Once again we are delighted to be taking part in the Footprints of London Literary Festival throughout March.
We have walks in Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia, Islington and Waterloo, including two new ones this year: Finsbury in Print: from Black Dwarf to Spare Rib and Waterloo in Fiction as well as some old favourites
Last week Oonagh took a journalist from the Telegraph for a sneak preview of her Conrad’s Secret Agent and Anarchism in Fitzrovia, walk.
You can find details of all our walks here
Saturday 26th July 11am (lasts about two hours)
Start and Finish Islington Museum – 245 St John Street London EC1V 4NB
Free but booking required. Donations to Freightliners Farm welcome
There is little animal life apparent in today’s Islington other than domestic pets and squirrels in the Squares. It was not always thus! Even into the twentieth century, horse-drawn transport was still in use in London. In mediaeval times, instead of today’s built-up landscape we would have seen sheep and cattle grazing on the land owned by the great religious houses of Clerkenwell and St Paul’s and watered by the springs water that first drew people to settle here.
Discover how different kinds of animals shaped Islington’s development from open fields to inner city. Find out about the significance of animals for food, trade, transport and entertainment; see what it was like for humans and animals to live so closely together, and how their relationship changed over time.
Before or after the walk, why not visit Islington Museum’s Beastly Islington Exhibition.
William Danemann established the firm in Northampton Street, Islington in 1893 and this picture dates from the late 1940s or early 1950s. The men have reason to look pleased with themselves; from the 1950s Danemann was one of the largest London manufacturers of grand pianos. A concert grand was ordered by the new Royal Festival Hall in 1951 and ‘boudoir’ grands could be found in found at British Embassies in all parts of the world. Perhaps the firm was best known for the school uprights that were made in their hundreds for education authorities, including the old London County Council.
The chap in front with the specs and moustache is my father – Tim McCarthy; behind him (2nd left) is, I think, Charlie Samuels with Sid Smith (?) on the right in the striped tie.
Capital Walks in London 