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The London Wall Short Walk

What have the Romans ever done for us? Through the City of London past all publicly accessible pieces of the Roman Wall and its city gates

Easy London Short

History

Club walks since April 2015, and a summary which goes back to Jan 2010.

Date Option Post # Weather
Thu, 29-Jan-26 a Evening Walk - The London Wall walk (parts thereof) with the Vibrance Festival of Light and Sound (by the Guildhall School) 5 cold but dry
Mon, 08-Dec-25 Evening Walk: Walking the Wall (Tower Hill to Blackfriars or Circular) 7 dry and warmish
Thu, 02-Jan-25 Evening Walk - New Year, Same Old Wall: What have the Romans ever done for us? -- The London Wall Walk 10 cold but dry
Tue, 31-Oct-23 Halloween Special -- Evening Walk along London Wall 15 dry
Thu, 27-Oct-22 Evening Walk: Walking the Wall 9 mild
Thu, 02-Sep-21 Evening Walk - The London Wall (Tower Hill to Blackfriars or Circular) 15 pleasant
Thu, 10-Sep-20 Evening Walk - The London Wall (Tower Hill to Blackfriars or Circular) [New Walk] 18 pleasantly warm
Thomas G

The London Wall walk again, really ???

Yes really , but just the first half of it to The Barbican, then we tick off the five sites of the Guildhall School’s Vibrance two-day Festival of Light and Sound extravaganza (3 of which are on the route anyway), which gets us to Guildhall Square (3.6 km walked). Then we either walk on (continue this walk, strike down to the Thames and walk some of this walk’s Roman Era Waterfront option, anything else) or retire for drink and food. https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/vibrance [Thanks go to Karan G for suggesting this]

Meet at 18.30 outside Tower Hill Underground Station’s Main Exit, facing Trinity Square.

Here the blurb for the normal London Wall walk:

This highly interesting walk follows as closely as possible the course of the London Wall as it would have run during Roman times around the settlement of Londinium, starting at the (medieval) fortress of the Tower of London and leading through the modern-day City of London past the sites of the former city gates to the westerly wall end at modern Blackfriars.

It also passes the site of the much older first Roman Fort (built AD 120) at the north westerly corner of the city, whose walls were later incorporated into the Wall (built ca. AD 190-230).Street levels would have been up to 7 metres lower than today, so many remaining parts of the Wall are now hidden from view in the basements of buildings or under roads, but the route still passes a surprisingly large number of publicly accessible exposed sections of the Wall above ground (plus one section below ground on an optional extension).

Wall parts as seen today have been much altered during the Middle Ages and some of the info panels or the walk directions point out these alterations. The route initially closely follows a signed London Wall Walk established by the Museum of London in 1984 for the section from the Tower to the Museum and passes the remaining info panels from that time plus several modern-day replacement panels.

At the end of the 3rd century, following a series of raids by Saxon pirates, an additional riverside wall along the Thames was added, but no evidence of it survives today. Nevertheless, two options are described to make this a circular walk, either along the modern-day waterfront or along the line of the Roman Era waterfront, which ran further inland.

Walk Options:
Dropout points are aplenty along the route at tube stations or bus stops.
An Extension leads to a large section of the Wall in the underground London Wall Car Park (320m each-way).
The route can be made into a circular walk by following a choice of routes back to the Tower, both add 2.3 km to the route:
· The Thames Path along the modern-day waterfront (including several small diversions around river fronting residential or office buildings);
· A meandering route following as close as sensible the line of the Roman era waterfront.
Refreshments: Plenty , both en route and at the end of all walk options. Check the pdf for details.
For walk directions, maps, height profiles, photos and gpx/kml files click here . bad walk tag
  • Thomas G
    Jan-26

    5 on this walk, including one first-timer, but not including the person that suggested this outing, on a cold but dry evening. Sensationally, 3 of the 5 had not walked the London Wall walk before despite numerous previous postings and good attendances on those. So we did walk the exact route, with the walk author doing his best to relay key info while keeping the tempo up so as not to freeze to death. We got to exhibit 1 of the Vibrance Festival at about 19.15 and took an hour 15 or so to see them all, then struggled to find a place to eat (work-from-home seems to have died a death, certainly in the City), but eventually found a reassuringly old school Enoteca by Bow Church. Tubes at just before 10. As for Vibrance: Is some of it pretty/instagrammable? Yes. Is some of it using new-ish technologies and gizmos to produce art, sometimes interactive art at that? Yes. Is some of it cutting edge/thought provoking/emotion evoking? Not sure. Memorable? Not much. Worth spending an hour and a bit of your time to see it all? Suppose so. Highlight? The Guildhall Square projections (30 minutes worth of it, bring a flask of hot something).

