 years with my Brother, and would love to see you do a London Pub walk sometime?🍻
Another excellent walk John. As a 13yr old Eastender, early 60s I would wander around the City with friends most weekends never really knowing it’s history. I’ve always wondered why the history of an area you live in, especially one as important and influential as London is never taught in school, it saddens me.
Hi John. I had a lovely walk today, along the Thames past the bishop of fulham's palace, and Fulham football ground and ranelagh mansions that has some interesting links to 1960s organised crime. It's such a historic area I would love to see what you had to say about it.
There is a lot there/here. I have an allotment in the field behind the Bishop's Palace, which was previously the Bishop's Warren, providing rabbit for his table. We are not allowed to dig below 2 feet in case we disturb any archeology. I'm always turning up pieces of clay pipe and pottery bottles stamped for the nearby pottery. Walking along the river you can still find the old sluice which was used to fill/empty the moat of the palace.
@@lawrencegt2229 I am very jealous of your allotment. When I was there I was joking about how long the waiting time would be For one. (If you know someone who wanted to give up a plot there, message me. I'm serious) The 500 year old holm oak on the palace grounds blew me away. Shakespeare's contemporaries planted that tree.
@@murunbuchstanzangur Hi Zardoz - 4 year waiting list, I'm afraid. Look them up on the web & stick in an application then forget about it, until you get the call!
@@lawrencegt2229 ill do that! I had an allotment in Barnes for a bit but it was affiliated with a church and had some very specific rules that made it not worth it for me at the time and I regret it now. Thanks Lawrence!
Brilliant walk John . I’ve been on 35 Moorgate all last week on a job where they have taken down part of a building. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the city . I’ve missed seeing some of the old beautiful buildings.I get a glimpse of St Alban church as I drive past in my lorry . Nice to see you using the maps again . Makes me smile . All the best 👍🏻
Amazing walk, thank you John. I am coming up to London in a couple of weeks. We are getting the sleeper train to Edinburgh, so have a whole afternoon & evening free. Where will we go? I can’t wait to come home 🥰
"The blood and the gore, all the public executions... probably also a bit of light entertainment, a bit of comedy, a bit of stand-up, and bit of panto..." love it John. Does anybody ever ask why the city is a corporation...?
Any walk through the City is great for me. As you covered the City elections it is worth mentioning the Lord Mayor's Show parade on the second Saturday in November. Few Londoners even know about it.
Thank you for a very interesting video! Some years ago while visiting London I bought a equally interesting book on Shakespeare's life in this part of London: The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street by Charles Nicholl. ⭐
Thanks for another great video John. As a Chadwell Heath resident, I was inspired by your previous video to follow the Mayes Brook down into Barking. I also spent some time today following the Ravensbourne - a possible future video or have you already walked it?
I worked at 11 Ironmonger Lane which is around 70m from Guildhall and in the basement there is a small section of mosaic floor from the Roman era. It is open to the public but is little known. It fascinates me just how much lower the old Roman London was to the current city street level (approx 3m). You can see this from your video showing the old amphitheatre in basement of Guildhall and the Mithreum in the Walbrook building.
Ah, mentioning William the Conqueror in the City of London? Not so fast. He never conquered the City, hence its very ancient statutes pre-dating the conquest of the rest of England. Technically he’s known, as he was in Normandy, as William the Bastard. To this day the Monarch asks the Lord Mayor of the City of London for permission to enter the City as William had to do.
I used to spend so much time cycling through, in and around the city without stopping off to really explore so your videos are a real tonic and give me something to look forward to when i finally get out of my exile. Thanks so much.
I worked in London for over 20 years and barely scratched the surface of its history. I love your videos. About 20 yards up from the Duke of Wellington statue at Bank is another of James Henry Greathead, known for his work on the Tube. You'll see a grill around the bronze base thats actually a vent for the Tube. Keeps him warm in winter!
So you have got one of Madeleines books (Mrs Robert Henrey),there are a lot more and all evocative of their location and time. I wrote a short letter of appreciation of her work in 1987 and posted it to her son at the Henrey farm in Normandy. In the letter I called her "the chronicler of the 20th Century par excellence" her son sent me a nice short acknowledgment and said his Mother really liked my description of her. I'm missing some of your walk in typing this - but I can watch it again.
Thank you so much for my channel. I recently found it by chance and as someone who has PTSD and anxiety but loves learning the history of places your videos bring me an abundance of information. Thank you.
Great video, John, it is amazing to see how the powerful buildings are represented by classical architecture, with their mighty columns - The architecture of eternity.
Another terrific walk John, thank you. An Aunt of mine married a chap who had a senior role in the Bank of England and they used to go to the Lord Mayor's Banquets at the Guildhall, she kept the invitations on the mantle peice. When I went to dinner at her house with my parents it was the first time I saw more than one knife and fork on the table lol ☺️
great stuff! wren certainly got to cut loose after that fire - pity that less than half the ones he built survive, and even fewer are as he built them. i'm always happy to see roman ruins!
Interesting the Bank of England has the double winged snake caduceus on it's doors. The is often mistaken (especially in the US) with the single snake Rod of Asclepius, which relates to medicine. The caduceus stands for commerce - and Hermes also as the god of thieves!
great stuff John, such a vibrant History London has, I admit that in my youth I had a wonderful History teacher that inspired myself to learn even more....a subject I feel the powers that be....dont want you to know.
John I'm surprised you did not mention that the Wellington statue outside the Royal Exchange has know stirrups a mistake made by the sculpture Francis Leggatt Chantry.
Thank you for this lovely walk John. I worked in Lombard St when I left school in 1962 so I wlked past many of these buildings years ago, so nuce to see the familiar amongst all the new builds. So much history in just a small area amazes me, I never get tired of learning new things about places I grew up with. Thanks for this walk, loved it 💕🇦🇺
Love all your walks, John but being born and bred in Wycombe these are my favourites. They bring back lots of lovely memories. Now reside in NZ since 1972.
