Walk of the Week: Scandalous St John's Wood

Every Sunday we’ll pluck just one walk from the vast London Walks repertoire and put it centre stage.

You can check out the full schedule at www.walks.com.

But if you only take one walking tour this week, why not make it…

SCANDALOUS ST. JOHN'S WOOD VILLAGE

Mistresses, Mystics, Mansions, Artists, Courtesans, and Cricket

Call it The Secret ABC of Scandalous St. John's Wood.

Artists, Anglicans, Apocalypse...

Battles, Bishops, Blackmail...

Courtesans, Cricket, Cliques...

                                ...and very much more.

ABC right through to the XYZ of what went on behind the elegant facades and drawn curtains of this neat, tidy but ever so slightly risque corner of London. 

It wasn't only on Lords Cricket Ground that they bowled a maiden over. "St. John's Wood was the one place beyond all others where gentlemen of discretion provided for their mistresses in a proper manner, establishing them in quiet villas surrounded by sheltered gardens and high walls" (The Street and the Detective by A. L. Shearn).

C is for Corinna too, your guide and leading lady who tells the tales along the way with pictures and even the odd song or two.

To go on the Scandalous St. John's Wood - Mistresses, Mansions, Artisans, Courtesans & Cricket walk meet Corinna just outside St. John's Wood Tube.  

Scandalous St John's Wood takes place on Sunday 15th October at 10:45a.m

(The "Latecomers Catch-up Stop" is on the north side of Acacia Road, then down St. Anne's Terrace. The walks ends near St. John's Wood Tube.)

A London Walk costs £9 – £7 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.