London History Courses & Guided Walks
From its Bronze Age beginnings to capital status, London has witnessed growth and destruction throughout its long history. Join us for lively classroom discussions and popular walks around the city and discover who and what has left their mark on the city.
Watch City Lit tutor Eleanor Jackson explore some of London's secret spaces:
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A walk through Highgate: experiments in urban living
Course Date: Sun 24 Mar 2019
Location on this date: OS - Off SiteDiscover some of Highgate's twentieth century developments. We will pass Lubetkin's iconic High Point flats, walk through Waterlow Park, past Highgate Cemetery to the Holly Lodge Estate and to Walter Segal's 1950s St Anne's Close.
Walk starts on the green opposite The Woodman pub, Archway Road. (Take escalator exit from Highgate station and turn right.) Finishes at Parliament Hill Fields at the Bottom of Swain's Lane. Walk starts on the green opposite The Woodman pub, Archway Road. (Take escalator exit from Highgate station and turn right.) Finishes at Parliament Hill Fields at the Bottom of Swain's Lane.Full fee: £19.00Senior fee: £15.00Concession: £8.00 -
Hampstead and the Slade School of Art
Course Date: Sun 7 Apr 2019
Location on this date: OS - Off SiteWalk in the path of Slade School artists who lived in or were associated with Hampstead. Amongst others, we will discover where the Carline and Nevinson families lived and worked, and where Stanley Spencer and Mark Gertler’s studios were, as well as some of the sites they painted.
Starts outside Hampstead tube, High Street entrance. Ends a short distance from Belsize Park tube. Starts outside Hampstead tube, High Street entrance. Ends a short distance from Belsize Park tube.Full fee: £19.00Senior fee: £15.00Concession: £8.00 -
From the 1880s to the 1930s: how the new East End was born
Course Date: Tue 30 Apr 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetIn an area branded 'the hell of poverty', libraries, theatres, art galleries and social housing were established. Workers went on strike and activists campaigned for better lives. Walk through six tumultuous decades of change.
The course will begin with an initial lecture at City Lit followed by six walks.
Last session held at City Lit.Full fee: £139.00Senior fee: £111.00Concession: £61.00 -
Stories of London
Course Date: Thu 2 May 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetWalk 2,000 years of London’s history. Explore the lanes and alleyways of the city of London and learn about the lives of its people, both rich and poor. Initial lecture at City Lit followed by six walks.Full fee: £129.00Senior fee: £103.00Concession: £57.00 -
Medieval London
Course Date: Thu 2 May 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetWhere and how did Londoners live? What did they eat and drink? What illnesses did they suffer from, how were they treated and how did they deal with sanitation? These and other questions will be addressed on this course.Full fee: £139.00Senior fee: £111.00Concession: £61.00 -
Village London
Course Date: Fri 3 May 2019 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetLondon is made up of a series of villages, each with its own individual characteristics. Explore Shoreditch, Mayfair, Bermondsey, Notting Hill, Clerkenwell, Islington, Harrow on the Hill and Wapping, in one initial lecture at City Lit and eight walks.Full fee: £159.00Senior fee: £127.00Concession: £70.00 -
Early London: an introduction to the primary sources
Course Date: Tue 7 May 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetHow do we study London’s past? This course will introduce the methods and tools of historical analysis: what different types of primary source exist, and what research skills are required to make sense of them?Full fee: £199.00Senior fee: £159.00Concession: £88.00 -
Underground tales: London's cemeteries
Course Date: Thu 16 May 2019
Location on this date: OS - Off SiteLondon's cemeteries are a treasure trove of social history, funerary monuments and the human stories behind the graves. Discover four very different cemeteries from the non-conformists at Abney Park to Hoop Lane Jewish Cemetery.
FIRST MEETIING PLACE: Abney Park Cemetery-Meet at the main gates at Stoke Newington High Street
(215 Stoke Newington High St, Stoke Newington, London N16 0LH). FIRST MEETIING PLACE: Abney Park Cemetery-Meet at the main gates at Stoke Newington High Street
(215 Stoke Newington High St, Stoke Newington, London N16 0LH).Full fee: £79.00Senior fee: £63.00Concession: £35.00 -
Gardens of the Blitz (City tour)
Course Date: Sat 18 May 2019
Location on this date: OS - Off SiteDiscover the delightful gardens of the City of London created from WWII bomb sites. Revealing the history of the sites - including past industrial buildings, Roman ruins, and the sites of a former Wren churches and a Roman bath house - this walk spans the length of the City.
Starts outside the main entrance to the Museum of London. Ends St Dunstan in the East a short Walk from Monument and Tower Hill stations. Starts outside the main entrance to the Museum of London. Ends St Dunstan in the East a short Walk from Monument and Tower Hill stations.Full fee: £19.00Senior fee: £15.00Concession: £8.00 -
Pepys and the Great Plague of London
Course Date: Sat 18 May 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetLiving through the Great Plague and Great Fire, Pepys’s diary reveals intimate details about life, death and sex in the City.Full fee: £49.00Senior fee: £39.00Concession: £25.00 -
The “Wyldes” of Hampstead: discovering Hampstead’s northern hillside
Course Date: Sun 9 Jun 2019
Location on this date: OS - Off SiteDiscover the rural north side of Hampstead by walking across the Heath Extension to the hamlet of Northend, learning about its famous residents, its hostelry and the 17th-century Wyldes farmhouse. We return via the enchanting Hill Garden and Golders Hill Park.
Circular walk starts and ends outside the main entrance to Golders Green and involves walking across parts of the Heath.. Circular walk starts and ends outside the main entrance to Golders Green and involves walking across parts of the Heath.Full fee: £19.00Senior fee: £15.00Concession: £8.00 -
Saxons, Vikings and Normans: London from AD 900-1200
Course Date: Sat 15 Jun 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetLook at the foundations of Lundenburh in c.886 and the impact of later Viking and Norman invasions. Includes an introductory lecture, a museum visit and a guided walk in the city.Full fee: £59.00Senior fee: £47.00Concession: £26.00 -
Further village London
Course Date: Wed 3 Jul 2019 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: OS - Off SiteA further four walks around London's former villages - Hampstead, Highgate, Fitzrovia and Soho. Why did
these areas grow up as villages and how did they become swallowed up by the city of London?Full fee: £79.00Senior fee: £63.00Concession: £35.00 -
Art Deco London walk
Course Date: Wed 3 Jul 2019
Location on this date: OS - Off SiteTravel back to the 1930s to explore the Art Deco style that influenced a variety of designs, from radios and cutlery to places related to travel, entertainment and commerce. In addition to looking at the architecture of the period, your guide will tell stories of life in London from the time these buildings were being erected. Meeting outside St James’s Park tube station (Broadway exit) and finishing at the coach station.Full fee: £19.00Senior fee: £15.00Concession: £8.00 -
Chaucer's London talk and walk
Course Date: Tue 16 Jul 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetSpend a morning looking at life in fourteenth century London followed by a walk and talk around the medieval City.Full fee: £49.00Senior fee: £39.00Concession: £22.00
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