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Visit Guildhall Art Gallery

Admission free.

Admission to Guildhall Art Gallery and London's Roman Amphitheatre is free, but we recommend that you book a general admission ticket to visit any of the two (or both).   Save time on arrival by booking in advance or just walk-in on the day.

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Explore Guildhall Art Gallery and London's Roman Amphitheatre

You can explore Guildhall Art Gallery by joining one of our free guided tours or by using Smartify.

Free guided tours

Free introductory tours, conducted by Guildhall Art Gallery’s team of City Guides, are available every day, from Tuesday to Sunday, at 12.15pm and 1:15pm and last 30-45 minutes. No booking is required. These tours are for individual visits (not for groups).

If you wish to book a private group tour of Guildhall Art Gallery, please get in touch with the Gallery team , specifying your preferred date/time and party size.

Smartify allows you to discover the stories contained within our paintings on your personal device. Download it prior to your visit to get the most out of your experience. Available for iOS and Android. You can also visit our Guildhall Art Gallery profile online to get a taste of our collections.

We welcome feedback as part of our commitment to offering the best visitor experience. If you enjoyed your visit to Guildhall Art Gallery, please leave a review on TripAdvisor or Google. For any additional comments please contact the Gallery team .

Lockers are provided during opening hours for a refundable £1 deposit (maximum dimensions: 32 x 53 x 42cm). The cloakroom is unattended other than during special events, but is freely available for visitors to store personal items. The City of London Corporation takes no responsibility for any items left.

Accessibility

We aim to make access to the paintings enjoyable and welcoming to the widest possible public. The floor plans of the Gallery and Amphitheatre and other information on how we welcome visitors with access needs can be downloaded below.

VisitEngland quality assured visitor attraction

Guildhall Art Gallery and London’s Roman Amphitheatre is a VisitEngland quality assured visitor attraction. It has followed government and industry COVID-19 guidelines, has a process in place to maintain cleanliness and aid social distancing.

Guildhall Art Gallery

City of London Heritage Gallery

London's Roman Amphitheatre

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Guildhall Great Hall

• Attractions

www.guildhall.cityoflondon.gov.uk

Guildhall, Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HH

Home of the City of London Corporation, Guildhall Great Hall has been the centre of City government since the Middle Ages.

The present Guildhall was built in 1411 and, having survived both the Great Fire of London and the Blitz, it is the only secular stone structure dating from before 1666 still standing in the City. With 27m high ceilings and a cathedral-like ambience, the historic building is situated on top of London's largest medieval crypts. Guildhall Great Hall is the third largest civic hall in England, where royalty and state visitors have been entertained throughout the centuries. It has been the setting for famous state trials, including that of Lady Jane Grey in 1553. The imposing medieval hall has stained glass windows and several monuments to national heroes including Admiral Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Winston Churchill.

Visit the Great Hall

Take a guided tour and learn how the City operates, its livery companies, famous events that took place within its medieval walls and admire the impressive memorials to some of Britain’s most important historic figures.

Monthly tours

City of London Guides run monthly guided tours of Guildhall on the days that the Court of Common Council meets (7 Mar, 25 Apr, 23 May, 20 June, 25 July, 12 Sept, 10 Oct, 5 Dec 2024). Tours start at 11am and last about an hour. Why not go along to the Court of Common Council afterwards and see the City’s democracy in action?

Tours cost £12 per person and tickets must be booked in advance via the City of London Guides website .

Private Tours

Private group bookings can be arranged on selected dates, contact City of London Guides for details.

Private Hire

Guildhall is also available for hire. Visit the Guildhall venue hire website for more information or email the Guildhall Events Team .

Listing location

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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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Guildhall – Great Hall & Old Library Tour

Craig ’s review… Not many tourists bother visiting Guildhall because it’s tucked away in a side street off Cheapside. Not a lot of locals bother with it either, which is a shame, because it’s one of the most historic buildings in London. The Saxons are supposed to have built the original one on the stumps of the Roman amphitheatre but the one we see today is 15th-century. Ignore the white facade at the front, which was added in the 1780s, and forget the roof too, because that was rebuilt after the Luftwaffe dropped a bomb on top. What you need to look at is the dark brown stonework in the middle. That’s Henry V. That’s the Battle of Agincourt. That’s how old those brown walls are. That’s two centuries before the English Civil War.

Guildhall Art Gallery

The easiest way to get inside is on a guided tour but they only hold them once a month, and you have to email their website to get your name on the list. Then you meet your guide in the cloakroom of the Guildhall Art Gallery next-door. That’s where I’m standing right now, watching all the tourists hanging their hats and bags on the hooks, fifty feet from where the Roman gladiators would have been getting ready for their own bout. Check out my review of the Guildhall Art Gallery if you don’t believe me. (It’s worth turning up thirty minutes early just to have a quick look around the remains of the Roman amphitheatre.)

Our guide today is a nice elderly lady and she won’t mind be mentioning that she’s elderly because I mean it as a compliment. In my experience older guides are definitely better because the young ones tend to rush around and tell too many jokes, like they’re putting on a performance. Older guides just take their time and tell you the interesting history of it through a bit of friendly conversation.

