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Execution site - Lime St -
St Margaret Pattens -
Lombard St with banking signs -
The Lord Mayor
Samuel Pepys' Walking Tour
6th September 2024City of London
As part of the Lord Mayor’s charitable fundraising efforts, Carolyn and I joined a tour around parts of the City, based on places mentioned in Samuel Pepys’ diaries, written continuously during the period 1660-1669. By coincidence, PM Charles Miller joined the same trip, and Liveryman Rosie Beattie joined another tour, so the Pipe Makers were well represented!
Samuel Pepys was Chief Secretary to the Navy and knew most of the important people in London at the time, including the King. His diaries give a very personal view of major events such as the Restoration, the Plague and the Great Fire of London, along with many detailed descriptions of events in his personal life. As such, his diaries are a unique window into life in London in the 1660s.
The current Lord Mayor arranged several tours on 6th September, being the anniversary of the last day of the Great Fire. The tours visited sites that are mentioned in Pepys’ diaries, including The Mitre, his favourite pub (sadly replaced by a newer coffee shop), places of execution and shopping and other points of interest for him, all explained with wonderful detail by a City Guide. Along the way we visited St Margaret Pattens, seeing its fine steeple and the exhibition of pattens inside, before ending up for a drink and speech at the Mansion House
It was a very interesting tour, highly recommended.
The Lord Mayor hopes that Samuel Pepys will become an appropriate symbol of London, given his interest in government matters, commerce, music and the other arts and hopes that there will be an annual Pepys day in September each year.