City Treasures London Walking Tour: Van Gogh's Church, Historic Alleys, Passages & Yards (4K)

City of London Churches Walks Episode 9. Starting in Old Broad Street we go looking for the Dutch Church in Austin Friars where Vincent Van Gogh Worshipped. We then go along Throgmorton Street and admire the exterior of Drapers' Hall and Throgmorton Avenue. We emerge behind the Bank of England and get drawn into Tokenhouse Yard, Telegraph Street, Whalebone Yard and King's Arms Yard. Then we go inside the magnificent St. Margaret Lothbury with its fascinating relics from other City of London Churches and its association with five City Livery Companies.
City of London Churches videos playlist • City of London Churche...
Walking the Walbrook • City of London's Lost ...
Music
Allégro - Emmit Fenn
No.7 Alone With My Thoughts - Esther Abrami
Pachabelly - Huma-Huma
Over the Meadow, Over the Stream - Alan Rogers
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[@philh9663]

Nothing better than settling in for a new John Roger’s walk video on a Sunday evening 🤙

[@JohnRogersWalks]

brilliant - hope you enjoy it Phil

[@paulwilson7234]

Agree.

[@joanns5250]

PLEASE let the series continue! I find it fascinating!

[@Slycockney]

Your City of London walks are my favourites by a country mile. Please keep them coming.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

I love them! More on the way

[@paulm3033]

I don't want this series to end either .

[@johnstout5767]

Thanks a bunch. Simply the best. Keep walking and writing!

[@kskssxoxskskss2189]

I have abandoned all dreams of ever visiting London again because I get these so often with your videos. It was a disappointment to see my life not making this possible, but your work takes the sting out of it.

[@marty9011]

I very much enjoy the city churches walks. I love the passages & alleyways, so full of atmosphere.

[@kskssxoxskskss2189]

Yay, Churches of London! My fave. Thanks.

[@StupotTaylor]

I’m soon to be 53 and my dad (30 years in the met 1950-1970) is 100 years old now. His mum died when he was 9 and I recently went to St Giles church to see the font in which she was baptised. Churches really connect us to our forbears and I value your church videos. Thanks John.

[@virginiavaccaro7695]

Keep with series!!! It's an amazing one!!!!! Thanks!

[@stephenbowe4073]

Thanks John. The City Churches series is my favorite of all your videos. Hope all is well

[@JohnRogersWalks]

cheers Stephen!

[@Michael-zy2hf]

Hello Mr Rogers absolutely love your city walks thank you so much

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thank you

[@chrisblay]

Always enjoy your walks around the city square mile. As I try to see how many places I can recognise. 👍

[@markriley4665]

I love these church videos John. The city is so rich with fascinating histories and you manage to draw together so much relevant material and make it a pleasure to engage with. Finding the ‘symbols’ that litter the city is always a joy Thank you.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks very much Mark. I find it endlessly fascinating

[@karenevans8426]

Ooh Great, another churches of the City of London Churches walk. How wonderful

[@danielboulton98]

Always new things to discover in London 😁

[@malcolmrichardson3881]

Marvellous tour of some rich historical buildings, streets and alleyways - the church of St Margaret was a history lesson in itself. Thank you.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks Malcolm - so lucky to get a look inside St Margaret's

[@Tim_Photo]

My company's office is on Bishopsgate, and inspired by your videos I always take the long route from my hotel to the office when I'm working there. I got up early last month and heard the bells of the Dutch church leading me to it as I walked past that alleyway - a magical sound

[@eileendaly13]

Having worked in the City of London for many years I enjoy this series .Some of the history I was unaware of.Thanks

[@JohnRogersWalks]

That’s wonderful to hear Eileen

[@cliffpeters3766]

Great idea to do a series on the livery companies. September's London Open House is a great time to get a look in the livery halls. I think a walking tour around Guildhall would make an interesting episode of those halls lost in the Blitz.