The Great Hall, Gog and Magog

After a quick walk around the outside of St. Lawrence Jewry (one of Christopher Wren’s City churches) she takes us into the Great Hall itself. It’s been remodelled a lot since Dick Whittington’s day, but it’s still hanging with faded flags and banners of the City’s livery companies. You can see grand statues of Nelson , Wellington , Winston Churchill and William Pitt down the sides, but you need to look up on the balcony for the most famous ones: the golden statues of Gog and Magog. Legend says that Brutus slew and chained them to his palace gates, but over the years they’ve morphed into benevolent guardians, like the City’s human guard dogs, and they’ve supplanted Brutus as the good guys. Every time the statues got destroyed we rushed to rebuild them in case they brought bad luck upon the city.

It’s amazing to think that Henry V held a big banquet within these very walls, and Lady Jane Grey was put on trial for her life after her nine-day reign. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Culpeper ended up here as well after falling out with Henry VIII. These days it’s mainly used for meetings and formal dinners.

The Old Library

After we’ve seen the Great Hall she takes us down some stone stairs into the crypt and Old Library with its stained glass windows and huge, heavy tapestries on the walls. And that’s it.

…but not quite… because they always time their guided tours to coincide with the monthly Common Council meeting . If you don’t mind hanging around for a while then you can come back and see the Great Hall in use.

Worth a visit? ★ ★ ★ Value for money? ★ ★ ★ Good for kids? ☆ ☆ ☆ Easy to get to? ★ ★ ★

I also recommend… If you enjoy this then try Mansion House (you can walk it in 4 mins) and Royal Courts of Justice (walk it in 20 mins or travel from Bank to Temple by tube ) . If you’re visiting the Guildhall then try and time it with the Common Council meeting

Related articles and events

Guided tour of the historic Guildhall Until 5 Dec 2024 Look around the Guildhall's medieval Great Hall which dates all the way back to the Lord Mayor of London Dick Whittington

Guildhall Common Council with the Lord Mayor of London Until 6 Mar 2025 Attend a meeting inside the medieval Guildhall and see the Lord Mayor and Aldermen 6

Your comments and questions

Brian Can you get inside the Guildhall and have a look around without booking a tour?

Craig Hi Brian. You can do, yes - as long as they don't have a meeting on at the time. All you have to do is go through those glass doors in that pepperpot-shaped building to the left of the Guildhall. They'll search your bags and then you go down a corridor into the Great Hall. But if you go on a guided tour then you'll get to see some other impressive rooms as well, like the crypt and Old Library.

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• Old Library & Print Room
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A visual guide

Did you know.

Did you know that the Great Hall is 153ft long, 85ft high, with 5ft thick walls, and it's been hosting the annual Lord Mayor’s Banquet since 1502? See our visual guide below to find out more about this fascinating space.

Gog and Magog

London's legendary giants, Gog and Magog, said to have founded London, watch over Great Hall. Replacing the 18 th -century versions destroyed in the Blitz, the traditional eagle on Magog's shield has been replaced by a phoenix, symbolising rebirth after fire.

The banners and shields of London's Livery Companies

Central to City life and governance for centuries are the Livery Companies, formally known as Guilds. Their number currently stands at 110, ranked in order of precedence. First ranked is the Worshipful Company of Mercers, dating from at least 1394, whose banner hangs in Great Hall along with the other Great Twelve Liveries; both their mottos and the shields of others adorn the walls.

Great Hall roof

Great Hall’s fourth roof, built from 134 oak trees (all of which had to be over 150 years old) and the second largest single span timber roof in England after Westminster Hall.

FAMOUS TRIALS WALL PANEL

Recalling Great Hall's most significant trials for treason and heresy held between 1548 and 1615, including Lady Jane Grey and Archbishop Cranmer. Guildhall could accommodate the large audiences drawn by the trials, and was close to the Tower of London where the prisoners were usually held.

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Monthly tours of the City of London’s Guildhall

Xmonthly tours of the city of london’s guildhall.

Once a month, it’s possible to go on a guided tour of the City of London’s ancient and impressive Guildhall building.

The Guildhall Great Hall is England’s third largest civic hall, and was constructed in 1411, making it over 600 years old. Having survived both the Great Fire of London and the Blitz, it is the only secular stone structure dating from before 1666 still standing in the City.

It has been the setting for famous state trials, including that of Lady Jane Grey in 1553. The imposing medieval hall has stained glass windows and several monuments to national heroes including Admiral Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Winston Churchill.

Prior to the pandemic, the ancient Guildhall in the City of London was open to wander in for a look around, but although that’s no longer possible, the guided tours are the next best thing.

The tours take place monthly on the day of the Common Council meeting – and for 2023, the dates are:

• 7th September
• 12th October
• 7th December

After the tour, you can go into the Common Council meeting and watch city democracy in action.

The tours cost £10 and need to be booked in advance from here .

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Posted on 19th October 2023 Categories London History

By: Author Alastair Reid Schanche

The History of The Guildhall: The HQ of the World’s Oldest Democracy

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We explore the history and the sights at London’s Guildhall – perhaps one of the most important buildings in the city. 

London’s Guildhall is a pretty unique place. The Grade I Listed building sits on a site that’s been important to Londoners since this city was known as Londoninum, and as super ancient things go in London ranks as one of our favs. 

That’s in part due to the stunning Gothic architecture and the little fact that it’s over 800 years old…. Yes, we’re not kidding. It’s one of those ‘only in London’ type things. 

What happened to make this possible? Well, let’s find out. 

Why Visit Guildhall?

For London history in one of its finest examples and a good look at all the below…

The Guildhall Art Gallery 

One of the Guildhall’s biggest draws (and probably the best way to see around the inside of this rather impressive building) is the Guildhall Art Gallery . 

