Today we’re armchair travelling to the City of London, for a stroll along London’s long-forgotten elevated walkways, known as pedways. Did you know about them? I used to walk along them as a child on trips to the Museum of London in Barbican with my Dad, and remember feeling we’d discovered a secret part of London.
What I didn’t know was that they were part of a plan to create an entire network of them across the city which I didn’t know until I watched this beautiful documentary. It takes us on a wander to find the abandoned remains that, unknown to a lot of the public, still live in the square mile. They were supposed to stretch for 30 miles, from Fleet Street to the Tower of London, and from Liverpool Street to the Thames, but only a fraction of it was built, much of which has since been demolished. The few fragments that remain include winding staircases that lead to dead-end landings, scattered across the City like curious portals to a secret dimension.
This hidden city walking map shows you where to find them, along with other curious pedestrian streets, if you’re planning a trip to London soon.
