On the trail of Charles Dickens
A 3 mile circular walk from Westminster tube station (Circle, District & Jubilee lines) taking in places associated with the author and his works.
From the station exit onto the east side of Whitehall and go northwards
At the Red Lion Inn the young David Copperfield tries to order a glass of the Genuine Stunning Ale. Dickens himself had done a similar thing and the present pub has a bust of the author set in the wall in commemoration. The coach in Pickwick Papers sets off down Whitehall where Jingle points out the Banqueting House where Charles I was beheaded. The Circumlocution Office which Arthur Clennem battles with in Little Dorrit was situated in Whitehall. In Barnaby Rudge Sam Tappertit is established as a shoeblack in a shop under the archway near Horse Guards.
London Locations for the author Charles Dickens |
This brief Charles Dickens Biography will enhance your enjoyment of London Walks in which the writer features. It traces Dickens life from his happy early childhood in Kent, follows him through his traumatic teenage years in London, highlights his successes and follows him through to his final days back amongst the kent countryside he knew and loved as a child.
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Right along Whitehall Place and left at Northumberland Avenue
When Dickens's father was put into prison for debt Charles was sent to work at Warren’s Blacking Factory by the river at Hungerford Stairs, adjoining Hungerford Market (now the site of Charing Cross Station). Dickens's coffin arrived at Charing Cross Station from Rochester for burial in Westminster Abbey. The Micawbers also took temporary lodgings at Hungerford Stairs before emigrating to Australia.
Right into Craven Street
The interview between Mr Brownlow and Rose Maylie which leads to the recovery of Oliver Twist takes place in a house in this street. A grotesque door knocker is said to have given Dickens the idea for Scrooge’s door knocker changing into the face of Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol.
Left along the Strand
David Copperfield buys ‘Mock Turtle’ from a ham & beef shop in the Strand for his house-warming party. South Africa House stands on the site of the Golden Cross, a coaching inn where in The Pickwick Papers Mr Pickwick meets up with his travelling companions to go to Rochester on the Commodore stage coach. David Copperfield also stays at this inn.
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Right into St Martin’s Place
David Copperfield meets Mr Peggotty & Martha Endell on the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields whilst searching for Little Em’ly. The National Portrait Gallery has a portrait of Dickens.
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Go around the back of the National Portrait Gallery into Orange Street (formerly Green Street)
A shop here, since rebuilt, claimed to be Dicken’s original for the Old Curiousity Shop. In Barnaby Rudge the home of Sir George Saville is in Leicester Field (now Leicester Square). Mr George’s Shooting Gallery (Bleak House) is situated in the area .
Left into the Haymarket
Dickens acted as Shallow in the 'Merry Wives of Windsor' at the Theatre Royal in 1848. The performances raised money towards the purchase of Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon.
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Take Charles II Street opposite the theatre and go left through the Royal Opera Arcade
My Turveydrop (Bleak House) dines at the French House in the arcade
Right along Pall Mall
In Martin Chuzzlewit the offices of ‘The Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan & Life Assurance Co’ are situated in a first floor over a tailors near Pall Mall and the company’s chairman Tigg Montague has rooms in the street. In Our Mutual Friend Melvin Twemlow establishes himself in Pall Mall whilst canvassing for Veneering.
Left into Waterloo Place
Dickens was elected a member of the Athenaeum Club in 1838. It was here that he patched up a long-running quarrel with Thackeray in December 1863 just before Thackeray’s death.
At the end go down the Duke of Yorks steps into the Mall and cross into St James's Park. Follow the path ahead parallel to Horse Guards Road
The park was the meeting place of Martin & Mary Graham (Martin Chuzzlewit), Ralph Nickleby & his clerk (Nicholas Nickleby) and Clennam, Doyce & Meagles (Little Dorrit).
Exit into Birdcage Walk and go left, then right along Storey's Gate. At the end cross Victoria Street into Great Smith Street and go first right into Abbey Orchard Street
The streets around here were referred to as the ‘Devil’s Acre’ in Dickens’s ‘Household Words’
Go left along Old Pye Street and right at St Ann's Street
The Westminster Archives in this street has material relating to Dickens and the area
Left at Great Peter Street and right along Gayfere Street into Smith Square
Dickens thought the church of St Johns to be hideous, like a monster on its back with its legs in the air.
Exit into Dean Stanley Street (formerly known as Church Street)
This is where Jenny Wren lives with her alcoholic father in Our Mutual Friend.
Go left along Millbank
In Barnaby Rudge Simon Tappertit marries the widow of a bone & rag collector from Millbank
Left into Great College Street and right through the gate into Dean's Yard
Pip and Herbert Pocket attend services in Westminster Abbey. Dickens was buried in Poet’s Corner on 14 June 1870 although his own choice would have been in the Rochester area. He was buried in an inexpensive, unostentatious and private manner as requested, wishing his remembrance to be his published works.
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Exit into Broad Sanctuary and go right into Parliament Square
Dickens worked on Parlimentary reporting from 1831 until 1836 although the Houses of Parliament burnt down in 1834. In Bleak House the chancery court case of Jarndyce v Jarndyce evenually breaks down in Westminster Hall.
From Parliament Square go right along Bridge Street back to the station
The Pickwick coach crosses Westminster Bridge. On a site now occupied by Westminster tube Station was Manchester Buildings where Nicholas Nickleby applied for work as secretary to Mr Gregsbury MP.
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