[@robbojax2025]

Wonderful video n the series. My first job in the City as a messenger was in Copthal Avenue and I knew these streets and alleys better than most cab drivers. I still walk from Liverpool Street to Fleet Street 3 times a week and always choose a different route to explore and see what (if anything) has changed. Looking forward to the next.

[@KateVeeoh]

Love this series! I had a walk from Borough Market all the way to Chancery Lane, Brunswick Square Gardens and King's Cross yesterday (Saturday, while the footie was on), it was so peaceful haha 🤓 apart from the odd group of lads and hen nights, as you say 😅

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Sounds like a classic walk Kate

[@AmandaWay010]

Great walk John. Church walks of the City of London are my favourite. Please keep them coming!

[@janiebarker2687]

Thanks John ❤

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Cheers Janie

[@388Caroline]

Churches are my favorite ❤️ 🙏

[@elvissgrandma3215]

A most enjoyable walk, John. Worth mentioning that Austin Friars was the location of a palatial mansion built by and for Thomas Cromwell, probably one of the most influential and controversial political figures of Henry VIII's reign. The corner of Throgmorton and Old Broad Street marks the exact site.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Fantastic- thanks for the info

[@pennyling]

Synchronicity at work today. Reading up on a distant cousin who married a ship owner in 1843 in St Mary Lothbury and lo and behold you're there today. Save's me a trip.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Brilliant

[@steveinskip4897]

Cheers John. Great series as you say and greatly looking forward to the next instalment. Have a good week bud!

[@annaeborall934]

Your City of London churches series is my favourite John. Always learn something. If they could talk what stories they could tell.

[@MySwatteam]

Thank you sir.... Watching Sunday evening ❤️

[@richieixtar5849]

That's it, It doesn't matter how often you walk around the city there's always something new and unexpected. Good One.

[@andrewtucker3943]

Now you see, THIS is why I like coming along with you on these walks (via KZbin, that is), you seem to discover bits of The City that even London had forgotten it had. Thank you as always for your efforts. Very much appreciated. Also great to see you in the Filly Brook last night for the talk, both The Wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it, her particularly since this was her childhood home and she knew exactly where you were talking about throughout it. Looking forward to the next one.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Many thanks Andrew. So glad you both enjoyed the Fillybrook talk.

[@user-vu2so8of7o]

Just found this!! Always love your city walks!!!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thank you

[@geraldineallan6514]

That was enjoyable. London is so fascinating. Can’t wait for the next walk .

[@john80c]

Fine video, the Churches of the City are fascinating.

[@sianwarwick633]

Those churches are.... something else. Thanks John, great walk

[@Seanchai59]

Another fascinating walk. I love your Dad’s singing in the closing titles.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

many thanks Sean

[@TXMEDRGR]

I love the scenes of past history in the modern city. Thanks.

[@martinhall60]

Hello John, thank you from the East Riding of Yorkshire. Just watched your excellent video about looking at some of the churches of London. Your videos are truly amazing. I've said before that the BBC are missing out on the greatest TV presenter ever. Well done sir. 👍🇬🇧

[@JohnRogersWalks]

That’s very kind of you Martin - thank you

[@janebaker966]

Far too good for the crummy old BBC.

[@lizstevenson7801]

This series will be so interesting plus the guilds as the history I find amazing. Years of walking past these buildings in my younger days growing up there history was never an interest then for me as my life was so exciting. Now as an old granny and living in Aystralia I find it fascinating and enjoyable to learn about, these old buildings and Churches are beautiful. Thank you John for this amazing walk. 💕🇦🇺

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Liz

[@michael-u6k]

Cheers John for another intresting video 🍺👍

[@booksknitsthings]

my mum and all before were all born and lived poor lives in the City - EC1 1890s onwards - I myself born at Barts. I feel my heart and soul tugged just knowing my ancestors lived and walked these streets. During WWII, Not evacuated, my mum and her kin lived through the blitz (and doodlebugs!). My great uncle would take out the bodies from the bombed streets including around the Barbican. Thank you for this video

[@stephenoliver1437]

Nothing more refreshing than having a wee pint John after the walk

[@notanotherbottletop9892]

Thank you..John for all of the history and glimpses of those beautiful buildings .....Best nugget.