They don’t have anything modern so don’t come expecting to see a Banksy or a Basquiat. What you’ll find is an impressive collection of works from the Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and early Impressionist eras. 

Their permanent collection boasts paintings by Tissot, Jan Griffier the Younger, Logsdail and many more, sketching a story of London’s past half millennia through artists that have chosen it as their subject. 

The Roman Amphitheatre

One of the most unusual things you’ll find at the Guildhall is a Roman Amphitheatre. Yep, no joke. In fact, as you’ll find out below, this may be the very reason the Guildhall is where it is. 

There’s not much left of it, but the foundations are bolstered with the help of some installations that visualise the scale as it would have been during the time of Roman London . 

For Private Events and Tours

The Guildhall has many other truly stunning rooms but most of them aren’t regularly open to the public. Annoying, yes, but they do have the excuse for using these rooms as centres of business, government and actual guild meetings.

If you want to see for example, the guildhall – an impressive dining hall that dates back to the 1400s – or the fascinating underground crypts, you’ll have to take a tour or book them out for a private event at a price we dare not even imagine. 

For more info on the tours, check here

The History of Guildhall 

Roman .

Back in the days when London was called Londinium, the site we find the Guildhall on today would have been one centre of town. It has a lot to do with that amphitheatre we mentioned above. 

2000 years ago it was the largest amphitheatre in the British Isles, the jewel of Roman London where savage barbarian celts would have been pitted against gladiators in deathmatches and blood sport. 

It was not, though, an important site for administration. The Forum, where this would have happened, was near to what is today Leadenhall Market .

Fast forward about 400 years and the Romans have gone and the Saxons are in charge. This is where things start to get interesting. It seems the Saxons picked up on the fact that this was an important site of the old city as they picked it as the location for their guildhall. 

We speculate that this was probably because of the scale of the Roman amphitheatre. This isn’t just based on our post-work pints chat though, excavations show that a later gatehouse from the 13th century used the same entrance as the amphitheatre, indicating much of the structure was probably still intact then. 

Either way, it’s with the Saxons, sometime between 400 AD and when the Normans show up that a guildhall was first built here in London. 

Mediaeval to the Present Day 

It’s in the mediaeval period that we start to see the Guildhall as we know it today, and yes, some of it really does date back to this long-ago date. The Great Hall for one was finished in 1440. 

Over the years extra bits have been added, and some changed. The roof, for one, was burnt off during the Great Fire of London, repaired and then destroyed again during WWII. 

In the many years between 1440 and the present day the Guildhall has played the stage for a handful of very historic events, not least the trial of Lady Jane Grey and Chopin’s last ever public performance. 

Today the Guildhall is the HQ of the City of London Corporation. They run the goings on in the world’s oldest continuous democracy from these halls. If you want to know more about that fascinating bit of history, follow the link below…

Read More: The Incredible History of the City of London: The World’s Longest Continuous Democracy

Guildhall: Practical Information

Address: 71 Basinghall St, London EC2V 7HH

• To visit the Guildhall, either go to the art gallery or book yourself in on a tour here. The art gallery is usually open to the public at regular hours but we suggest you check on their website first as they do have a tendency to close it for public events. 

Guildhall London: Map 

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A Look Inside The Magnificent Great Hall Of The City’s Guildhall

The City of London, or the ‘Square Mile’, is the ancient historic centre of London, where the Romans established Londinium in the years following the invasion in 43AD. At the heart of the City is Guildhall.

Parts, such as the Guildhall Art Gallery, are open to the public, however other areas are usually not, including the stunning Great Hall. The oldest secular building in the City, the Great Hall has had many uses over the centuries from grand ceremonies and state trials to governance.

They run monthly tours and so, naturally, I booked myself in.

A Quick Introduction to the City of London

The City of London is, today, a bit of a constitutional anomaly.

In some ways it has similar powers to the other 32 boroughs under the Greater London umbrella, but it also has special privileges, including its own Lord Mayor, police force and government.

No-one knows exactly how old the government of the City of London is, but it is thought to have at least Anglo-Saxon origins and certainly pre-dates the government of the country as a whole.

Successive monarchs and governments, over the centuries, have confirmed the rights to self-governance of the City of London, due to its wealth, power and influence. Kings and governments have preferred to keep the City on their side.

The History of Guildhall

Guildhall, essentially the city hall of the City of London, has been on its current site since at least the 13th century. Citizens of the City would come here to pay their taxes, or ‘geld’, which is where we get the word ‘guild’ from. 

I am always slightly astounded when I walk into the yard of the Guildhall. It is, to put it simply, an architectural and historical feast for the eyes.

You are stood above the remains of Roman London’s amphitheatre , you can see the beautiful 17th century St Lawrence Jewry church, designed by Wren, the 18th century ‘hindoostani gothic’ entranceway, the post-war brutalist Court of Alderman and library and, of course, the Great Hall.

Behind the amazing entranceway is the medieval Great Hall.  

The Great Hall

Dating predominantly from 1411, the Great Hall is the oldest surviving part of Guildhall. This makes it the oldest secular building in the City of London.

The Great Hall is the third largest civic hall in England and has a number of functions in the operations of the City. It is the venue for great ceremonial occasions such as the annual Lord Mayor’s Banquet, the Coronation banquet and meetings of the City’s elected assemblies.

The hall did suffer severe damage during the Blitz, including the destruction of the roof. Much of the interiors are therefore a post-war reconstruction, but the outer structure is largely medieval.

