This fully customizable walking experience lets visitors craft their ideal exploration of London’s historic Square Mile, blending Roman ruins, medieval guildhalls, and modern skyscrapers. Guests design their route from 30+ stops, with seamless transport integration for stress-free exploration.
Our Tours take place in the City of London aka the square mile, the historical roots of London because this ancient enclave uniquely shaped the modern world. Here, medieval merchants and guilds forged systems of governance, finance, and law that still underpin global society.
Unlike our other tours this one focusses on sightseeing, Craft your own route or choose one of our suggested themes. Your guide specialising in the history of this square will accompany you to introduce locations and take pictures
1. Cradle of Limited Monarchy
The City’s 1215 Magna Carta clause – protecting its “ancient liberties” – became the blueprint for restraining royal power. Its guild halls hosted rebel barons who demanded accountability, planting early seeds of parliamentary democracy.
2. Corporate Empire Engine
From these streets erupted the world’s first megacorporations:
– The **East India Company** (born on Leadenhall Street, 1600) – prototype of modern multinationals
– The **Bank of England** (founded 1694) – architect of national debt systems
Their ruthless efficiency bankrolled Britain’s global dominance while creating corporate governance models still used today.
3. Unbroken Autonomy
The City remains a self-governing entity with:
4. Legal Laboratory
Sites like the Royal Courts of Justice and Old Bailey evolved from medieval merchant tribunals into templates for international commercial law. The City’s insistence on self-regulation created modern insurance, stock markets, and contract frameworks.
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Customize Your Exploration
This isn’t just history – it’s the operating system of modern civilization, codified in stone, parchment, and corporate charters within these ancient boundaries.
In this customizable tour we invite you to suggest a meeting place and drop off point in the City of London.
If meeting or drop off locations are outside the City of London then there will be additional costs which you can add during checkout.
Ideas for your itinerary
Bank of England Building
Threadneedle Street’s fortress-like headquarters of central banking. Home to gold vaults and imperial finance history.
Bank of England Museum
Interactive displays tracing 300+ years of monetary policy, colonial trade, and economic crises.
Barbican
Brutalist icon housing medieval wall fragments. Contrasts wartime resilience with modernist ambition.
Billingsgate (Smuggling Hub)
Ancient fish market turned Thames-side smuggling hotspot. Explore illicit trade networks.
Blackwell Hall
Medieval cloth-trading court now modern offices. Birthplace of standardized commercial contracts.
Brewers’ Hall, Aldermanbury Square
Rebuilt livery hall showcasing 15th-century guild power. Exterior’s barley motif highlights trade legacy.
Cheapside
Historic market street with surviving Tudor cellars. Gold- and silversmithing heritage revealed in alleyways.
Cheesegrater Tower
52 Lime Street’s angular skyscraper. Symbolizes modern Square Mile’s architectural daring.
Charterhouse
14th-century monastery turned Tudor mansion. Plague pit gardens and monastic infirmary intact.
College of Arms
Heraldry authority housing dragon-themed crests. Where aristocratic lineages meet corporate branding.
Cornhill
Roman forum site with Victorian trading floors. Follow the “Golden Grasshopper” weathervane.
Duke Wellington Statue
Royal Exchange’s equestrian monument. Celebrates military-finance alliances post-Waterloo.
Eastcheap
Medieval butchers’ quarter turned banking hub. “Pudding Lane” marks Great Fire’s start point.
Fen Court Garden
“Antislavery Wall” memorializes plantation financiers. Confronts City’s role in human trafficking.
Freemasonry Headquarters
Great Queen Street’s neoclassical temple. Symbolic architecture reveals fraternal influence.
Garden at 120
Fenchurch Street’s rooftop oasis. Panoramic views over Roman-Medieval-modern skyline layers.
Guildhall
Medieval council chamber hosting 800+ years of power deals. Roman amphitheater beneath courtyard.
Guildhall Art Gallery
Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces meet digital City history displays. Rotunda reveals civic pomp.
Inner Temple
Legal enclave’s 12th-century church and gardens. Where Magna Carta principles became case law.
Lincoln’s Inn (Inns of Court)
Tudor gatehouse and chapel. Birthplace of habeas corpus and corporate liability concepts.
Lloyds Bank (113-116 Leadenhall St)
Neo-Gothic temple to Victorian finance. Gargoyles depict colonial trade motifs.
Lloyds Insurance (One Lime Street)
Richard Rogers’ inside-out skyscraper. Underwriting hub for global risk since 1688.
London Bridge – King William Street & Owl
Modern crossing with Roman-era alignments. “Owl” sculpture marks ancient marsh routes.