[@The3Kosmos3]

One of those great English Summer afternoons!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Ha, exactly

[@Rickyivesofficial]

Love your walks John! Love the information you give!!! Very inspiring to get out and walk and also very inspiring to me personally for creating my own content and walks around east London / Essex!! 👏

[@janebaker966]

I'll have to watch this again as I got called away so I missed some. The City of London may be only a square mile but it feels as big as Texas when you've taken a wrong turn and every step you know is taking you further away from your goal! Happened to me and Google maps was no help as it wont keep still and the blue dot jumps about and it gets worse! Your films are mystical and eleagic. Somehow you have the gift to summon the spirits - of the past,of history, of the genius loci,not everyone can do that.

[@gillyboy67]

Enjoyed that. Very interesting as always.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks

[@ashleysgaze]

Terrific walk, John. A great tour! Cheers! ❤

[@williamrobinson7435]

St Margaret's Lothbury is indeed a fine church, not least because it's the repository of so much salvage from lost churches; I have a memory of taking part in a chamber concert in there, way back. All these subjects, churches, lost rivers, livery companies and so on are each like a hidden map of London, if we had a way in which we could superimpose them, to form a kind of 'mental matrix', that would be great, but I fear the only way to do that would be to have the experience and intellect of someone like yourself or Iain Sinclair, so I guess you guys will just have to do it for us! Really enjoyable and informative as ever, and, as I say, however planned they may be, these central London films really do have a sense of fluidity, unforced and spontaneous; you have practiced! As they say in that London, "you've done this before, John!" 🌟👍

[@keithprater310]

Excellent yet again,love the alleyways.thank you yet again.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Many thanks Keith

[@carlbyronrodgers]

Really enjoyable.Thank you.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

fantastic - thanks Carl

[@annahemmings3437]

Loved the Saturday stroll round London John thank you xx

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks Anna - glad you enjoyed it

[@SamsungPhone-kk3ot]

Thank you for this video, we certainly have some gems in the buildings of London, thank you for showing us where to look for them.

[@leeradford76]

Nice walk thanks John

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Lee

[@neilanscombe7348]

Hello John another superb video, it really is a great series. I was just thinking what other series could there be and then you mentioned the football season and i'm so looking forward to this from a historical side. Have a great week!!!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Neil

[@philj4574]

Another fascinating walk. As other have said the City churches is a great series. The little passages are ones I’d plan to visit but they are the kind of places you need to stumble upon. Pleased to see Kings Arms Yard in the video, I have ancestors who lived there in 1832.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Fascinating- do you know what they did for a living?

[@philj4574]

@@JohnRogersWalks I believe the father was a Bill Sticker, although these old certificates (this one was for a child’s baptism as St Giles without Cripplegate. It’s the church in the Barbican) are tricky to read. From what I’ve found, Kings Arms Yard was probably low quality slum type housing at the time.

[@calimonkey1836]

Excellent - Thanks John..

[@johnbettano6026]

Exclent John !

[@martaorduna7857]

Another fascinayting video,its deserves watching more than once,Thank you!

[@alanarmer8069]

Great video John 👍👍👍

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Alan

[@philevans7740]

Hi John, there is one and only one road within the City of London and that is Goswell Road. Good quiz question eh? All the best, Philip.

[@davewright4380]

Lovely video at home with a pint of Wold Gold Ale. The alleyways are fascinating. Have your book to read later, This Other London which has just arrived!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Brilliant-many thanks Dave!

[@phillbrown3823]

Thanks John, fantastic…

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Cheers Phil

[@mickeythompson9537]

Another fascinating walk, thank you - and the City is my favourite of your subjects. I looked up 7 Lothbury on the Lookup London page - bank building in Venetian style. While on that site, I saw another missing Wren City church... All Hallows, Twickenham - moved there from Lombard St, in case you don't know of it.