What To Spot

Statues of gog and magog.

In the Great Hall are two statues representing the mythological figures of Gog and Magog. These are legendary pre-Roman guardians of London. Two wicker representations of these giants, mascots of London, are paraded at the front of the annual Lord Mayor’s Show through the City. 

Stained Glass Windows

All around the hall are a series of incredible stained glass windows. They are post-war reconstructions of the windows that were here prior to being blown out during the Blitz.

Look closely and you will see a series of names in the glass. These are the names of all the nearly 700 Lord Mayors over the centuries (two of which were women) and the monarchs that were on the throne when they were in power. 

Monuments to famous figures

Dotted around the hall are statues and dramatic monuments to famous national figures. There is a statue of Churchill, as well as monuments to Nelson, Wellington and Pitt the Elder and Younger.

There is also a monument to William Beckford, twice Lord Mayor in the 1760s. In 1770 Beckford broke protocol and admonished the King George III over the unconstitutional expulsion of the elected MP John Wilkes from government by the Kings ministers.

He was considered to be sticking up for the City’s right to speak out and was therefore considered a hero by the City. They erected this monument to him at that time.

He is however a controversial figure today as he was a very wealthy man, the vast majority of this wealth coming from plantations in Jamaica.

Banners of the livery companies

All around the hall are the crests of the 111 livery companies of the City of London. They are sorted into an order of precedence, based on their power and influence and the top twelve are known as the Great Twelve.

The Great Twelve, including the Mercers , Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths etc, have large hanging banners around the hall instead. You can find out more about the livery companies here . 

A List Of Those Put On Trial

The Great Hall was the site of some very high-profile state trials over the centuries. In the hall is a list of those that took place here and their sentence.

Trials seem to have taken place here if the City’s authorities were involved in the trial. For example Lady Jane Grey, the famous nine days queen, was tried here in 1553, with the Lord Mayor of the City sitting on the panel.

She was sentenced to be executed and beheaded on Tower Green, inside the Tower of London, in 1554.

Standards of length

Under one of the windows are the old brass ‘standards of length’. These were the official measurements for one foot, two feet and a yard against which merchandise could be measured. 

Cow horn window

Above the standards of length you will see an unusual window.

It may not look like much, however, it is actually a very rare 15th century window made from cow horn. Very thinly shaved cow horn was a cheaper material often used in place of the more expensive glass.

An Ancient Crypt And A Decapitated Statue

On the tour we were also shown the incredible medieval crypts below the Guildhall. The East and West crypts are the largest medieval crypts in London.

The Western part is thought to date back to the 13th century and the Eastern possibly the 11th century! 

Amongst other artefacts, we were also shown a huge plaster royal coat of arms that once adorned Wren’s 17th century St Michael Bassishaw. The church was demolished in 1897 but the coat of arms were salvaged and now stored here. 

Finally, there is a statue of Margaret Thatcher, tucked away inside the Guildhall. The marble statue was commissioned in 1998 and sculpted by Neil Simmons.

It was originally intended for the Palace of Westminster, but ended up at the Guildhall Art Gallery from 2002.

On the 3rd July 2002 a theatre producer called Paul Kelleher smuggled a cricket bat into the gallery and attempted to decapitate the statue. The cricket bat was however not up to the job and he ended up completing the task with a nearby metal pole from a rope cordon. It was subsequently repaired and moved into the Guildhall itself. 

Kelleher waited a few minutes for the police to arrive and arrest him. When they arrived he alleged said ‘I think it looks better like that’!

How To Visit

As mentioned above, City of London guides run monthly tours of the Guildhall on Thursdays.

The ticket costs £10 and the tour last around an hour.

Click here to find out how to book.

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Share this:, 4 thoughts on “a look inside the magnificent great hall of the city’s guildhall”.

An excellent start to the day, many thanks!

Wonderful and so informative. Thank you

I’ve just signed up for your emails – this one today was absolutely fascinating! I’m just sad my late father never saw these, he would have been as enthralled as me!

Hi, thank you for a fascinating article. I do , however, have a query. I have read that when cattle horns were widely used to make opaque windows because glass was prohibitively expensive, it was obtained thus: 1) The interior marrow of the horn was removed by boiling the whole horn in a solution ofbicarbonate of soda. I’ve done this myself – it’s a long, stinky process, but strangely satisfying when the honeycomb of marrow slithers out. 2) It was then soaked in vinegar, the acid softening the horn until it could be painstakingly unrolled, rather like a paper lollipop stick. I haven’t done this part as my then better half had suffered enough with the smell of stage 1. Regards, Mark Elliott

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Guildhall. City of London: Part 2

The Great Hall – from Medieval to Victorian London.

Continuing our exploration of Guildhall, this post looks at the architectural history, up to the 20th century, of its original and most important building. For centuries the words ‘Guildhall’ and ‘the Great Hall’ were interchangeable. Today the Guildhall complex is made up of lots of buildings but the Great Hall is still at its epicentre.

For an explantion of what Guildhall is and its purposes have a look at the posting: Guildhall. City of London: Part 1 .

Medieval London

Although Guildhall’s origins are obscure, we do know that the present Great Hall is not the first to be constructed on the Guildhall site. When the first one appeared we are not sure, possibly during the late Anglo-Saxon period. There is archaeological evidence that an earlier Great Hall existed by the late thirteenth century and the name ‘Guildhall Yard’ was commonly used from the late thirteenth century. The west crypt in the undercroft of the Great Hall is now known to have been a part of an earlier Guildhall building.

