Discover historic
London Wall
and its impact on contemporary
architecture and landscape
Join Open House for a socially-distanced walking tour exploring how London’s ancient walls have shaped our city for centuries
This insightful walking tour along the route of the ruined London Wall — led by City of London guide Paul Lincoln — chronicles how the protective stone barrier, which was originally built by the Romans, has been adapted, demolished, covered up, revealed by the blitz, and even rediscovered by recent building works.
The impact of London’s wall on the historic City of London and the wider capital is immense and yet it is rarely celebrated, noticed or understood. The recent building of the London Wall Place office development by Make — featuring a series of new skywalks — has however shone a light on some new aspects of these ancient fortifications.
Providing a safe and fun way for enthusiastic urbanists to explore the city, this socially-distanced live physical walking tour is part of a series of events responding to the core themes of the last Open House festival and the wider Open City programme.
Using guide-led live audio and image sharing, participants will use their smart phones to discover the extraordinary history of the wall, its constantly changing appearance, its impact on surrounding neighbourhoods, its relationship with nearby buildings old and new, and the role it played as a symbol of division in medieval society — deterring physical threats, but also separating members of society into ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders.’
London Wall has survived the plague, the Blitz and is likely to survive the social and economic upheavals brought by Covid-19. The tour will use the history, and surviving structure of London’s ancient wall, to open up discussions about how public spaces are used by local residents, visitors and workers and the ways in which the Square Mile could respond to the impact of Covid-19 as we move out of lockdown.
Meet: Tower Hill Garden near Tower Hill Station. Duration 2.5 hours approx. Tour ends Millennium Bridge on the north bank of the Thames. Cost £12.50 / £9.50 concessions. (students/unemployed/furloughed etc)
Participants must bring a fully charged smart phone with internet connection, downloaded Zoom in advance of the tour, bring headphones; and remember to stay at least two metres apart from each other where required. Zoom joining info will be sent out to all bookers the week before the tour. Get in touch with Adrianna at tours@open-city.org.uk with any queries.
Meet the tour guide…
Paul Lincoln is Commissioning Editor of Landscape, the journal of the Landscape Institute. He has been a City of London Guide since 2007 and lives in the City on Golden Lane Estate and has a particular interest in 20th and 21st Century architecture and landscape. Paul has been guiding tours with Open House since 2016.
This tour is part of a project by Paul Lincoln supported by Culture Mile bringing together a long standing interest in talking about the City of London as well as printmaking and animation. You can find out more a londonwalledcity.com