TWISTS & TRANSFORMATION: Dicken’s London Borough.

Tonight TWISTS & TRANSFORMATION: Dicken’s London Borough.

Meet at John Harvard Library, near Borough tube at 6pm, to finish near London Bridge 8pm

This walk through the streets of Old Borough, follows the ‘Twists and Transformations’ of Dickens’s early childhood, revisiting early Victorian London South of the River. By encountering the traumatic twists in Dickens’s early years, as he took his first tentative steps into this new city of opportunity, we reveal something of his restless spirit, manifest in his compulsive night-walking and his feelings of ‘houselessness’.

We imagine again the old ground of the Borough, around the debtors prison of Marshalsea and in the places Dickens frequented: the quiet graveyard of St George the Martyr, the bustling fruit and veg market, Horsemonger’s Lane Jail, and Old London Bridge. These places where his imagination grew, fed by the energy and incident of this rapidly growing city. We become aware of his acquaintance with Victorian ‘low life’, and with the frequent twists in life, those unexpected hardships. These grand themes and encounters that he later transforms into some of the most vivid characters and plots in London’s celebrated literature: Little Dorrit, Oliver Twist, Nancy, Bill Sikes. By exploring these concealed aspects of Victorian London we come face to face with the inspirational back stories that gave birth to Dickens’s extraordinary fiction.

Transport to Start: Borough Tube (Northern Line)  Buses: 35, 40, 133, 343. C10

John Harvard Library John Harvard Library Entrance – 211 Borough High Street  SE1 1JA  is 1 minute from the tube exit across the junction and by St George's Church.
Edited Walk as  part of Southwark Hidden Stories Walks in partnership with CoolWalks.  Tel: 020 77012696        

Rebels & Revolutionaries Friday 26 August 2.30 - 4.30pm.

CoolTan Arts CoolWalks invites you to join us on a free guided walk around Kennington and beyond to learn about the area's rebellious past and some of its famous revolutionaries.  Learn new things, make friends, get fit and have fun.

Start at Brandon Library at 2:30pm and finishes near Lambeth Palace.

Dates: 26 August 2016 starting at 2.30pm

The walk is approximately 2 ½ miles and we would ask participants to wear sensible walking footwear and weather appropriate clothing. 

If you have any queries or would like any further information, please check the blog

contact Charlie on 020 7701 2696, or via email coolwalksinfo@gmail.com or tweet @CoolWalks.