Nor is much is known about John Croxtone, builder and designer of the Great Hall, although we can assume that he was a master mason and had perhaps been involved in church building. The architecture of the Great Hall is cathedral-like and borrows much in style and execution from church construction of the time; it even faces west to east.

The Great Hall: 15th century (Mark Carter)

Started in 1411 and completed by 1429 it was, and still is, the second largest single span great hall in Britain. Only Westminster Hall at Parliament is larger. Although we know little of Croxtone we do know that he worked under the master mason Henry Yevele, during his rebuilding work at Westminster Hall.

Croxtone followed the English Perpendicular style, which dominated the later Gothic styles of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The Great Hall was the largest building in the City of London, apart from St Paul’s Cathedral. An ornate Gothic style porch served as entrance and ante-chamber to the Great Hall.

Croxtone’s roof for the Great Hall has always been something of a mystery. It seems Croxtone prepared for stone arches but that budget constraints probably resulted in a pitched timber roof.

The exterior was not smoothly finished or decorated to an exceptional level. There was no need. It’s worth remembering that Guildhall was built in a crowded city with narrow streets and lanes on all sides. Guildhall Yard was barely wider than the porch itself. The full length of the Great Hall would have been obscured until you were actually standing within its vast interior. This narrow approach through the Yard was the terrain that would have greeted the visitor until after the Second World War.

By its completion the Guildhall consisted of the Great Hall, plus the Mayor’s Court and Court of Aldermen on the north side, with the porch to the south and the crypts in the undercroft. To reflect its burgeoning use as a venue for banqueting and ‘gaudy days’ a kitchen, buttery, pantry, ovens, larder and wine and ale cellars were added in the sixteenth century.

A boundary wall to Guildhall Yard’s west side and a gatehouse on the southern boundary had already existed, it’s thought by the late thirteenth century. The entire Guildhall site was now surrounded by a wall with a rebuilt gatehouse, to create a precinct around all of the surrounding buildings. Again, this borrowed from the construction of English cathedral’s, which were all enclosed within a close.

Why was there this big push to build a complex of grand secular buildings in late middle ages London? Money may provide part of the answer. We can assume that the wealth now existed within the City to fund large parts of this ‘status symbol’ project. Influence may also have mattered, with wealthy merchants now able to support and be seen supporting such a prestigious project – although various taxes also funded its building.

Another reason may have been to emphasise the point that London was not just a trading city, but a mercantile centre capable of competing with the other great trading cities of continental Europe. Size mattered and the Great Hall was built on a scale to impress. At its centre presided its secular emperor, a man neither royal nor religious, but a trader: the Lord Mayor of the City of London.

The Great Fire of London: 1666

The areas of London affected by the Great Fire went beyond Guildhall. Most of the Great Hall’s roof was destroyed, but the interior of the Great Hall itself survived.

Great Hall and Guildhall Yard: mid 18th century

A new roof, intended as a temporary replacement, lasted for 200 years. This replacement was a flat timber roof, covered by a shallow layer of pitch. It was also higher than the old roof by between ten to twenty feet, with a clerestory (upper windows) adding more light. The new interior ‘ceiling’ was probably panelled in order to provide decoration and an illusion of depth.

Christopher Wren may have provided some oversight although his involvement is unclear and somewhat disputed. It seems more likely that Peter Mills, City Surveyor until 1671, oversaw and designed most aspects of the earlier repairs. A baroque style gable was also added to the top of the Gothic porch at his time, it would seem by either Mills or Wren.

The most significant legacy of Wren’s involvement has nothing to do with the fabric of Guildhall. It is in fact Wren’s planning of the long wide street that leads from the River Thames north towards Guildhall. It seems such a natural approach today, but King Street and Queen Street did not exist at all until after the Great Fire. Ironmonger Lane and Lawrence Lane, being two narrow streets that we would nowadays consider no wider than alleys, had been the main approaches since the early middle ages.

With the idea of greater visibility in mind Wren also demolished the outer precinct wall and gates, or what little had survived the Great Fire. Instead of looking for inspiration towards the English cathedral enclosure, Wren was now looking to Paris and Versailles, imitating the Continental fashion for openness and accessibility.

Ogilby & Morgan Map 1677 (detail)

Victorian Renovation

Sir Horace Jones’s Great Hall renovation with hammer-beam timber roof.

Full renovation of the Great Hall, and rebuilding and expansion, would not occur until the 1860s. Sir Horace Jones, Surveyor to the City, began to carry out extensive works. By the mid-nineteenth century Gothic revivalism had become the fashionable architectural style of choice for many public works, private buildings and new churches.

Following its destruction by fire in 1834 the Houses of Parliament had been almost completely rebuilt in the Gothic style.

Sir Horace Jones by contrast had an original and almost complete Gothic building to work with. Where original Gothic features had been replaced with Baroque or neo-Classical renovation and repair, Jones re-Gothicised; and like Croxtone four centuries earlier, Jones was inspired by the splendour of Westminster Hall – which had been saved from the fire at Parliament.

The most significant part of Jones’s renovation was the construction of a Westminster Hall style hammer-beam roof, the like of which Croxtone hadn’t actually constructed. The carving, guilding and painting were redone and, most significantly, reinterpreted to create a Great Hall as it may have looked during its Plantagenet and Tudor heyday.

