LONDON: meeting outside The Black Friar pub

SAT 29TH JUN, 2013 1:00 pm

A guided walking tour of the lower part of the River Fleet’s course from Blackfriars to St Pancras. Starting off at an Art Nouveau Grade II listed pub which is decorated throughout with multi-coloured marble, mosaics, and bronze reliefs of monks. The pub stands on the site of a Dominican Monastery (and later a theatre owned by Shakespeare) which stood beside the River Fleet. The walk takes in (a partial) view of the outfall chamber into the Thames, the sites of the old prisons, bridges and wells that used to line the banks of the Fleet, the Holborn viaduct which spans the Fleet Valley, Smithfields Market (including a quick look at the derelict parts), Hockley In-the-Hole an ancient haunt of thieves and the site of bear baiting where you can now hear the sound of the Fleet flowing beneath a drain cover, finishing up at the St Pancras Old Church where people once bathed in the adjacent Fleet plus a look at a few of the interesting gravestones.

Other interesting points along the route include the Clerkenwell courthouse where the Clash were kept in the cells, the derelict Lighthouse building in Kings Cross, the site on Farringdon Rd where the Labour Party was founded, the street where Charles Dickens located Fagin’s Den, the churchyard where the Beatles shot album sleeve photos and the old Magistrates Court where The Clash were once kept in the cells.

The walking tours goes ahead regardless of the weather. No refunds due to inclement weather are given.