Southwark

with local writer John Constable, author of The Southwark Mysteries 
and Secret Bankside - Walks In The Outlaw Borough

Walks in July-August 2012

a prgramme of walks for Londoners and visitors during the Olympics
bringing London's past vividly to life in the present

SHAKESPEARE'S BANKSIDE
How English theatre was born in London's pleasure-quarter
In Shakespeare's day, Bankside was a bustling waterfront of theatres, taverns, bear-pits and 'stews' - the brothels licensed by the church within a 'Liberty' which lay outside the law of the City. From the Bishop of Winchester to Moll Cut-purse, this walk conjures up an unforgettable gallery of Elizabethan characters.
July: 26, 29, 31 August: 4, 6, 13

THE DICKENS WALK
Charles Dickens’ childhood encounter with the Victorian underworld
In 1824, when Charles Dickens was only twelve, his father was imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea Prison. The boy was found lodgings in nearby Lant Street and work in a shoe-blacking factory. From the prison to ‘Nancy’s Steps’ at london Bridge, the walk visits the places which cast a shadow over Dickens' entire life and inspired scenes in his novels from Little Dorrit to Oliver Twist.
July: 27, 30 August: 1, 5, 7, 14

HISTORY NEVER ENDS
London Bridge in the 21st century
For nearly 2,000 years, this stretch of the River Thames was a thriving port, its docks lined with wharves and warehouses storing tea, coffee, wines and exotic spices. It became known as 'London's larder' and was devastated during the 1940-41 Blitz, as Hitler's bombers tried to bomb London in to submission. After decades of post-war decline, the waterfront and the London Bridge railway arches were colonised by tourist attractions like the London Dungeon and underground clubs like SHUNT and SEOne. In the new millennium, the Shard towering over a new vertical city - but the old south London outlaw spirit lives on.
July: 28 August: 9, 15

ROMAN SOUTHWARK
The Romans established a settlement on the south bank in 43AD. They built the first bridge over the Thames, with two great roads - Watling Street and Stane Street - converging from the south. Recent excavations in the London bridge area have uncovered the sites of a Roman market-arcade, temples and a cemetery with a 'female gladiator - and the first inscription referring to Londinium. This walk visits takes in all these before crossing London Bridge and heading up Walbrook - one of London's 'lost rivers', close to the heart of the Roman City - to end at the Temple of Mithras.
August: 2, 8