Unfortunately for Jones it was always the opinion that his faux-medieval timber roof was a failure; too heavy and squat, darkening what could have been a lighter space (remember, this was the man who also designed Tower Bridge and Leadenhall Market).

Guildhall Porch

The old Croxtone porch resembled a large elaborate church porch. It faced onto Guildhall Yard and could be easily be seen, whilst the rest of the walls were partly obscured by other buildings. The new porch was designed by George Dance the Younger, Surveyor to the City almost a century before Sir Horace Jones, and it is huge.

Croxtone’s porch was intended to be a symbolic entrance for a building looking forward to a London sharing parity with Europe’s great trading centres. Dance’s porch was to be a symbolic entrance for a building looking forward to British imperial power.

The Great Hall today with Dance’s ‘Hindoo Gothic’ porch

Dance’s porch is built as high as the Great Hall and it was completed in 1789. Its style, relatively unique, is described as ‘Hindoo Gothic’, although it integrates elements of Croxtone’s Gothic with the neo-classical fashions of Dance’s time. In fact the interior of Croxtone’s porch can still be seen when entering the Great Hall through the porch. His low, vaulted ceiling is enveloped by Dance’s radical new building.

The question concerning the porch has tended to be, why ‘Hindoo Gothic’? There may be many reasons. Dance was an experimental and creative designer at the same time that the inclusion of India into the Empire was progressing apace.  Eastern influences were beginning to spread, including within the arts. Dance’s friend, the artist William Hodges, had recently returned from India and some of his paintings of Indian landscapes, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1786, would surely have been seen by Dance.

Sir Joshua Reynolds, President of the Royal Academy, said of Hodges’s exhibition ‘The Barbaric Splendour of those Asiatic Buildings, which are now publishing by a member of this Academy may possibly…furnish an architect…with hints of composition and general effect that would not otherwise have occurred.’

The Indian details, which can be seen most visibly in the windows and the outline of the turrets, are clearly a nod to the eastern influences newly imported from the far reaches of Empire. It’s entirely possible to interpret Dance’s porch as a statement of the new reality too; a patriotic gesture and affirmation of Britain’s expanding imperial interests.

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London’s Guildhall was originally built in 1411 but was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the current Gothic building was rebuilt in 1673. It has historically been The City of London’s city hall and is now the home of the Corporation of London, although City Hall in Southwark is the administrative centre of Greater London.

Some of the more impressive parts of Guildhall include the medieval Great Hall, which is the third largest civic hall in England and has entertained royalty and state visitors for hundreds of years, and the Old Library, which is now used as reception rooms.

What to see at Guildhall

Access for tourists is often limited because Guildhall is a working council building that is used for council functions and it is also used for functions for the City of London livery companies and parts of the building are often booked for private events.

However there are monthly tours that give you the opportunity to see inside the City of London’s only surviving secular medieval building. Much of the Great Hall is the original building dating from 1411.

There is also a Roman amphitheatre located underneath Guildhall, but access to the amphitheatre is part of Guildhall Art Gallery , located next door.

Visiting Guildhall

Guildhall is located in Guildhall Yard, just off Gresham Street in the centre of the City of London. Bank is the closest tube station, although Moorgate and St Paul’s are also nearby.

It is located immediately next door to Guildhall Art Gallery and the City of London Police Museum . It is also less than a 10-minute walk to the Museum of London and St Paul’s Cathedral .

Access for tourists is often limited because it is a working council building that is used for council meetings and it is also used for functions for the City of London livery companies and parts are often booked for private events.

Once a month it is possible to take a 75-minute tour of Guildhall, which gives you access to the building and let you learn a lot more about how the City of London operates including the role of livery companies and famous events that have taken place in the City. However, these tours sell out quickly. Contact City of London Guides for more details about the monthly Guildhall tours.

Christiane Rahne

Cannot con nect to booking site; no other info provided

Sadly, the links to booking/ further info page are not working. It seems one cannot visit the guildhall.

13 July 2023

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London guildhall tours.

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Visit London Guildhall

London Guildhall is the administrative seat of the City of London and is also used for many ceremonial events. See its art gallery and other intriguing museums as you make your way through the building.

The guildhall stands on the site of an old Roman amphitheater, and is one of the few medieval buildings to have survived the devastating Great Fire of London and the Blitz. It did not emerge unscathed from either though and has undergone several reconstructions as well as modern additions.

Start in the main hall, where you can admire the plush red floor, impressive arches and lavish chandeliers. Be sure to check out the large limewood sculptures, which depict two legendary giants named Gog and Magog, who are said to have been imprisoned at Guildhall after losing a battle.

Make your way through the building to the East Crypt and West Crypt, which are the largest medieval crypts in the city. The memorials here honor significant figures, such as Winston Churchill and Horatio Nelson. On a plaque, you will see the name of Lady Jane Grey, who was trialed and executed here for treason as a teenager.

Visit the Guildhall Art Gallery to view the City of London’s art collection. It is housed in a Gothic stone building and includes hundreds of works from reputable artists including John Constable and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Among the other highlights here is Guildhall Library, where you can find tomes from the 11th century. It has a focus on London-themed reference books.

The building has been used for many official functions, including the Lord Mayor’s Show. The marathon route for the 2012 Olympics also passed through its yard. Its halls are open to the public during the annual London Open House event, which takes place in the third week of September.

