Bankside and Southwark: Shakespeare's Other Bank: audio walk in London
The bank where London came to play and to sin, beyond the City's control: the bridge gate with thirty heads, the bridge that ended up in Arizona, the church of the ferryman, the replica of Drake's ship, the prison that gave its name to all the others, the riverside where Pepys watched London burn, bears and theatres, and the bridge that swayed.
1.1 km · ≈ 48 min · 13 stops · ES / EN
What this walk is about
You start at London Bridge, where the gate on this bank displayed more than thirty heads, and where Wyatt's rebels waited in vain to stop Mary marrying Philip of Spain; the bridge that came afterwards was sold and rebuilt in the Arizona desert. The cathedral holds the legend of the miserly ferryman, Shakespeare's actor brother and the chapel where heretics were tried. In front of the replica of the Golden Hinde, you'll hear how Drake emptied the galleon its sailors called the Cacafuego. Then comes a bishop's palace brought back to light by a mustard fire, the Clink, the pub that isn't Pepys's, the Rose, the bear pits, the Globe that burned down after a cannon shot, and a plaque that promises Wren and Catherine of Aragon without a shred of proof. You finish on the new bridge that swayed, looking at the City from the other bank.
- Start
- A street above the river, heads above the gate
- Finish
- The bridge that started to dance
- Who it is for
- A walk for anyone curious about theatre and Shakespeare and social history and entertainment.
- Languages
- Spanish and British English
- Underfoot
- The walk is mostly level. The route notes mention stairs or steps on the walk or its approaches.