Take A Truly Fascinating Tour Of Dickensian London

0 Comments | 14 Nov 2023

Anyone visiting London who fancies a private tour might have many tourism ideas. That could include modern attractions like the London Eye, or historic buildings such as St Paul’s Cathedral. But some people are more interested in the cultural and social history.

Often this can mean visiting places that have changed much since the days when they were featured in great works of literature, but still attract visitors. A prime example of this may be anything connected with Charles Dickens.

The famous Victorian journalist and novelist is famous for his depictions of urban squalor and life of a kind many others would not have covered. It tied in with his campaigns for major social reform, but it also reflected a fast-changing London in the 19^th century, when its population expanded from a million to nearly six million.

Places like Seven Dials, Drury Lane and Covent Garden are among the places Dickens frequented, depicting with detail the life and conditions of the times. If you visit today, you can try to imagine how it was back then – and how different it is now.

As well as the places he wrote about in London, Dickens lived part of his life at two different addresses. One of them, at 48 Doughty Street in the West End, is now the Charles Dickens Museum.

As well as seeing what his own home was like, the museum has exhibitions of his works and runs various events. Some of those upcoming are focused on Christmas, and many will agree that there is no better time to visit the writer of ‘A Christmas Carol’. 

Those visiting the UK for longer periods can also visit museums and attractions connected to Portsmouth (where he was born) and the Medway towns in Kent, where he lived at different times and spent his final years. But to truly get a feel for the city Dickens wrote about so vividly, you have to visit his haunts in London.