  • Karan
    Jan-26

    In his unofficial role as a contributor to this walk :) this walker informs the walk poster that instead of joining the walk he was visiting the Canary Wharf lights, a similar social media fanfare for some now rather than people taking the time to see the art and read the information panels. Dinner options are indeed very busy and the winter light bites are not very appealing in frigid temperatures in the windy wharf.

Stargazer

Walking the Wall (Tower Hill to Blackfriars or Circular)

Distance: Approximately 2.8 miles/4.5 km or 4.2 miles/6.8 km

Difficulty: 1 out of 10

Meet: Outside Tower Hill Tube Station (main exit facing Trinity Square) at 18:30

Return: Blackfriars (train or tube), back to Tower Hill (tube) or various other drop out points

This is a fascinating short walk that explores the perimeter of London’s Roman Wall . It passes by many substantial sections of the wall that have been incorporated into the modern city of London – a real window into history. In addition to comprehensive walk notes, the route is speckled with information panels proving interesting insights into the history of London.

Plenty of watering holes and refreshment options along the route and in the Blackfriars area...

More information about the route can be found here .

bad walk tag

  • Thomas G
    Dec-25

    I may be wrong, but I think this was she first ever evening walk on a Monday, due to the demanding travel schedule of the walk poster, but for that it was a respectable turnout of 7. The rain stayed off and we indeed had a couple of punters that hadn't walked this route before and had not seen the sights either, so the walk author helped out with information. We got to Blackfriars just after 8, I think. The Blackfriars was very busy and had no table, so we followed one guy's tip to a nearby place he used to go to when he worked in the area, Chi Noodle Bar. That was very good and we dispersed around 10 o'clock. dry and warmish

Thomas G
Length: 4.5 km (2.8 mi) or 6.8 km (4.2 mi) for the Circular Walk Options
Ascent/Descent: negligible
Net Walking Time: from ca. 1 ½ hours (or 2 hours for the circular walk)
Meet at 18.30 outside Tower Hill Underground Station’s Main Exit, facing Trinity Square.
This highly interesting walk follows as closely as possible the course of the London Wall as it would have run during Roman times around the settlement of Londinium, starting at the (medieval) fortress of the Tower of London and leading through the modern-day City of London past the sites of the former city gates to the westerly wall end at modern Blackfriars.
It also passes the site of the much older first Roman Fort (built AD 120) at the north westerly corner of the city, whose walls were later incorporated into the Wall (built ca. AD 190-230).Street levels would have been up to 7 metres lower than today, so many remaining parts of the Wall are now hidden from view in the basements of buildings or under roads, but the route still passes a surprisingly large number of publicly accessible exposed sections of the Wall above ground (plus one section below ground on an optional extension).
Wall parts as seen today have been much altered during the Middle Ages and some of the info panels or the walk directions point out these alterations. The route initially closely follows a signed London Wall Walk established by the Museum of London in 1984 for the section from the Tower to the Museum and passes the remaining info panels from that time plus several modern-day replacement panels.
At the end of the 3rd century, following a series of raids by Saxon pirates, an additional riverside wall along the Thames was added, but no evidence of it survives today. Nevertheless, two options are described to make this a circular walk, either along the modern-day waterfront or along the line of the Roman Era waterfront, which ran further inland.
Walk Options:
Dropout points are aplenty along the route at tube stations or bus stops.
An Extension leads to a large section of the Wall in the underground London Wall Car Park (320m each-way).
The route can be made into a circular walk by following a choice of routes back to the Tower, both add 2.3 km to the route:
· The Thames Path along the modern-day waterfront (including several small diversions around river fronting residential or office buildings);
· A meandering route following as close as sensible the line of the Roman era waterfront.
Refreshments: Plenty , both en route and at the end of all walk options. Check the pdf for details.


