📅 Please note: This tour runs Mondays to Fridays only — the legal district is at its most atmospheric on weekdays.
From the Crusades to the Cold War
A thousand years of hidden London — through narrow lanes and village-like streets
This tour takes you away from all the tourist crowds and into a different London entirely — old districts that still have their own village-like feel, with histories stretching back over a thousand years. From medieval Smithfield where peasants fought for their rights and men were burned for their beliefs, through Clerkenwell where two of the 20th century’s most consequential figures met for the first time, to the solemn grandeur of the Royal Courts of Justice at the end of Fleet Street.
The range of this tour is extraordinary — medieval knights, Crusader castles, plague pits, Charles Dickens, the birth of revolutionary Communism and the Victorian legal establishment, all within a short walk of each other in the heart of London.
St Bartholomew the Great — founded by a Crusader in 1123
The Knights of St John gatehouse — London’s other medieval castle
The Clerkenwell street where Lenin and Stalin first met
From Charterhouse to the Inns of Court
The tour that changes how you see London forever
Charterhouse — just steps from the Knights of St John gatehouse — began as a medieval priory, became one of England’s great public schools, and is now once again a hospital operating on its original mission of caring for those in need. It also sits next to one of the largest known plague pits in London, where a recently unearthed victim can still be seen.
The same area of Clerkenwell that inspired some of Dickens’ darkest writing was also, a generation later, the setting for the first meeting of Lenin and Stalin — two men whose consequences for the 20th century were incalculable. One corner of London. A thousand years of world history.
☭ Lenin and Stalin. Dickens and the Crusaders. William Wallace and the Royal Courts of Justice. No other tour in London covers this much ground across this many centuries.
The Royal Courts of Justice — the magnificent end point of the tour on Fleet Street
Pricing — 3 Hour Tour
Per Person — Guide Included
Entry fees not included. Child prices available on request. Departure 9:30am.
⚠️ Available Mondays to Fridays only.
Book via the calendar below, by email, or through Viator.
How to book Castles, Crusaders, Communists & Courts
Frequently Asked Questions Castles, Crusaders, Communists & Courts
Departure Time:9.30 am
City Location: London
Duration of Tour: 3 hours
Mondays to Fridays only (Approximate times as all tours are bespoke)
Standard Adult Prices per person (child prices available upon request).
1 Adult = £180
2 Adults = £160
3 Adults = £140
4 Adults = £120
5 – 10 Adults = £90
How to book Castles, Crusaders, Communists & Courts
Send us an email above or book through the calendar below. Alternatively you can book by using the automated booking process with Viator.
“Narrow lanes and alleys. A different side to the history lurking around every corner. Village-like districts with histories going back over a thousand years — and a very famous Communist connection along the way.”
