This walk takes you through Holborn and The Inns of Court - starting in Fleet Street, which until a few years ago, was the centre of London's printing, publishing and newspaper industries before the walk leads you to the heart of legal London and The Inns of Court and their quiet gardens and old courts. Passing old London pubs, historic London churches and a museum whose exhibits might keep you awake at night!


As you follow the main sites on the route; why not try to spot as many of the following London hidden treasures as you can ?

1. Roman mosaics in St. Bride's Crypt.
2. Dr. Johnson's cat (Hodge) in Gough Square.
3. The old offices of the Dundee Courier - the site of Sweeney Todds barber shop - in the 1780,s, Todd is reputed to have killed over 100 of his customers and sold their bodies to a Pie Shop, to be made into meat pies.
4. The green cabbies' shelter in Temple Place, above Embankment - provided by the Cabmen's Shelter Fund in 1874 - very few cabmen's shelters survive.
5. The Seven Stars pub that survived the Great Fire of London in Carey Street and the wigmakers' shops that supply the areas lawyers', in the same street.

Walk: 2 miles (3km) Transport - Start of Walk: Tube / Rail: Blackfriars - (exit 8 for Fleet Street). End of Walk:  Tube: Temple (Embankment). Time required for this London walk: Allow half a day but longer if you visit the museums on the route. 

This walk is best on a weekday as the Inns of Court are closed at weekends. Please follow the links on this page for more detailed information on the places featured on the walk.

<

>

A Walk Around The Inns of Court & Holborn

Welcome  Walks  Museums  City  Attractions  Theatre  Events  Westminster Abbey   Tower of London

Fleet Street
Start your walk opposite the station at Blackfriars Pub - decorated in art nouveau style - and head northwards towards Ludgate Circus then turn left into Fleet Street. You will see the steeple of the Wren church that was the inspiration for the world's first tiered wedding cake - St. Bride's. 

The first daily newspaper, the Daily Courant was produced here in 1702.
Fleet Street lost most of its national newspapers in the 1980's - many relocated to Docklands but you can still see the art-deco, former centre of Express Newspapers at no. 121 and the former home of the Telegraph at no. 135 if you cross the road.

Dr. Johnson's House
Before visiting Dr. Johnson's House, head for a well-sign-posted alley, on the same side of the road, that leads to Wine Office Court and the historic Ye Olde Cheshre Cheese. This pub boasts that its customers have included, Dickens, Thackeray and Dr. Johnson - it's one of London's most popular pubs.
 
Walk the short distance to Gough Square and Dr. Johnson's house where he lived from 1748 - 1759. The great man compiled his dictionary here with the help of six copyists.

Return to Fleet Street and the Church of St. Dunstan-in-the-West just beyond Fetter Lane  .

St. Dunstan-in-the-West
St Dunstan-in-the-West was a well-known landmark in previous centuries because of its famous clock which dates from 1671 - it was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The clock has figures of  two giants that strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads.
At the side of the church, the only known statue of Queen Elizabeth the First, carved during her lifetime, dates from 1586 and stands over the porch.

Literary References to St. Dunstan's
The Diary of Samuel Pepys: 1662 and 1667 - Tom Brown's Schooldays - The Vicar of Wakefield - Barnaby Rudge -   David Copperfield.

The Inns of Court
Walk  through the Inner Temple Gateway by the side of Prince Henry's Rooms - the Rooms date from 1611 and contain the initials of James I's son on the plaster ceiling.
Continue along the lane to Temple Church - parts date from the 1180's.
Continue left to King's Bench Walk and turn right, then right again onto Crown Office Row - pass the gardens until you reach Middle Temple Lane. Turn right and you will see the buildings of Middle Temple. Return to Fleet Street - here is the boundary of the City of London and it's marked by  a monument topped by a dragon at Temple Bar. Wren's Church of St. Clement Danes (1682) stands in the middle of the road.

Chancery Lane
To the right of the Royal Courts of Justice (on the far side of the road) is Chancery Lane. Notice Carey Street on your left, as you walk up - home of the Seven Stars pub and the Silver Mousetrap Jewellers, dating from 1690. Continue up Chancery Lane and enter Lincoln's Inn through an arch on the left.  Lincoln's Inn - parts date from Henry VII's reign, 1485-1509 - is one of four Inns of Court in London to which all barristers in England and Wales belong. Continue into Lincoln's Inn Fields - London's largest Square. Walk to the south side of the Square to the Royal College of Surgeons which houses the Hunterian Museum.

The Hunterian Museum
This museum has been described as a "real hidden gem".  Definitely not for the faint-hearted but if you are into anatomy, biology or medicine you are sure to find this place fascinating.
Even if you aren't, the museum's collection of 1000s of anatomical specimans, along with tales of body - snatching, together with other gruesome examples of human and animal parts, collected by John Hunter (1728-1793), a surgeon and scientist, should be enough to hold your interest!

Website:

Sir John Soane's Museum
If the last museum was not for you or you still have the energy to visit another - walk to the north side of the square and at no.13, you will find a museum with rooms left just as the eccentric, Sir John Soames (1753 - 1837) left them, full of paintings and antiquities; including Hogarth's Rake's Progress.
Walk towards the south-west corner of the square to Portsmouth Street - on the left is The Old Curiosity Shop from Dicken's Novel of the same name. Now walk towards Aldwych to reach the Strand.
On the south side of the Strand you will find Somerset House.
Website

Somerset House
Situated between the Strand and the River Thames, this former royal palace is now home to the Courtauld Collection and offers contemporary art and design exhibitions, family workshops and also hosts open-air concerts and films.
In the summer, 55 fountains offer a cool retreat, in the courtyard and in winter, Londoner 's come here to skate on Somerset House's ice rink.

When Oliver Cromwell died in 1658, his effigy lay in state for many weeks here. The Queens of James I, Charles I and Charles the Second all lived at Somerset House in the 1600's.
End of your London Walk