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River Fleet (Blackfriars to St Pancras) Guided Walking Tour
​ with Paul Talling (author of London's Lost Rivers)

​​'Paul Talling is a connoisseur of these lost waterways' - BBC The One Show

Pic courtesy of Dick Millard

Pic courtesy of David Jenner

Tickets must be purchased in ADVANCE from WeGotTickets

A deatiled 4 hour guided (above ground) walking tour of the lower part of the lost River Fleet’s course. Starting off outside an Art Nouveau Grade II listed pub which is decorated throughout with multicoloured marble, mosaics, and bronze reliefs of monks. The pub stands on the site of a Dominican Monastery which stood beside the River Fleet. The walk takes in (a partial) view of the outfall chamber into the Thames, a talk about the London sewer system, 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, Smithfield Market (including a brief look at the defunct 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 fascinating points along the route include the Clerkenwell courthouse where the Clash were kept in the cells, the 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 even the hotel where Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet worked in his youth!

At the end: Maybe a pub (The Cobden Arms or the Old Eagle -  family run pubs that serves good value decent food) 

The Clerk's Well on the bank of the Fleet

Derelict part of Smithfield Market

Next date with available tickets: London's Lost River Fleet walking tour with author Paul Talling: Thursday 25 May 2023
​
Tickets must be purchased in advance from: WeGotTickets
Tickets are limited and do tend to sell out quickly, so if it says 'sold out' or 'no tickets available' then no more tickets are available for that date.​​

​​To be notified of new dates, please join the mailing list by completing the contact form at the bottom of this page 

Tickets: £15.50 + booking fee
Meeting outside The Blackfriar pub - 174 Queen Victoria Street, Blackfriars, London, EC4V 4EG 
Rail & tube: Blackfriars. Bus route 45,63, 100 & 388
Duration of Walk: Approx 4  hours. Ending between Kings Cross/St Pancras and Mornington Crescent.

​I’m a Londoner by birth, but there’s so much of it, it’s impossible to every know it all. These are guided walks unlike any others. The groups are small and many people are regulars. You have to book online months in advance, and when new walks are announced most of them are full within a day of the email going out! Paul is an absolute mine of information, not just about the history of the places on the walk, but everything else too. It’s a real mix of Paul’s own lived experience and his meticulous research. The tours feel really informal and personal – unscripted and relaxed, and always ending at a ‘real boozer'. 
​Robin (www.eastbournediary.co.uk) 

2021 - St Pancras Old Church

1827 - Bathers on the banks of the Fleet next to St Pancras Old Church