Walking in the Footsteps of Matthew Shardlake's Tudor London｜United Kingdom

Step into the world of C.J. Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake and his sidekick Barak as you explore the streets of Tudor London. Follow in Shardlake’s footsteps as he solves mysteries and navigates the religious and political chaos of the 1540s.

Discover how much of Tudor London still survives today. Walk through the City of London, where the street plan remains largely unchanged, and see buildings like the priory church of St Bartholomew’s, Charterhouse, and parts of Lincoln’s Inn.

Visit Middle Temple Hall, a 16th-century dining hall where the first production of Twelfth Night was performed. See Shardlake’s home on Chancery Lane, described as a ‘fine stone property’ with ‘trellised garden paths shaded by climbing roses.’

Explore Gatehouse Court, where Shardlake’s friend is discovered murdered, and imagine the Scrooge-like barrister Stephen Bealknap’s residence in the ancient winding staircase in the corner of the courtyard.

Visit Staple Inn, with its wafer-thin Elizabethan half-timber façade, and see the Chapel of the Bishop of Ely’s Palace, built between in the 13th Century.

End your tour at Smithfield, the site of Anne Askew’s execution, vividly portrayed in Lamentation.