For walk directions, maps, height profiles, photos and gpx/kml files click here . bad walk tag

  • Thomas G
    Jan-25

    10 met in cold but dry weather and took 105 minutes for the walk, including the extension through the underground car park on London Wall to a big piece of wall in Bay 52 (6 did the out-and-back while the other 4 waited at the info panel outside the car park). The group showed an increasing interest in the info panels and cgi drawings as we went along, which is good (short of reading the walk directions, but at least something). Dinner for 5 at The Black Friars, drinks for the rest.

Stargazer

Walking the Wall (Tower Hill to Blackfriars or Circular)

Distance: Approximately 2.8 miles/4.5 km or 4.2 miles/6.8 km

Difficulty: 1 out of 10

Meet: Outside Tower Hill Tube Station (main exit facing Trinity Square) at 18:30

Return: Blackfriars (train or tube), back to Tower Hill (tube) or various other drop out points

This is a fascinating short walk that explores the perimeter of London’s Roman Wall. It passes by many substantial sections of the wall that have been incorporated into the modern city of London – a real window into history. In addition to comprehensive walk notes, the route is speckled with information panels proving interesting insights into the history of London.

More information about the route can be found here.

Enjoy the walk!

bad walk tag

  • Thomas G
    Oct-23

    13 walkers met at the alloted time and place, including 1 relative of a regular and 1 other first-timer. We then picked up 1 other at Aldgate and another one on Bevis Marks. By that point, the group had already managed to loose the leading/non-leading walk author and it took a while for group cohesion to be restored. Surprisingly, the majority of the group (Londoners by all means) seemed to not having seen most of the sites visited before, so the pace was slowed down by reading info panels etc. We got to Blackfriars around 20.30, and the group then split about 50/50 into drinkers (===> The Black Friar) and eaters (===> Terra Rossa). dry 15

Stargazer

Thursday Evening: Walking the Wall (Tower Hill to Blackfriars or Circular)

Distance: Approximately 2.8 miles/4.5 km or 4.2 miles/6.8 km

Difficulty: 1 out of 10

Meet: Outside Tower Hill Tube Station (main exit facing Trinity Square) at 18:30

Return: Blackfriars (train or tube), back to Tower Hill (tube) or various other drop out points

This is a fascinating short walk that explores the perimeter of London’s Roman Wall. It passes by many substantial sections of the wall that have been incorporated into the modern city of London – a real window into history. In addition to comprehensive walk notes, the route is speckled with information panels proving interesting insights into the history of London.

More information about the route can be found here.

Enjoy the walk!

bad walk tag

  • Anonymous
    Oct-22

    9 including one latecomer on a mild night. A really interesting walk along the Wall with many of the extant sections looking very impressive in the dark. Pubs near Blackfriars were very busy. I think about 6 ate at Rudds but it was too noisy for me.

  • Sandy
    Oct-22

    PS that comment was from me not "Anonymous" - Google logged me into the wrong account Sandy

Thomas G
Length: 4.5 km (2.8 mi) or 6.8 km (4.2 mi) for the Circular Walk Options
Ascent/Descent: negligible
Net Walking Time: ca. 1 ½ or 2 hours
Meet at 18.30 outside Tower Hill Underground Station’s Main Exit, facing Trinity Square.
This highly interesting walk follows as closely as possible the course of the London Wall as it would have run during Roman times around the settlement of Londinium, starting at the (medieval) fortress of the Tower of London and leading through the modern-day City of London past the sites of the former city gates to the westerly wall end at modern Blackfriars.
It also passes the site of the much older first Roman Fort (built AD 120) at the north westerly corner of the city, whose walls were later incorporated into the Wall (built ca. AD 190-230).Street levels would have been up to 7 metres lower than today, so many remaining parts of the Wall are now hidden from view in the basements of buildings or under roads, but the route still passes a surprisingly large number of publicly accessible exposed sections of the Wall above ground (plus one section below ground on an optional extension).
Wall parts as seen today have been much altered during the Middle Ages and some of the info panels or the walk directions point out these alterations. The route initially closely follows a signed London Wall Walk established by the Museum of London in 1984 for the section from the Tower to the Museum and passes the remaining info panels from that time plus several modern-day replacement panels.

At the end of the 3rd century, following a series of raids by Saxon pirates, an additional riverside wall along the Thames was added, but no evidence of it survives today. Nevertheless, two options are described to make this a circular walk, either along the modern-day waterfront or along the line of the Roman Era waterfront, which ran further inland.

