63. Walbrook Walk, 21 April 2023

The Walbrook is one of London’s famous ‘lost rivers’ – a tributary of the Thames which in Roman times divided Ludgate from Cornhill and played a vital role in the founding of Roman Londinium.  The Roman Governor’s palace and other high class houses stood on its bank.  Over the next few hundred years it was gradually filled with rubbish, silted up and diverted until by the fifteenth century it had almost completely disappeared underground.  Its course is still known however and on 21 April a group of 18 Conservators braved the chill and rain of an English Spring to walk along its vanished banks through some little known alleys and byways of the City.  We were expertly led by our guide, Court Assistant  Christine Jarvis, who described the fascinating history of the river and pointed out the landmarks en route including the famous Roman temple to Mithras discovered in the 1950s, the sites of two Elizabethan theatres associated with Shakespeare (The Curtain and the imaginatively named ‘The Theatre’) the lovely Wren church of St Stephens Walbrook and the spot where the hidden stream joins the Thames.

The walk ended in the welcome warmth of the Banker pub with a convivial lunch overlooking the Thames.


About to set out



On our way



An unexpected Banksy

Lunch!

Georgina Lloyd Drummond – Master’s Consort

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