Lesley Walks London

Clerkenwell Squares walking tour
2021-06-13 11:00 (Europe/London) | Barbican Tube, Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4JA
Monastic Past to Victorian Residential:

For a built-up urban area, Clerkenwell has a perhaps surprising number of green spaces, many of them named as ‘squares’, but not always square in shape. Some are ancient open spaces dating back centuries, particularly in the south of the area closer to the City. Here, monastic houses were founded from the 12th century onwards, including St. John’s Priory and St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. Many others closer to Pentonville are the result of tremendous residential building, by three main landowners, from 1800 onwards. This walk tracks north through Clerkenwell, looking at both types of squares and their histories.

Starts at Barbican tube station, ends at the Angel.

Details and booking

'Beating the Bounds' 2
2021-06-05 14:00 - 16:00
Islington & Hackney Border, Regent’s Canal south to the City:

Continuing our exploration of the Islington and Hackney border, walking from De Beauvoir and the Regent’s canal to Finsbury, Shoreditch and the edge of the City in Moorfields. A varied mix of City Livery Company history, ironworks, canal basins, WWII devastation, the lost hospitals quarter, a natural swimming pool and a mediaeval well.

‘Beating the Bounds’ to mark and confirm the borders between parishes is an ancient tradition, where the border was literally paced out, agreed and marked with stones each year. This is the second in a series of planned walks exploring the borders of today’s Islington Borough, looking at how this has evolved over the centuries due to a mix of changing land ownership, parish church catchments, significance of early settlements and roads, and natural features such as springs and ponds.

This walk starts at the Rosemary Branch by the canal and ends near Old St Station.

Upcoming date: Saturday 5th June 2021, 2pm

Details and booking

‘Beating The Bounds’ 1
2021-05-30 11:00 - 13:00
The Border Between Islington And Hackney:

‘Beating the Bounds’ to mark and confirm the borders between parishes is an ancient tradition, where the border was literally paced out, agreed and marked with stones each year. This is the first of a series of planned walks exploring the borders of today’s Islington Borough, looking at how this has evolved over the centuries due to a mix of changing land ownership, parish church catchments, significance of early settlements and roads, and natural features such as springs and ponds.

This first walk between Islington and Hackney boroughs follows the lines of Balls Pond Road and Southgate Road. There’s a wealth of interest on either side of the border, including a leper hospital, almshouses, inns of pleasure and ill repute, pretty 19C residential roads, market gardens, a livestock market, vanished churches, factories and a manor house.

This walk starts and ends in De Beauvoir Square (5 minutes from Haggerston Overground).

Upcoming date: Sunday 30th May 2021, 11am