[@hiviolet007]

I’m chuffed you are doing a city churches series! I try to get to a couple of city churches every time I visit. I got the map that you showed and Stephen Millar’s book. I found the book on my last visit in the gift shop of the chapter house. I had just about given up on finding it. I had searched several bookshops already. So glad I stumbled upon it !😊

[@JohnRogersWalks]

That sounds like a great find! I think the Betjamin book is available on eBay and Abebooks still

[@Mathemagical55]

Many of the livery halls and other City buildings are open during London's Open House weekend in September.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

I really want to go inside as many as possible

[@CasperLCat]

Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall lived at Austin Friars. Cool to see the location still marked.

[@MrBestfootforward]

John you are so like me , setting out I get so excited on what I might see but soon enough I need a break to just take in what I have seen.

[@kezzaba1]

I love this series and must catch up with those I’ve not seen. You either mention churches where my ancestors were baptised, married or buried or sometimes churches from the ancestry of my clients, I am a genealogist. It’s great because I’m probably never going to visit in person.

[@projectprojection9650]

Austin Friars wow, memories came flooding back from trying to get our work white van down there to deliver lift equipment. Think our driver scraped a bollard or five.

[@dannybb2000]

Evening John 😊

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Evening Danny - hope you're having a good one!

[@TimothyHalkowski]

Wonderful as usual. We were just in London a few weeks ago and did the full regents canal walk, inspired by your video of that trek. cheers!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Fantastic!

[@danien37]

good one. I love a church.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks Danie

[@philburdett]

Enjoying these church strolls, sir! Fine stuff...

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Phil

[@jimwalsh1958space]

we live in london. when we watch your vids we make notes and tomorrow going to photograph captain smiths (early america settler) statue. you are becoming famous. have you ever considered joining the diplomatic corps ? they need people like you to quell wars.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Jim! Not sure I’m cut out for the civil service

[@jimwalsh1958space]

@@JohnRogersWalks hi john we went to see captain smiths statue today we loved it. in the courtyard of 'the cockney church' st-mary-le-bow. his children were absorbed into the algonquin nation after the collapse of the first james town. later travellers wrote of blue eyed natives with blond hair.

[@ralphwinter6421]

Nice one John, wonderful vid...

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Ralph

[@davidcole8268]

Organ recitals at St Margaret Lothbury every Thursday lunchtime, usually by the redoubtable Richard Townend. Plenty of opportunity to admire the wood screen! BTW Wren favoured plain glass windows to maximise light in contrast to the gloomy medieval buildings they replaced. Many of the stained glass windows in his churches must have been later additions. There is one church due to undergo restoration where the stained glass will revert to plain, which one evades me at the moment. Keep up the good work John!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks for that David - I’ll pop along one Thursday

[@londondaytrippers4651]

I wish it had been longer!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Ah thanks. I think we’ll be rewarded with a look inside St Lawrence Jewry

[@Tactician666]

Topical idea for you John: take a look at Glastonbury festival from a psychogeography perspective. There are all manner of nooks and crannies which have developed over the decades where you can look behind an apparently bland, commercial facade and find some interesting 'history.' Example: if you do a bit of research on mazes, you'll find there's a whole bunch of science and maths behind them and that Glastonbury festival used to have its own one, which was based on one at another free festival in the UK's oldest continuously-inhabited home...

[@user-pn5zs3fn9v]

So much history.. 🇬🇧

[@leecaston]

As always a Sunday night treat. Thanks John...

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Cheers Lee

[@Jpkjr52]

Thanks again John in Chicago

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Cheers John

[@LAOGEPAOKAIXIN]

awesome

[@paulwilson7234]

A very interesting video.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks Paul

[@likeakite]

I love those alley ways

[@annetteconroy6921]

Being led down dodgy alley ways with John Rogers. So much mystery and history

[@diannewheatleygiliotti8513]

Thanks!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks so much Dianne

[@ks-pn6ot]

I visited all of the city churches about 30 years ago when I lived in London. I am now living in Lancashire and would love to come back and revisit some of them one day. I really ejnjoy your videos.

