Free Walk in London - Walk in London Guide

Distance 2.5 miles
Start of walk: Westminster Underground Station.

Exit Westminster Underground Station and turn right into Bridge Street. Cross Cannon Row, turn right into Parliament Street, and walk up the right-hand side.

The Cenotaph
The Cenotaph, in Whitehall, was initially a wood and plaster construction built for the first anniversary of the Armistice in 1919. The public's enthusiasm for the structure was spontaneous and they covered the base of the monument in wreaths to the dead and missing from The Great War.
it was decided that The Cenotaph should become a permanent and lasting memorial.
Unveiled in 1920, the monument, designed and built by Edwin Lutyens and made from Portland stone was inscribed with the words "The Glorious Dead".
Every year on the Sunday nearest to 11 November at 11am, a Remembrance Service is held at the Cenotaph to commemorate British and Commonwealth servicemen and women who died in the two World Wars and later conflicts. The Queen, church leaders, politicians, the armed and auxiliary forces, gather to pay respect to those who gave their lives defending others.

Just beyond the Cenotaph, Parliament Street becomes Whitehall. Cross the road to get to Downing Street.

Downing Street
This famous street was built around 1680, by Sir George Downing, a diplomat, spy and turncoat who fancied himself as a bit of a property speculator. Diarist Samuel Pepys described him "a perfidious rogue". The present Number 10 is made up of two houses joined together: Downing's cheap terrace house at the front, with its unpretentious facade and a much grander building at the back, overlooking Horse Guards Parade.
The house on Horse Guards was built around 1677 and was far grander and impressive than the terrace behind.
In 1738 King George II offered both the house on Downing Street, and the house overlooking Horse Guards, to Sir Robert Walpole, who held the title First Lord of the Treasury and effectively served as the first prime minister.
Walpole declined it as a personal gift, but, accepted it as an official residence for the holder of the premiership.No 11 is the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Did You Know? The first house built on the site of Number 10 was a large building rented out to Sir Thomas Knyvet who was a Member of Parliament. His claim to fame was arresting Guy Fawkes for his part in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Prime Minister Asquith's wife found Number 10 "an inconvenient house with three poor staircases" and Churchill called it "shaky and lightly built",

Walk back down Parliament Street to government offices on the corner of King Charles Street

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Victorian architect, George Gilbert Scott designed this impressive building which was completed in 1868. Scott had initially come up with a Gothic design, but the then Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston rejected the plans and insisted on a classical style, resulting in Scott gong back to his drawing board and coming up with a design in Italianate style.The building is now open to the public each year over Open House Weekend.Did You Know? It has usually been presumed by historians that the Great Plague of 1665 broke out at the top-end of Drury Lane, but in his "Letter to a Person of Quality," Dr. Hodges states it as a fact that the pestilence first broke out in Westminster, and that it was carried eastwards by contagion.

At the end of Parliament Street turn right into Great George Street, then left to cross into Parliament Square at the traffic lights.

Parliament Square
Statues of British politicians are dotted in and around Parliament Square with foreign statesmen represented by statues of Nelson Mandela, Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, by Jacob Epstein, together with the figure of Abraham Lincoln who stands outside the old Middlesex Guildhall.
The Lincoln monument is a copy of the statue by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in Chicago.
Here you can find a separate, detailed page about the House s of Parliament, Big Ben and the Jewel Tower.Did You Know? Pigeons give the statue of Sir Winston Churchill a wide berth these days - an electrical current runs through the head of the monument to deter the birds from perching on the great statesman's head.

Cross Parliament Square

Middlesex Guildhall
Standing on the site of an earlier guildhall this impressive Renaissance-style building is the home of The Supreme Court and has been directly linked with justice and the law for nearly a millennium.
Originally, the site was occupied by Westminster Abbey's Sanctuary Tower and Old Belfry and it was where fugitives could seek refuge on an island at the junction of the Tyburn and the Thames.
Built in Portland stone, it features friezes on the facade depicting Magna Carter, Henry II granting a charter to Westminster and Lady Jane Grey accepting the crown.

Leaving the square, cross Broad Sanctuary opposite the entrance to Westminster Abbey

Methodist Central Hall
Built in 1849-51, in Viennese Baroque style; the Methodist Central Hall stands across the road in Storey's Gate. It was once used as a meeting place for a fledgling United Nations.
Did You Know? The basement housed hundreds of people every night for the duration of the war and became the largest air raid shelter in England.