Walk Options:
Dropout points are aplenty along the route at tube stations or bus stops.
An Extension leads to a large section of the Wall in the underground London Wall Car Park (320m each-way).
The route can be made into a circular walk by following a choice of routes back to the Tower, both add 2.3 km to the route:
· The Thames Path along the modern-day waterfront (including several small diversions around river fronting residential or office buildings);
· A meandering route following as close as sensible the line of the Roman era waterfront.

Refreshments: Plenty , both en route and at the end of all walk options. Check the pdf for details.

For walk directions, maps, height profiles, photos and gpx/kml files click here. bad walk tag

  • Anonymous
    Sep-21

    Hi Thomas, looking forward to the walk this evening Anne

  • Thomas G
    Sep-21

    15 in pleasant weather We needed 100 minutes for the route, with all seemingly enjoying the sites visited and the facts conveyed via info panels, text or speech. Some London-Lifers confessed to not having seen some of the stuff ever before, which is of course a great result for the walk author. Most finished with a courtesy visit to The Black Friar, where some of those may still be for all we know...

Thomas G
Length: 4.5 km (2.8 mi) or 6.8 km (4.2 mi) for the Circular Walk Options
Ascent/Descent: negligible
Net Walking Time: ca. 1 ½ or 2 hours,
Toughness: 1 out of 10
Meet at 18.30 outside Tower Hill Underground Station’s Main Exit, facing Trinity Square.
This highly interesting walk follows as closely as possible the course of the London Wall as it would have run during Roman times around the settlement of Londinium, starting at the (medieval) fortress of the Tower of London and leading through the modern-day City of London past the sites of the former city gates to the westerly wall end at modern Blackfriars. It also passes the site of the much older first Roman Fort (built AD 120) at the north westerly corner of the city, whose walls were later incorporated into the Wall (built ca. AD 190-230).
Street levels would have been up to 7 metres lower than today, so many remaining parts of the Wall are now hidden from view in the basements of buildings or under roads, but the route still passes a surprisingly large number of publicly accessible exposed sections of the Wall above ground (plus one section below ground on an optional extension ). Wall parts as seen today have been much altered during the Middle Ages and some of the info panels or the walk directions point out these alterations. The route initially closely follows a signed London Wall Walk established by the Museum of London in 1984 for the section from the Tower to the Museum and passes the remaining info panels from that time plus several modern-day replacement panels.
At the end of the 3rd century, following a series of raids by Saxon pirates, an additional riverside wall along the Thames was added, but no evidence of it survives today. Nevertheless, two options are described to make this a circular walk , either along the modern-day waterfront or along the line of the Roman Era waterfront, which ran further inland.

Walk Options:
Dropout points are aplenty along the route at tube stations or bus stops.
An Extension leads to a large section of the Wall in the underground London Wall Car Park (320m each-way).
The route can be made into a circular walk by following a choice of routes back to the Tower, both add 2.3 km to the route:
· The Thames Path along the modern-day waterfront (including several small diversions around river fronting residential or office buildings);
· A meandering route following as close as sensible the line of the Roman era waterfront.
Refreshments: Plenty , both en route and at the end of all walk options. Check the pdf for details.

For walk directions, maps, height profiles, photos and gpx/kml files click here . bad walk tag
  • DAC
    Sep-20

    Informative instructions. Intend going on what should be a very interesting walk.

  • Anonymous
    Sep-20

    It sounds an interesting walk. I am in!

  • Anonymous
    Sep-20

    I arrived late but did the walk. It is lovely despite it became a bit dark for the final bit of the walk.

  • Thomas G
    Sep-20

    Ok, so 17 walkers on time, plus (as per the previous comment) 1 late arrival, i.e. 18 in total, on a pleasantly warm evening. There is plenty of information to take in on this walk, both from the written directions as well as just from info panels encountered en route. It is ambitious trying to read and digest everything on a late summer evening walk, so we focused on the highlights and it took 90 minutes to get to Ludgate Hill, near the end of the main walk route, where we turned the corner just as St. Paul's bells were ringing for 8 o'clock. On to Blackfriars, where 8 decamped to The Black Friar. Of those, 5 went on to walk along the Thames back towards the start, with 2 peeling off en route for buses and 3 finishing at London Bridge.