[@redjacc7581]

Nice one JR.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks redjacc

[@hArtyTruffle]

Thanks John 👍🏼

[@goldieandblackie]

In 1923 the London City & Midland Bank became the Midland Bank. By 1925, following the renumbering of Old Broad Street, the address of this building was 120 Old Broad Street, premises of the Midland Bank.

[@johnloveday2161]

very nice

[@shiprapandey43172]

Respected Sir,windy atmosphere is known as life of London and weather was so good but I think why people harms any buildings or any religious buildings,london is known for it's churches ⛪️ and I think everyone belief and dedication attached with These churches Drapers hall was very beautiful and St. Margaret lothbury church I think they are in imagination of any tourist who will travel here ❤48 churches are near to old but they wants renovation ❤😊Old churches are glory of London And in at the end Meadow song 🎵 very beautiful I memorise some childhood memory When my father show me a missionary school ,I am really sad that at the end of my mother's life my schooling was in Christian missionary and St. Mary Wannamaker school was very disciplined at that time,principal was very strict my mother thought that me and my sister should learn some better things from that school ❤thank you sir to give a lot of knowledge about churches ❤ thanks and this is a very wonderful 💙 walk

[@timmacer9650]

If you walked back to Liverpool Street from Moorgate along Eldon Street you would have walked right past St Mary Moorfields, the only Roman Catholic church within the Square Mile. You have to know it is there, as it does not look anything like a church at all from outside. That's not the only non-CofE church in the City either. There is also Capeli Cymraeg Llundain, a Welsh presbyterian church, also known as the Welsh Jewin Church, in Fann Street. So, two more for your perpetual list. As always, a cracking video!

[@interpoluk]

Just been looking and found that 👍

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks Tim - they are both on the expanded list of City churches that has a few chapels as well.

[@TheEC73]

One side of part of Goswell Road is in the City of London - Crescent House of the Golden Lane Estate, so two City street signs with "Road" on them 🙂

[@philh9663]

An idea for a walk, or a series of walks: Remaining Tudor buildings in the City, or taking in across the river too? Pubs, churches, houses, visible ruins? That would be fascinating to watch. Possibly stretch it to buildings from other major royal dynasties too?

[@JohnRogersWalks]

that's a great idea Phil - thanks

[@mostlyindica]

Used to work next to #5 in Wardrobe Place 20 years ago, wished i had been more aware of my surroundings then. Thanks again John. Have a wonderful week.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Many thanks and hope you have a great week too

[@davidhumphrey1558]

It is interesting to think about the orientation of the City of London and the Old City of Jerusalem. The Damascus Gate could be compared to the Moore Gate. The old City Centres really show the core of the character of each city.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

that's an interesting perspective, EO Gordon delves into this parallel in her book, Prehistoric London its mounds and circles (1911)

[@goldieandblackie]

This beautiful little building can be found behind the Bank of England at 7 Lothbury. The City of London, being the most historic part of the capital, isn’t short of stone buildings. But with seemingly unstoppable rise of glass and steel, this colourful stone edifice with intricate details made me pause a while. It was built 1866 by George Somers Clarke in the Venetian Gothic style. That in itself isn’t that unusual, there are plenty of London buildings found in that style. However, this is quite an early example. And some of the details are wonderful; from a row of sphinx gazing down at you, to a Medieval-style frieze depicting trade and commerce. This is in keeping with its function, originally built for the General Credit and Discount Company and then later occupied by the Overseas Bankers Club. Lastly, it’s worth noting the door. Not only does it look like the opening into an old Italian church, but it’s migrated. The entrance, which now faces onto Lothbury was moved from the side on Tokenhouse Yard between 1892 and 1919. Although it received Grade II* listed status in 1964, the building was under the ‘at risk’ list in 2005 before it was redeveloped. Today it’s a collection of 11 private flats.