Shakespeare’s Globe to the Mayflower and Origins of the USA – London, United Kingdom

EXPERIENCE:

You will start off at the relatively popular Millenium Bridge and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and learn about the abject poverty that used to plague the area with one of the worst prisons in history, The Klink, as well as the ruins of a palace and the famous Borough Market.

This region more than perhaps any other has a reputation for naval trade and exploration and the Golden Hinde is just the beginning of what you will see.

Following from the beautiful Southwark Cathedral you will pass under London Bridge and see some of the huge developments that London as gone through. Refurbished Victorian docks, warships and glass towers make up for the central section of the walk before you reach Tower Bridge where things get interesting and you go a little off the beaten path.

You will visit what was Jacob’s Island, a terrible slum that inspired Charles Dickens. The area has changed in many ways but certain streets still take you back a century or two. See the place where piracy was rife and where criminals were hung by the neck.

Eastwards you go through a cherry tree park with lots of history and onto a royal residency where nearby you will learn about some of the social reformers who did so much to improve the lives of the people who lived here a century ago.

Wherever there were sailors, there were pubs and on this walk you will visit an old smugglers den where Captain Cook enjoyed himself before sailing off to ‘discover’ Australia and where Christopher Jones recruited a crew for a trip that would change history onboard the Mayflower. Later on you will visit his final resting place.

As you near the end of the tour, you will visit an old Watch House where volunteers did their best to uphold the law amongst the slums and rescue the many dead bodies that turned up from the Bodysnatchers. You will learn about one of Britain’s greatest engineers who built the first ever under water tunnel and see a historic tv and film studio that is still making hits today.

Finally, the tour ends at the Mayflower pub. A pub was already here before the Mayflower ship departed to the New World from this very spot and later when the captain brought the vessel home, it was left on the shore of the Thames a few feet from where it had departed.

Just a few minutes away is a London Underground station for easy return back to your hotel even if you stay on for a drink or one of the Mayflower tasty meals.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

See the Globe Theatre and the worst prison in London, the Klink
Explore the ruined Winchelsea Palace and King Edward III Manor House
Shop at the historic Borough Market and London Bridge
Be inspired by the history behind many Charles Dickens stories, executions, social histories and reforms of the area
See sights related to the Mayflower and much, much more

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