We are the Richmond Ramblers. We open the way for everyone in our local community to enjoy the pleasures of walking.
We will explore some aspects of London's literary history and of London's past. It is my hope that you may see this area of London in a new light and may be encouraged to repeat the walk yourselves for friends and/or family members. We shall:
1) Stand where the Gt Fire of London started in September 1666
2) Trace the lodgings of the poet John Keats and visit the Tabard Inn, associated with the 'Canterbury Tales'.
3) Explore the riverside of Southwark, passing the 'Golden Hind', the Clink prison, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the house of Christopher Wren. Find out about the Bishop of Winchester's geese. Picnic/café lunch at either St Paul’s or the Millennium Bridge café. After lunch there will be an opportunity to visit the oldest church in London, St Bartholomew the Great, one of very few places in London where by opening a door you can enter a Norman world of 900 years ago. St Bart’s remains largely unchanged since the reign of Henry I. Several movies have been filmed here and, for fans, you can stand where Hugh Grant stood in 'Four Weddings and a Funeral. See also where the poet John Benjamin lived.
Leader: Maurice H. Booking via Mavis W
MEET: Monument Station (Fish Hill St entrance, the entrance nearest to the actual Monument) Start at 11:15 after registration
Circa: 15:00hr at Smithfield, where you can stand on the spot where the Great Fire of London was finally brought under control. Buses back to Waterloo or Tube from Barbican Station