London Guildhall is located between the Tube stops of St. Paul’s, Moorgate and Liverpool Street in the City of London. Use the Underground to reach any of these stops or ride the bus. Check ahead prior to your visit as the guildhall is often closed for events. Nearby attractions include St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Bank of England Museum and the Museum of London.

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Guildhall art gallery & roman amphitheatre: tues, thur, fri, sat & sun.

The Guildhall Art Gallery contains a wonderful collection of paintings dating from the 1600s to the present day, including historic scenes of the City of London, Pre-Raphaelite gems and modern masterpieces. 

The Gallery houses such world-famous works such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti's ‘La Ghirlandata' and John Everett Millais' ‘My First Sermon’ and ‘My Second Sermon’.  Dominating the Gallery is John Singleton Copley's mammoth ‘The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar’.

Below the Gallery you’ll view the Roman Amphitheatre, discovered when the building was rebuilt by Richard Gilbert Scott. Alongside this unique London survival you can see highlights from the Corporation’s collection of historic artefacts.

Learn about Guildhall Art Gallery’s collection on a free tour led by a qualified City of London Guide. They take place every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 12:15 and 13:15hrs. There's no need to book - just turn up on the day. The Gallery is also free and there's often a special exhibition on - check the Guildhall Art Gallery website for details. 

Please note that the Guildhall Art Gallery may occasionally be closed to the public. Guiding does not occur on these dates. For dates of upcoming closures, please double check the Guildhall Art Gallery website.

Photos: courtesy of Niki Gorick

Please note: children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

We offer daily, weekly and monthly walks around the City of London 

Our daily walks run from the City Information Centre, just south of St Paul's. You need to book via Eventbrite to secure you place.  Note : the cut-off time for booking our daily walks is 21:00hrs the night before. If we don't have any bookings then the walk will not take place.

Our weekly walks have individual booking pages and earlier cut-off times, please see the individual listing.  

We've adde d 3 new walks for this season:

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This unique site is now open for this season of tours.  Find out more.

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Private tours

If you'd like to organise your own walk , lecture or a virtual tour, then please use our  Find a Guide  section. If you're a member of an Arts Society or a U3A or other group we'd love to take you on a tour of the City. And if you're a company based in the City who'd like to organise a social event for your work colleagues, why not book a walk with us? 

If you've been on a walk recently we'd love to hear from you. Why not leave a review on our TripAdvisor  page? We've been awarded TripAdvisor's Travellers' Choice for 2023!

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12:15, 13:15

Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Yard EC2V 5AE

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Shakespeare Full-Day Private Tour of London

William shakespeare is considered the most important writer in england. although he was born in stratford-upon-avon, for most of his life he called london home. therefore, we will follow the footsteps of william shakespeare in london. although the town has changed considerably since the sixteenth century, we can still find the inspiration for his characters and plays here..

The City of London’s Guildhall, the Guildhall Library, the sites of the Blackfriars Playhouse, St Helen’s Bishopsgate Church, Southwark Cathedral, the original site of Globe Theatre and finally the new Globe theatre will be the main attractions for this tour. As the tour ends, you may want to extend your day by attending one of Shakespeare’s plays in this shrine.

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• Guildhall Library
• Blackfriars
• Museum of the Order of Saint John
• St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate
• Southwark Cathedral
• Original Globe Theatre Site
• Shakespeare's Globe

Tour details

Private transportation with your own driver/guide is also available.

Please be ready and waiting in your hotel lobby 15 minutes prior to your scheduled pick-up time and let the lobby staff know that you are waiting for a tour guide.

Meeting point

London zone 1 to 4 free pickup London zone 5 to 9 pickup on request (extra charge) – OR – Please arrive at least 15 minutes before departure at the Statue of Sir Winston Churchill , Parliament Square, London SW1P

Tour departs

Daily between 8:30 am and 9:00am (Jan – Dec)

Shakespeare’s Globe, New Globe Walk 21, London SE1 9DT

Live guide speaks

Max group size, tour operator, cancellation policy.

24 hours  or more before start: full refund less 5% booking fees. After that time or no-show: no refund .

Accessibility

All ages welcome Children must be accompanied by an adult Infants must sit on your lap Wheelchair accessible Stroller/pram accessible Service animals allowed

Hotel pick-up between zones 1 to 4 only Professional live guide

Food & Drink Entry fees Hotel drop-off Public transport

Entry to the Guildhall Library Entry to the Museum of the Order of St John Entry to the Globe Theatre Hotel pick-up between zones 5 to 9

Things to bring

Appropriate clothing Comfortable shoes Valid Travelcard or Oyster Card

Locations (8)

1. guildhall.

Our Shakespeare tour of London starts with The City of London’s Guildhall , the administrative centre of the city. Within its halls are the offices and meeting rooms of the Corporation of London and its Court of Common Council , which is the body responsible for governing the City and for defending its interests throughout the London metropolitan area.

In 1613 William Shakespeare purchased a property in Blackfriars, a location convenient for both the Globe and Blackfriars theatres. The deed which records the sale is one of only six documents in the world which bears his signature and is cared for by London Metropolitan Archives.

2. Guildhall Library

A copy of the First Folio , a collection of 36 of Shakespeare’s plays , is carefully stored and protected in the City of London’s Guildhall Library. The Guildhall Library is a public reference library specialising in the history of London.

The printed books collection comprises over 200,000 titles dating from the 15th to the 21st centuries and includes books, pamphlets, periodicals, trade directories and poll books. This collection covers all aspects of life in London, past and present, its trade, people and buildings. In addition, the library holds extensive collections covering maritime history and business history.

