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:
-
The City of London: the Square Mile
Course Date: Wed 8 Jan 2020 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetExplore the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666. Discover how London recovered from one of the great disasters and became a centre of commerce and the heart of a great empire. We follow in the steps of some of its best known characters like Doctor Johnson and Samuel Pepys and some lesser known including William Lilley and Thomas Chatterton.
London guide: Paul Sinclair. The course follows on from the HLW06 The City of London; the square mile, but new students are welcome.
The first meeting point will be Chancery Lane tube, outside number 150 High Holborn.
London guide:Paul Sinclair.Full fee: £159.00Senior fee: £127.00Concession: £70.00 -
City of words: further adventures
Course Date: Thu 9 Jan 2020
Location on this date: OS - Off SiteLondon luxuriates in literary references. We follow the footsteps of the authors, poets and playwrights, and some of
their creations, as we walk a brand new neighbourhood each week, exploring the literary connections.
London guide: Eleanor Jackson. First meeting point (10/1/19) at Green Park tube station, street level, Piccadilly South side.
London guide: Eleanor Jackson.Full fee: £129.00Senior fee: £103.00Concession: £57.00 -
Archaeology of London
Course Date: Mon 13 Jan 2020
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetExplore the archaeology and history of London through its cultural monuments, topography and material remains to more fully appreciate the rich archaeological evidence of the capital.
Tutor: Jill Hummerstone. Tutor :Jill Hummerstone.Full fee: £199.00Senior fee: £159.00Concession: £88.00 -
Unreal city: the history of London through literature from 1800 to today
Course Date: Tue 14 Jan 2020
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetFiction writers are often the first to identify and analyse a social phenomenon. We will examine two centuries of London history through the eyes of novelists and poets, from William Blake to Zadie Smith.Full fee: £119.00Senior fee: £95.00Concession: £52.00 -
London: the late 1960s and 1970s
Course Date: Tue 14 Jan 2020
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetExplore the effervescent and tempestuous decades of the 1960s and 1970s, when the hopes and aspirations of the post war generation ran up against the harsh realities of London’s declining status as an imperial metropole.Full fee: £179.00Senior fee: £143.00Concession: £79.00 -
Early London: an introduction to the primary sources
Course Date: Wed 15 Jan 2020
Location on this date: International HouseHow 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: £159.00Senior fee: £159.00Concession: £70.00 -
Plagues of London: 1348-1665
Course Date: Fri 17 Jan 2020
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetExplore the impact of plague on London during the years 1348-1665. By the seventeenth century we can read eye-
witness accounts but medicine was no nearer to a cure.Full fee: £199.00Senior fee: £159.00Concession: £88.00 -
Riverside London
Course Date: Sat 18 Jan 2020
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetExplore some contrasting riverside districts from East To West. Former docks, industrial archaeology, beautiful 18th century terraces of houses, rowing clubs, breathtaking views, historic pubs and churches, luxury penthouses, parks and gardens all feature. Places visited include Richmond, Putney, Wapping, Limehouse, Barnes, Chiswick, Lambeth, The City and Battersea.
London guide: Diane Burstein. There will be an initial classroom lecture followed by a series of walking tours.
London guide: Diane Burstein.Full fee: £179.00Senior fee: £143.00Concession: £90.00 -
London regeneration: history, politics and architecture
Course Date: Sat 21 Mar 2020
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetExplore the reconstruction of London after WWII, the decline of its infrastructure, population and economy in the 1960s and 1970s and the emergence of a truly global city by the end of the century.Full fee: £59.00Senior fee: £47.00Concession: £30.00 -
Rescue Revealed Restored: the blitz and preserving History (city tour)
Course Date: Sat 28 Mar 2020
Location on this date: OS - Off SiteThis walks covers an area devastated in the Blitz explaining what happened in 1940/41, the efforts to rescue St Paul's, the Roman remains that were revealed as well as post war restoration and rebuilding of historic buildings. Meeting place Moorgate tube station outside Café Nero. Will finish at the Guildhall.
London guide: Marilyn Greene. Meeting place Moorgate tube station outside Café Nero. Will finish at the Guildhall.
London guide: Marilyn Greene.Full fee: £19.00Senior fee: £15.00Concession: £10.00 -
Alleys and lanes of Hampstead
Course Date: Sun 19 Apr 2020
Location on this date: OS - Off SiteExperience the intricate network of alleys and lanes in the heart of old Hampstead and see how Hampstead developed from a fashionable spa in the 18th century to a thriving village with social amenities. Starts and finishes outside Hampstead tube Station (High Street entrance). Starts and finishes outside Hampstead tube Station (High Street entrance).Full fee: £19.00Senior fee: £15.00Concession: £10.00 -
London: change and challenge (1980s and 1990s)
Course Date: Tue 21 Apr 2020
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetExplore the paradox of London in the 1980s and 1990s, a city reshaped by the free market ideas of the
government of Margaret Thatcher and the New Labour government of Tony Blair.Full fee: £179.00Senior fee: £143.00Concession: £79.00 -
Discovering Victorian London: empire, enterprise and education
Course Date: Tue 21 Apr 2020
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetVictorian London shaped today's city. Discover the lasting legacy of the Victorian age, uncover its secrets, and meet some of the characters who created one of the world's greatest cities. NB. Initial lecture at City Lit.Full fee: £149.00Senior fee: £119.00Concession: £66.00 -
Village London
Course Date: Wed 22 Apr 2020 (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. Initial lecture at the City Lit.Full fee: £159.00Senior fee: £127.00Concession: £70.00 -
Bricks to Brutalism, Metroland to Moderne: London’s housing
Course Date: Thu 23 Apr 2020
Location on this date: OS - Off SiteThrough 4 walks explore an array of London’s residential styles from housing the East End poor and the modernist style of 1930s Hampstead to brutalist blocks of flats by Lubetkin and Lasdun in post-war Bethnal Grreen and suburban Metroland. NB. This coures will be taking a break week on 14 May.
FIRST MEETING POINT - OUTSIDE WHITECHAPEL TUBE. FIRST MEETING POINT - OUTSIDE WHITECHAPEL TUBE.Full fee: £79.00Senior fee: £63.00Concession: £35.00
Can't see a course you want?
Add this category to your waiting list to set up alerts and we will update you when new courses are released online.
Add to your waiting list