Smithfield Market

Great Arthur tower, Golden Lane Estate

Smithfield, originally Smoothfield, lies in the north west corner of the City just outside the line of Roman City Walls.  The City fathers did not allow 'nuisances' within the City Walls and Smithfield was used for antisocial activities like public executions, butchering animals and Bartholomew Fair, and London's largest meat market is still on the site.  In medieval times the Charterhouse monastery and the priory of St Bartholomew encroached on the field, and the hospital of St Bartholomew, its medical school and  the church  of St Bartholomew-the-Great can still be  seen today.  On the way we will look at another nuisances  built outside the City Walls: the one time Newgate prison, now the Old Bailey Court.  And the walk take in the City's only council housing estate: Golden Lane, built by Chamberlin Powell and Bon around 1960.

We start at 2pm from 1 April to 30 September and 11am from 1 October to 31 March, meeting at the City Information Centre in St Paul's Churchyard.  The walk is led by  Susan Gane, will last one and half to two hours and the cost is £6 per person, £4 concessions, with accompanied children under twelve free of charge.