Living on the Edge: Hidden Holborn and Little Italy

Living on the Edge: Hidden Holborn and Little Italy

Explore the colourful folks who have lived just outside the City: medieval clerics, diamond dealers, Tudor courtiers and Italian immigrants

By Who Knew Tours

Select date and time

Starts on Sat, 17 May 2025 14:00 GMT+1

Location

Chancery Lane Underground Station

High Holborn London WC1V 6DR United Kingdom

Refund Policy

Refunds up to 7 days before event

About this event

Some of the most interesting areas around the City of London are places lived in and worked in by people who were not based inside it but needed to be near it. A great example is the area just north of Holborn, on the north-western edge of the City.

A medieval bishop's palace (you can still go into the crypt, built in the 1270's): a Tudor-era pub down a narrow alley: multiple diamond dealers and the site of a famous heist by geriatric thieves (the "diamond wheezers"): London's first social housing project: a half-timbered Tudor hall which survived the Great Fire: we see all these on the walk.

We also focus on exploring "Little Italy": not much recognised now, in the 1800's a few streets here were teeming with Italian immigrants, both middle-class artisans making barometers and poorer people selling ice cream and playing barrel organs.

Organised by

£24