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Flower Of Cities All – Medieval London History & Archaeology Virtual Walk.

Sunday 22nd November 2020

The walk is led by Kevin Flude, a former archaeologist at the Museum of London, a Museum Curator and University Lecturer.

A walk which explores London in the Middle Ages, from 1066 to the end of the 15th Century. In 1066 London was not yet the formal capital but as London expanded it took over from Winchester. By 1400 London was dominating the affairs of the Kingdom in spectacular fashion and had grown into a sophisticated medieval Capital. The Walk takes us from Westminster to Bishopsgate. and to the site of one of the few remaining medieval Churches at St Helens. We follow the route of the 15th Century London Lickpenny poem and look at everyday life in the City in the main markets streets of Cornhill, Poultry, Bucklersbury and Cheapside. We also visit the Guildhall and the City Wall. We will walk in the footsteps of Geoffrey Chaucer, in the muddy City Streets, exploring the unhealthy conditions and poverty amidst great riches and pageantry. We will see where the Italians, the German, the Dutch, the Jews, and the French lived cheek by jowl with native Londoners and immigrants from the Midlands.

This is a London Walks event. Look at their web site (www.walks.com) for a list of other of their amazing walks.


TO BUY TICKETS CLICK HERE:

Here is a short podcast to go with the walk.

This is a London Walks event by Kevin Flude

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The Decline and Fall of ​Dark Age London​ Archaeology Virtual Walk

Sunday 1st November 2020 ​

The first British Brexit?   The Roman Britains kicked out the Romans in 407AD, and then asked them to come back  after a catastrophic collapse.  Faced with plaque, civil war, invasion, mass  immigration,  industrial decline, reversion to barter the authorities struggled against anarchy and the Dark Ages.

Or was it?   Wasn’t it a rather a transition into the Late Antique period in which life for most people went on much as before except paying taxes to local rulers not to distant Romans?

This virtual walk explores why the Roman system in London broke down, and what really was the impact of the end of the Roman system in London.? What is the evidence?  Can we do much more than guess?  How should we regard the written records? We tramp the virtual streets of London in search of the light to shine on the Dark Ages.

This is a London Walks event by Kevin Flude.

To Book for this walk click here

Also given as a physical walk at 2.30 pm on Saturday, September 28, 2019. The meeting point was exit 2  St. Paul’sTube.

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The Archaeology and Culture of Roman London Virtual Walk

October 25th, 2020 at 6 p.m. (UK time)

 

This virtual walk is about the amazing archaeological discoveries of Roman London, and an attempt to bring to life through archaeology and Roman literary sources what it was like to live in a provincial Roman Capital..

We begin with a walk around the circuit of the City Walls, and walk to the River to discuss the origin of the London Bridge before striking inland to   explore Roman Government on the site of the Roman Town Hall or Forum.  We walk to what has been  called the ‘the Pompeii of the North’., past the Temple of Mithras, along the main Roman way to the  Bath House &  Amphitheatre before ending in the shadow of St Pauls.

To book click here:

This is a London Walks event by Kevin Flude. For more great London Walks events click here:

Previously run on Aug 3 2019 London Bridge Underground Tooley Street Exit

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New Series of Archaeological Virtual Walks for London Walks

Painting of the Roman Forum of London from the air
Painting of the Roman Forum of London from the air

This is my schedule of Virtual Walks. One every Sunday at 6pm.

The Programme is:

 ​Sunday 25th October 2020 ​​The Archaeology and Culture of ​Roman London​  Virtual Walk. For more details click here. To buy Tickets click here:

​ Sunday 1st November 2020 ​ ​​The Decline and Fall of ​Dark Age London​ Archaeology Virtual Walk. ​For more details click here. To buy Tickets click here:

​ Sunday 8th November 2020 ​ ​ ​The Rebirth of Saxon London Archaeology Virtual Walk For more details click here. To buy Tickets click here:

​ Sunday 22nd November 2020 ​ ​ ​​Flower of Cities All – ​Medieval London​ History & Archaeology Virtual Walk​ For more details click here. To buy Tickets click here:

Sunday 29th November 2020. ​ ​ ​The London of Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell  Virtual Walk For more details click here. To buy Tickets click here:

​ Sunday 6th December 2020​​ The Financial City from Slavery t​o Hedge Fund  Virtual Walk For more details click here. To buy Tickets click here:

Sunday 13 th December 2020 Myths, Legends and the  Origins of London Archaeology Virtual Walk . For more details of this walk click here. To buy Tickets click here:

Bookings will be via Eventbrite and London Walks and links will be posted here.


