Request a copy of our recent documentary based on the Jack the Ripper walk. £4.99 to registered walkers.

Dickens & Shakespeare

London was to Shakespeare and Dickens a wonderful inspiration. It stimulated their greatest characters and stories some wonderful some horrific. They in turn made it their own, peopling it with their own creations giving us a rich legacy that lives on. Discover the streets, people and places as they were in the lives of these great ‘Creators’ of our English heritage and find out why it is that London cast such a spell on them.

A fascinating journey to the South Bank of the River Thames through a truly atmospheric area of hidden riverside pathways, dark, imposing Victorian warehouses and cobblestones streets set amidst the nooks and corners the bygone ages of these two great British writers.

The tour takes in London's only surviving galleried coaching inn, typical of those in the courtyards of which 16th century actors once plied their craft to drunken and yobbish audiences. Here Dickens was inspired to create the backdrop for Pickwick Papers and other great works. Moving on we discover the church where little Nell slept and the infamous Marshalsea Prison where his father was interned for debt, an event that affected greatly his life and works.

You will discover London's 16th century entertainment district and learn the story of how Shakespeare arrived here and quickly conquered the hearts and minds of the bawdy Elizabethan audiences. Hear of the dying playwright who, in a deathbed diatribe against the "upstart crow" William Shakespeare, accused him of keeping his "tigers heart wrapped in a players hide." You will stand at the site of the Original Globe Playhouse and see where its modern descendent has risen phoenix like on the banks of the Thames. You will view the site of the Tabard Inn from whence Chaucer's pilgrims set out on their merry road to Canterbury.

You will enter the passages and courtyards of London's oldest market and then gaze upon the oldest Gothic church in London where John Harvard was christened and William Shakespeare's youngest brother lies buried. There will be the opportunity to see the colourful replica of Sir Francis Drake's flagship the Golden Hinde and the chance to stand alongside a 14th century Bishop's Palace where Shakespeare may well have laboured to translate the Psalms into English. All in all this is a true gem of a walk and a window into the world and city that inspired the worlds greatest dramatist.

How to Book >
Duration: approximately 1 hour 45 minutes – 2 hours
Meeting Point: Barbican Underground

Enjoy one of our London walks that you do by yourself.