Historic London Walking Tour: putting it into context

There are tours of London for just about everyone. You can take the open top bus, you can sail along the river, or even cross it in the yellow Duck tour bus. Think of any theme vaguely connected to London and the chances are that you can do a related walking tour.

So when I was invited to join a Context Tour of the city I wondered what new perspectives I would gain on what for me is now familiar ground. Context Walking Tours are marketed as a very different experience to the standard walking tour offers in the capital, and everything in their marketing is aimed at differentiating them from the more mainstream offering. The tour is led by a docent rather than a guide; the tours are referred to as seminars; and the academic qualifications of the docent are prominently displayed on the Context site. Prices too mark these walks out as different from the rest, with individuals paying £60 for most walks and groups £240 to have the tour as a private one.

I met our docent Kevin at Tower Hill and we were soon joined by an American couple, who it turns out were Context regulars (in fact the vast majority of Context clients are from the US). Kevin would be taking us on the Portrait of a City walk, and we were soon exploring the hidden corners of the old part of London.

We heard stories that swung from the modern day to Roman London, the Norman conquest, the Reformation, and of course London’s two watershed moments: the Great Fire and the Blitz. Kevin explained to us how the Corporation of London had enjoyed considerable autonomy from the Crown and how its total obsession with running the Square Mile as a business led to the haphazard streets and alleys that we still see today. From time to time Kevin would refer to his note book and share with us a relevant quote from a famous historian or writer.

St Stephen Wallbrook

We didn’t venture into any places that I hadn’t previously seen, but what I did enjoy was hearing new stories that helped explain the origins and significance of buildings and monuments to which I’d previously given little more than a glance. I was particularly pleased when Kevin led the three of us into the church of St Stephen Wallbrook, which is surely Wren’s most perfect masterpiece and one of London’s most beautiful buildings.

The tour takes three hours and covers a lot of ground in that time. Having a professional expert as a guide not only means that they will be armed with a rich selection of stories, but that they will also know most of the answers to the London-related questions that may have lingered in your mind previously. The pace of the walk was fairly gentle; it was harder keeping up with the many facts that were coming our way as our guide flitted effortlessly back and forth between millennia.

I really enjoyed the walk and learned a lot about the history of London; a subject that I find increasingly fascinating the more I hear about it. At the same time I would stress that this style of tour is certainly not for everybody. The in-depth descriptions of London’s past and how its buildings came to be require a keen interest in the city’s history or in architecture. Those looking for a more fleeting tour of London’s highlights would struggle with the level of detail that this tour provides. But then I suspect Context’s pricing strategy does screen out the non-committed in any case.

I was a guest of Context Travel on the Portrait of a City tour.