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Posh Flat built above the Old Operating Theatre Museum

Appartment in Tower of St Thomas Church
Tower of St Thomas Church

https://www.mylondon.news/news/property/gallery/inside-stunning-church-tower-next-18969186

The Old Operating Theatre Museum is in St Thomas Church, Southwark, part of the old St Thomas Hospital. The Church, built in 1703, by Thomas Cartwright has a fine baroque Tower, the top two chambers of which have been empty for many years. The conversion to a bijou pied a terre has been completed and details can be found in the link above.

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Manifesto for free access to digital archives

The Passenger Pigeon Manifesto is a call for cultural institutions to open their digital archives for free use by the public. You can see the manifesto in the link below.

https://ppmanifesto.hcommons.org/

It would mean a loss of income from copyright for organisations who are already short of money but on the other hand it would help greatly increase access to our cultural heritage, and, it would help preserve these items, at least digitally, into the long distance future.

So, to my mind, a good thing. I’m trying to find out how to sign up.

Please note it is not asking for low quality reproduction but the high definition copies.

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Robert Geffrye – Will He Fall?

‘Geffrye must fall’: Stand Up To Racism protest calls on museum to remove statue
Demonstrations at the Geffrye Museum after the Board refuse to remove the statue of the founder who made money from the slave trade.
Interesting developments to this story – the Government wrote to the Geffrye Museum telling them that it was not Government or Heritage England’s policy to remove statues. And in a possibly sinister move the Minister Oliver Dowden asked the Geffrye to consult the government on any move it made.

This seems to go to the heart of independence and a free country. Here is the government using its financial support to make sure independent organisations do what the government wants.

For more on this story, go here. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/13/removal-of-controversial-statues-winston-churchill-protest

Protestors at the Geffrye Museum
Hackney Mayor condemns culture secretary for Geffrye statue lobbying
This is an update on the subject
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MYTHS, LEGENDS AND THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF LONDON

Virtual Guided Walk for London Walks

Currently, not programmed.

  • Bran's head taken to Tower Hill

This virtual walk is led by Kevin Flude, a former archaeologist at the Museum of London, who has an interest both in the archaeological evidence as well as the myths and legends of London’s origin.

A Walk for London Walks.

Archaeology in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries has revolutionised our view of the early history of London while its rich set of myths and legends have been largely forgotten. This walk is designed to set that right and give an insight into London’s legends, and how they relate to modern archaeological discoveries.

According to legend London was founded in the Bronze Age by an exiled Trojan called Brutus. He called the new City Troia Nova or New Troy, which became corrupted to Trinovantum. Around the time of Julius Caesar the name changed to Lud’s Dun and eventually to Londinium. Early archaeologists therefore looked for a prehistoric City, to add to the history they could read by classical authors of a City founded shortly after the Roman Invasion of 43 AD. When the Roman system broke down in 410 AD, historical and archaeological records become almost non-existent, until the foundation of St Pauls Cathedral in 604 AD. The two hundred year gap, sometimes called the Dark Ages, has another rich selection of legends. The walk will explore these stories and compare to the archaeology.

The route starts at Tower Hill, then down to the River at Billingsgate, along the River to London Bridge, up to the Roman Forum at the top of Cornhill, into the valley of the River Walbrook, passed the Temple of Mithras, along Cheapside to the Roman Amphitheatre, and finishing up in the shadow of St Pauls.

This is a London Walks Guided Walks. Look at their web site for a list of more of their amazing walks

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Huge Circle of pits found around Durrington Walls

This is astonishing prehistoric find. A huge circle of pits surrounding Durrington Walls which is itself Britain’s biggest henge, and a mile or so away from Stonehenge, and Woodhenge. Continuing the golden age of Stonehenge archaeology.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jun/22/vast-neolithic-circle-of-deep-shafts-found-near-stonehenge?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX01vcm5pbmdCcmllZmluZ1VLLTIwMDYyMg%3D%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MorningBriefingUK&CMP=morningbriefinguk_email