Cornhill to St Giles · London’s darker side
The Temple,& the Last Bowl London has not finished with its dead.
13 historical stops
5.8 km about 3.6 miles
24 pages to take with you
A Roman temple, an arena, a medieval charnel house and a church set alight to force a man out. Follow the old city from a narrow Cornhill alley to St Giles, where the memory of a condemned prisoner’s last drink closes the walk.
Check the Etsy listing for availability and the current price. Digital PDF; no physical book is posted.
Before you set off
Leave time for the doors that open. The route takes around 85–100 minutes of moving time. Allow 3–4 hours for reading, the Mithraeum and coffee; other interiors add time.
01 Start at Cornhill, finish at St Giles Begin by the Jamaica Wine House in St Michael’s Alley, near Bank station. Finish at St Giles-in-the-Fields, near Tottenham Court Road. Follow the directions in the guide between stops.
02 Book the free Mithraeum visit Admission is free. Booking ahead guarantees entry; the venue is closed on Mondays. Choose your visit time before you set off and check the venue’s access and facilities information.
Plan and book your Mithraeum visit ↗ 03 Check Temple Church’s visiting hours Sightseeing hours vary around the church’s services and events. Admission is charged separately from the guide. Check the daily calendar and current prices before planning an interior visit.
Temple Church hours and admission ↗ 04 Use the pavement at Temple Bar Stop beside the Royal Courts of Justice to look towards the Temple Bar Memorial on Fleet Street. Do not enter the traffic island. The surviving historic gate stands elsewhere, at Paternoster Square.
Visitor information checked 11 September 2026 . Follow the venue links for current opening times and access.
The walk at a glance
Thirteen places. The interesting thing is often the gap between the building in front of you and what happened on its site.
01 Cornhill 02 London Mithraeum 03 Guildhall Yard 04 St Mary-le-Bow 05 St Paul’s 06 Newgate 07 St Sepulchre’s 08 Smithfield 09 St Bride’s 10 Temple Church 11 Temple Bar Memorial, Fleet Street 12 Lincoln’s Inn Fields 13 St Giles’ Bowl Inside the guide
History you can carry down the street. Directions and Google Maps links, historical voices, archive pictures, visiting notes and sources, with space for a coffee along the way.