London Mithraeum
Rebuilt 3rd-century Roman temple. Interactive displays reveal cult finance networks.
London Stone
Cannon Street’s mysterious limestone relic. Medieval monarchs ritualistically stabbed it.
London Troops War Memorial
Royal Exchange’s striking 1920s monument. Honors citizen-soldiers over merchant-princes.
Lombard Street
Medieval bankers’ row with hanging signs. “Lombard” refers to Italian credit innovators.
Ludgate Circus
Fleet River’s buried conduit below. Site of Lud Gate prison for debtors and rebels.
Mansion House of City of London
Lord Mayor’s Palladian palace. Egyptian Hall hosted imperial trade banquets.
Middle Temple
Elizabethan hall and fountain court. Shakespearean premieres funded by merchant backers.
Monument to the Great Fire
202-foot column marking 1666’s burn radius. Climb 311 steps for City rebirth vistas.
Nicholson & Griffin (90 Gracechurch St)
Roman basilica foundations beneath modern pub. Trading floor of Londinium’s merchants.
Old Bailey
Central Criminal Court atop Newgate Prison. “Defiance of royal jurisdiction” carvings.
Philpot Ln
Tiny alley with “Cheesegrater” canyon views. Medieval spice trader plaques underfoot.
Plantation Ln
Sugar merchant offices turned banks. Named for Caribbean slave estates they funded.
Postman’s Park
Victorian memorials to everyday heroes. Peaceful contrast to financial district bustle.
Roman Amphitheatre
Guildhall Yard’s exposed arena floor. Gladiator contests funded by merchant bets.
Roman City Wall, 2 London Wall
Best-preserved stretch near Barbican. Medieval arrow grooves visible in stone.
Royal Exchange
Elizabethan trading floor rebuilt thrice. Corinthian columns frame modern luxury boutiques.
Salter’s Hall Garden
Medieval medicinal herbs in corporate oasis. Salt traders’ legacy in heart of finance district.
St Alphage London Wall, Barbican
Crumbling medieval church tower. Showcases post-WWII preservation debates.
St Bartholomew-the-Great
Surviving Norman priory with Tudor gatehouse. Site of anti-monarchy sermons.
St Bride’s Church
Wren’s “journalists’ church” with layered crypts. Printing press inventors memorialized.
St Clement’s Church
“Oranges and Lemons” rhyme church. Rebuilt post-fire with maritime trade motifs.
St Dunstan-in-the-East
Bombed church turned public garden. Gothic arches frame modern skyscrapers.
St Dunstan-in-the-West
Fleet Street’s clock with moving figures. Printing press and free speech associations.
St Giles Cripplegate, Fore St
Shakespeare-linked church bombed in Blitz. Milton’s tomb and Cromwellian connections.
St Helen’s Church
“Westminster Abbey of the City.” Medieval merchant tombs with global trade symbols.
St Lawrence Jewry, Gresham St
Guildhall’s ceremonial church. Blitz survivor with golden griffin weathervane.
St Margaret Lothbury Church
Wren church with colonial merchant plaques. “Clerks’ Well” medieval site nearby.
St Martin Ludgate
Wren’s optical illusion steeple. Aligns perfectly with St Paul’s west front.
St Mary Aldermanbury Garden
Rebuilt church ruins honoring Churchill. Original stones used in US memorial.
St Mary-le-Bow Church
“True Cockney” birthplace by bells. Crypt exhibits medieval Cheapside finds.
St Paul’s Cathedral
Wren’s dome dominating Roman burial grounds. Whispering Gallery echoes with empire’s debates.
St Vedast-alias-Foster
Rare surviving Wren church with hidden garden. Goldsmiths’ wedding site for 400+ years.
Smithfield Rotunda Garden
Market’s subterranean public space. Marks execution site of rebel knights.
Temple Bar Memorial
Wren’s gateway relocated to Paternoster Sq. Monarchs traditionally halted here for City’s permission.
Temple Church
Round church of Knights Templar. Henry III’s throne site for royal-City negotiations.
Tivoli Corner
Bank of England’s curved fortress wall. Designed to deter 18th-century rioters.
Tower Street
Site of medieval royal vs. City jurisdiction battles. “Liberties of the Tower” boundary nearby.
The Forgotten Streams
Marked routes of buried rivers: Walbrook, Fleet, Langbourn. Follow brass pavement plaques.
Seven Gates
Locations: Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Moorgate, Cripplegate, Aldersgate, Newgate, Ludgate. Dragon statues mark ancient boundaries.
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