Greater London Trip Overview
Your Guide, Declan McHugh, has spent 40 years studying and researching William Shakespeare, and is especially knowledgeable about Shakespeare’s London life. He will take you to hidden, beautiful places In London connected to Shakespeare. His passionate and knowledgeable words will summon up for you Shakespeare’s life in his London: his friends, the places he knew, his work, his language, even his intriguing love-life!
You walk in William Shakespeare’s footsteps NORTH of the river Thames. You will be shown many memorials to Shakespeare including statues, plaques, busts, and even a 20 foot (7 metre) aluminium totem pole incorporating one of his greatest speeches!
Plus – the icing on the cake – Declan, is a former professional actor and delivers some of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches – just for you…
Additional Info
Duration: 2 hours
Starts: Greater London, United Kingdom
Trip Category: Cultural & Theme Tours >> Cultural Tours
Explore Greater London Promoted Experiences
What to Expect When Visiting Greater London, England, United Kingdom
Your Guide, Declan McHugh, has spent 40 years studying and researching William Shakespeare, and is especially knowledgeable about Shakespeare’s London life. He will take you to hidden, beautiful places In London connected to Shakespeare. His passionate and knowledgeable words will summon up for you Shakespeare’s life in his London: his friends, the places he knew, his work, his language, even his intriguing love-life!
You walk in William Shakespeare’s footsteps NORTH of the river Thames. You will be shown many memorials to Shakespeare including statues, plaques, busts, and even a 20 foot (7 metre) aluminium totem pole incorporating one of his greatest speeches!
Plus – the icing on the cake – Declan, is a former professional actor and delivers some of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches – just for you…
Stop At: Shakespeare In The City Walk, Blackfriars Tube Station Meet on pavement/sidewalk outside only exit, London EC4R 2BB England
This is the starting point for the ‘Shakespeare in the City Walk’. Meet me outside Blackfriars UNDERGROUND Station. Blackfriars underground station is on the Circle & District Lines. (Be careful – do NOT go South of the river to Blackfriars overground station). There is only one exit so you won’t miss me. I will be standing metres away from that underground station exit, with a sign on my rucksack featuring Shakespeare’s face.
Duration: 2 minutes
Stop At: Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0JP, UK
A Shakespeare statue most people miss. Shakespeare’s popularity. Why you should ignore the conspiracy theories.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Church Entry, London EC4V, UK
The location of the original Blackfriars Theatre, and why you had to be rich to attend; plus how rich Shakespeare himself became.
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Ireland Yard, London EC4V, UK
The remaining fragment of the Blackfriars Monastery. Shakespeare’s thematic obessions.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Carter Lane, Carter Ln, London EC4V, UK
A really lovely, hidden quiet location connecting Shakespeare and King James.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Saint Andrew’s Hill, St Andrew’s Hill, London EC4V, UK
The site of a Shakespeare house in London, and its fate. The play likely written here.
PLUS, a church with a hidden sculpture of Shakespeare praying, and a very important document. The Researcher who makes Americans proud. The play ‘Richard 111’ and its connections to the area.
Duration: 15 minutes
Stop At: Queen Victoria Street, Queen Victoria St, London, UK
An extraordinary hidden totem pole made from a very famous William Shakespeare speech. You would NEVER find this weird and wonderful monument by yourself! Declan, who used to be a professional actor, gives the entire speech.
Next, The College of Arms and the Shakespeare family’s coat of arms. Why that honour came two months too late. Plus Ben Jonson’s joke at Shakespeare’s expense. Also information about Shakespeare’s children.
Duration: 15 minutes
Stop At: Carter Lane, Carter Ln, London EC4V, UK
On to a plaque revealing Shakespeare’s generosity, why you should keep looking in dusty attics, plus the background to Shakespeare’s two daughters and their very different fortunes.
Duration: 7 minutes
Stop At: St. Paul’s Cathedral, St Paul’s Churchyard, London EC4M 8AD England
To the magnificent St Pauls Cathedral and a breathtaking revelation about it (although we don’t go inside). Shakespeare’s best ever seller, plus his sonnets and a reasonable interpretation of his sexuality. Declan’s favourite words by anyone EVER (clue: it’s only 4 words and they are by William Shakespeare. And they are cosmic).
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Cheapside, London, UK
Next a section on Shakespeare’s amazing vocabulary, and why it just wasn’t enough.
The location of a pub he drank in and who else drank there. Plus a section on Shakespeare’s religion, and why he was lonely and reclusive.
Duration: 12 minutes
Stop At: Love Lane, Love Ln, London EC2V, UK
Up next, a bust of William Shakespeare, and the men who honoured him; which plays we would lack without them. Plus revelations about his writing style. Also why you should NOT get all starry-eyed thinking about Love Lane!
Duration: 7 minutes
Stop At: London Wall, London, UK
The location of Shakespeare’s second house, and why Shakepeare ended up in this area. Plus the full story of how Shakespeare made a marriage and then regretted it.
Duration: 7 minutes
Stop At: St. Giles Cripplegate, Fore and Wood Streets London Wall, London EC2 England
Finally, at a church he knew, the two best known actors of his age, and the sad case of his brother Edmund.
Declan finishes with another complete and hauntingly beautiful speech from Shakespeare’s last play, in which Shakespeare gets cosmic again. The speech is perfect because it is about saying goodbye…
Duration: 7 minutes
Stop At: Aldersgate St, Barbican, London EC1A 4JA, UK
Declan then walks to Barbican underground station if you want to accompany him to join the underground train system. Barbican is on three different underground lines: The Circle, Metropolitan, and Hammersmith & City Lines.
By the end of this magical tour I promise – and the rave reviews here on TripAdvisor agree – that you will know William Shakespeare, and his London, infinitely better!
Duration: 5 minutes
