“Charles Dickens” | Mike's London

I haven’t read any Charles Dickens books since I read Oliver Twist at school, but I’m hearing his name all the time now when out and about in London.

I did go to the Dickens exhibition at the Museum of London last year, which I found very interesting, and in the run up to Christmas I decided to start reading his books, starting with A Christmas Carol which I really enjoyed. Since then I have read Oliver Twist and I’m now reading The Pickwick Papers on my Kindle.

I decided to find out more about Dickens’s London by going on a self-guided walk: a Corporation of London walk starting at the Dickens museum. The walk begins at the Charles Dickens museum at 48 Doughty Street and I arrived there shortly before opening time, so was one of the first ones in. Dickens lived here between 1837 and 1839 early in his writing career, writing Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. The entrance fee was £8, but it’s all in a great cause and it’s well worth a visit.

On leaving Doughty Street, the walk went up to Farringdon Road, through Clerkenwell to Smithfields Market through Holborn and into the City, pointing out places mentioned in his novels (eg Smithfields Market described in Oliver Twist) or which formed the basis of places in them (eg the One Tun as the Three Cripples).

Whilst I am something of a newbie to Dickens, I thoroughly enjoyed the walk, and this has further encouraged me to continue reading his novels.

48 Doughty Street