The History of Walking with David Harrison from Footways

Episode type: London Walking Festival 2026 Special (final episode)Recorded at: Church of St. Bartholomew the Great, LondonGuest: David Harrison, co-founder of Footways and creator of the Historic Ways mapIn the final walking festival special of the series, Michael talks to David Harrison at St Bartholomew the Great about the deep history of walking in London. David traces the surviving evidence of the city's pedestrian past, from Portland stone pavements at Lincoln's Inn to an 18th century "low traffic neighbourhood" at Queen Anne's Gate. He tells the remarkable stories of Ben Jonson and John Taylor, who both walked from London to Scotland in 1618 by entirely different routes, and maps out the lost medieval pilgrimage route from London to Walsingham. The conversation takes in Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrims, Dickens and Bob Cratchit, 400,000 Victorian commuters, the wealth of medieval monasteries around Smithfield, and the modern revival of pilgrimage walking through the London Walking Festival.In this episode:Early pavements surviving in London at King's Bench, Lincoln's Inn and St Paul'sQueen Anne's Gate as an early low traffic neighbourhoodSamuel Pepys' walking commute across LondonLancelot Andrews walking from Cambridge as a studentBen Jonson's 1618 walk to Edinburgh via the east coastJohn Taylor the Water Poet's Penniless Pilgrimage via the west coastThe Canterbury Tales route along the A2The lost medieval pilgrimage route from London to WalsinghamThe Greenlink Walk from Epping Forest to Peckham RyeWalking Post's London Diagonal routeThe Essex Way from Epping Forest to Harwich400,000 people walking into the City of London daily in the Victorian eraBob Cratchit and Dickens walking from Camden to the CityThe monasteries of Smithfield and ClerkenwellFilth and Health conference, 26 June at Bart's HospitalFootways Explore more London National Park City Podcasts