3. Blackfriars

The Blackfriars Playhouse is the only property in London known to be owned by William Shakespeare. Actually there were two Blackfriars indoor playhouses, both housed at the old Blackfriars monastery site .

The first, smaller theatre, staged plays by boy actors in an upper room of the building from 1576 until 1584. In the Jacobean and Caroline periods the venue became the most important indoor theatre in London and was the premiere theatrical venue of the age.

From 1599 a new Blackfriars theatre staged plays by boy actors and from 1609 to 1642 it was the only indoor theatre of the King’s Men or the Shakespeare company .

4. Museum of the Order of Saint John

In the 1140s the Priory in Clerkenwell was set up as the English headquarters of the Order. When King Henry VIII split from the Catholic Church and established a new Anglican Church , the Order in England was dissolved and all its lands and wealth were seized by the Crown.

The Order was restored briefly by Henry’s Catholic daughter, Queen Mary , who granted it a Royal Charter. However, on the accession of her Protestant sister, Queen Elizabeth I , the Order in England was dissolved for good.

The buildings in Clerkenwell were put to different uses in the years that followed. During the sixteenth century , they were used as the offices of the Master of the Revels. Thirty of Shakespeare’s plays were licensed here in this place.

5. St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate

St Helen’s Bishopsgate is a large conservative evangelical Anglican church in London and is located in Great St Helen’s, off Bishopsgate. It is the largest surviving parish church in the City of London and it contains more monuments than any other church in Greater London except Westminster Abbey. We know that William Shakespeare visited this Church and this is where he worshipped.

6. Southwark Cathedral

Southwark Cathedral is probably one of the most important places on our journey today. William Shakespeare is the most famous resident of the parish of St Saviour’s which is now Southwark Cathedral.

His brother Edmund who also lived in the parish died in 1607 at the age of 27. A payment of 20 shillings was paid for his burial (possibly by William) at St Saviour’s “with a forenoon knell of the great bell”. His ledger stone is situated in the Cathedral Choir.

The life of William Shakespeare is celebrated each year at the Cathedral on his birthday and visitors travel from far and wide to see the Shakespeare memorial and stained-glass window .

7. Original Globe Theatre Site

Before we visit Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, we will visit the previous foundation of the theatre. This is the original site of the Globe Theatre in London that was built in 1599 on the Southbank of the River Thames in Southwark in close proximity to the Bear Garden.

8. Shakespeare's Globe

William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous British writer of all time. He wrote about life, love, death, revenge, grief, jealousy, murder, magic and mystery. His plays were the blockbuster entertainment of his day – some of his most famous are Macbeth , Romeo and Juliet , and Hamlet .

You will understand how Shakespeare’s plays had a changing impact on the world by visiting the reconstructed theatre where there will be live commentary of the productions in Elizabethan times showing the power of performance, cultivating intellectual curiosity and making Shakespeare accessible for all.

The Shakespeare’s Globe can give you an opportunity to learn more about this unique building and its most famous playwright. Hidden under the Globe Theatre, the fascinating Exhibition delves into the life of Shakespeare, how London was at the time he lived there, and the theatre for which he wrote. You will be able to imagine the Globe as it would have been, nestled in the notorious entertainment district , surrounded by raucous taverns and bawdy houses.

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Sea Girls announce autumn 2024 UK and Ireland tour

The 13-date run includes a huge show at Brixton Academy

Sea Girls have announced a run of UK and Ireland dates for later this year.

• READ MORE:  Sea Girls launch new album with ‘Sick’: “It’s basically me listing everything I’m pissed off with”

The band will be playing a run of shows across in support of their forthcoming album ‘Midnight Butterflies’ in the autumn, which includes a huge show at Brixton Academy.

The London indie rockers will be making stops in Sheffield, Newcastle, Manchester, Glasgow, Nottingham, London, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Norwich, Birmingham, Liverpool, Dublin and Belfast.

Tickets will go on sale next Friday (May 3) – you can see the full list of dates below and buy your tickets here .

SEPTEMBER 26 – Sheffield, Octagon 27 – Newcastle, City Hall 28 – Manchester, O2 Apollo 29 – Glasgow, O2 Academy

OCTOBER 1 – Nottingham, Rock City 3 – London, O2 Academy Brixton 4 – Cardiff, Tramshed 6 – Portsmouth, Guildhall 7 – Norwich, LCR 8 – Birmingham, O2 Academy 9 – Liverpool, Mountford Hall 11 – Dublin, Academy 12 – Belfast, Limelight

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‘Midnight Butterflies’ will be released on June 14 via their new independent label Alt. Records and is described in a press release as being centred around “melodic joy” and “pop perfection”. It follows 2020’s ‘Open Up Your Head’ and 2022’s ‘Homesick’.

“It feels and sounds like a fledgling band making their energetic untainted debut record. It’s super optimistic and euphoric,” said frontman Henry Camamile of the album.

“There was a huge freedom in making this record. It’s an exciting time for music across genres, and who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?”

The forthcoming album comes after a huge year for Sea Girls in 2023. This included a milestone headline show at Alexandra Palace and a support slot with  Louis Tomlinson  at his gig at London’s O2.

In the latter half of last year they also shared details of an upcoming run of headline shows in the UK and Australia, as part of the ‘Young Strangers’ tour. These include stops in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane later this month, followed by eight shows across the UK and Ireland in the Spring.  Visit here for remaining tickets to UK shows .

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