Pass to the left of the Westminster Schoolboys' Memorial then bear left through the arched gateway into Dean's Yard. Turn left along the north side of the yard, then right at the entrance to the Abbey Cloisters. Pass the Chapter Office and a gateway on the left leading to Little Dean's Yard and the precincts of Westminster School.

Little Dean's Yard and Westminster School
it is probable that Westminster Abbey had its own school before 1200. After the abbey became a cathedral, in 1540, the school became the King's Grammar School, with forty scholars. The Yard is a secluded enclave on the original Thorney Island shared between Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster.
On the North side of Yard is Ashburnham House, built around 1662, by Inigo Jones or his pupil John Webb. It is the best example in London of a fine mid-17th-century house.

Leave Dean's Yard by the gateway in the left-hand corner and turn left into College Street. Cross over and turn right into Barton Street.

Barton Street
Here you will find some extremely well-preserved Georgian houses. Except for Numbers 2 and 8, the houses numbered 1-14,are original.
Did You Know? T E Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") lived at No 14. An inscription on the wall of No2 reads: "Peace on Thy House O Passer By".

Bear left into Cowley Street, then bear right and walk on, crossing Great Peter Street into Lord North Street (with its fine examples of 18th-century houses). Turn right into Smith square.

Smith Square
The Square is home to the splendid Baroque style, St John's church, built by Thomas Archer between 1713 - 28 and now widely known as an excellent concert venue, attracting internationally renowned artists and performers. The church has the nickname "Queen Anne's Footstool.
The headquarters of the Conservative Party (Tory Party) can be found at No 32 Smith Square.
Did You Know? The name Tory - used for members of the Conservative Party - was once an insult. It comes from the Irish word toiridhe meaning a "pursuer", It was used to describe Irish robbers who preyed on travellers.

Leave Smith Square by walking up the right-hand side of Dean Bradley Street. Cross over Horseferry Road into Dean Ryle Street. Continue along John Islip street, crossing Page Street, Marsham Street and Bulinga Street and cross the road at the rear of the Tate Britain.Turn left into Atterbury Street and at the end cross Millbank and turn right. Walk towards Vauxhall Brdge and bear left into a small garden.

Vauxhall Bridge Gardens

The garden with seats and a sculpture by Henry More is on the site of Millbank Penitentiary from which, between 1816 and 1867, convicts sentenced to be transported embarked on their journey from here.

Return along Millbank by the side of the River Thames and Tate Britain on the left.Continue walking and turn right to cross Lambeth Bridge. After crossing, take the pedestrian route to the Albert Embankment on the left for clear views of Lambeth Palace.

Lambeth palace

Lambeth Palace has been the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury for nearly eight hundred years. The 15th-century Lollards Tower and the Gatehouse, together with the 13th-century Crypt, form the oldest part of the Palace today.
The Great Hall, houses the Lambeth Palace Library. The former church of St Mary is next to Lambeth Palace and now houses the Museum of Garden History in memory of John Tradescant, Charles I's gardener.
Did you Know? William Bligh, of the Bounty, is buried here.

Re-cross Lambeth Bridge and turn right, then right again into Victoria Tower Gardens.

Victoria Tower Gardens
In this small triangle are the Buxton Drinking Fountain, commemorating the emancipation of slaves, the statue of suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928); and a copy of "The Burghers of Calais" by Auguste Rodin.

Exit the gardens into Abingdon Street opposite the Jewel Tower.

The Jewel Tower
The Jewel Tower was built in 1365 to house the monarch's personal treasure and it continued to function for this purpose until the death of Henry VIII.Fortunately, the Tower was built into the palace's defensive walls but was not attached to the main buildings, so the great fire of 1834, didn't reach its walls. Only four sections of the medieval Palace of Westminster, remain: The Jewel Tower, along with, Westminster Hall, the Cloisters and Chapter House of St Stephen's Tower, and the Chapel of St Mary's Undercroft.

Walk up the right-hand side of Abingdon and St margaret's Streets, pass the Houses of Parliament. Cross Bridge Street, turn right and return to Westminster Underground Station.End of Walk - Hope you have enjoyed it!