Virtual tour of the history of Wimbledon

How did a small village on a hill outside London, become one of the most famous places in the world?

Originally an old Anglo-Saxon settlement, Wimbledon’s seen its fair share of action; a place for gun fights and duels (where a Prime Minister missed his opponent); a place where stagecoaches would set off for London from old Georgian pubs and a place where highwaymen would give chase to catch them along today’s A3.

The manor of Wimbledon was owned by prominent people throughout English history, Thomas Cromwell, Catherine Par, Mary I, Cardinal Reginald Pole, the Cecil family, Sarah Churchill and the first Earl Spencer.

And there’s weird history on the way: the man who deliberately set fire to a house with the king and queen in it and got away with it; bizarre tennis matches like the man who asked for champagne (it helped his power, but apparently he fell over every time he tried to turn).

And of course we’ll cover the history of the most famous, oldest, tennis tournament in the world which dates from 1870s from a sport called Sphairistiké, from an eight-page instruction booklet, invented by a Welshman and played on an hour-glass shaped lawn.

By 1922 King George V opened the new courts in Wimbledon Park and with three blows on a gong the first match started – and the rain came down. Rain or shine, there’ll be no rain delays to this tour as you can log in on zoom from the dry comfort of your own home.

We use Google earth, site maps, paintings, photos of course the stories live-streamed to bring it all alive.

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All our tours are given by London historian Loona Hazarika who's advised and appeared on TV history series Sky Atlantic’s Urban Secrets, and BBC TV’s The Repair Shop and The Hairy Builder. A former official tour guide at the British Museum, he holds a masters degree from the University of Cambridge.

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REVIEWS:

“I was very pleasantly surprised at the professionalism, knowledge, delivery and attention to detail displayed. It was exceptionally well presented and most informative and was one of the most professionally delivered on line lectures that I have attended …and I look forward to attending future tours by Loona.” Martin Nicholls

“A first class tour guide, an excellent group facilitator and a charming person. He is inspiring, enthusiastic and with endless historical knowledge – which makes me hungry for more. We covered past history (oh so colourful…talking about the inspiration and resilience of people) and right up to the present day….Loona had a story for everything.I won’t spoil it for you by sharing too much ..just to say it really gave me an insight and food for thought.” Sue Goldstein

“From my experience Loona’s tours are head and shoulders above other tours. I will definitely be going on more tours with him and am going to enquire about a tailor made tour with him too.” Julie Bennett, tour guide

For our other tours and reviews please see www.letsdiscoverlondon.com

Virtual Tour details:

Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Via Zoom

Please note: Event may be cancelled if too few sign ups. You will be given a full refund.

How to join the virtual tour:

Book your tickets here.

We’ll email you full details of the Zoom meeting link, password and Meeting ID on the morning of the tour.

Please check your spam folder for the email or get in touch with me if you haven't received it by lunch time.

If you have booked for another household, please send them the email.

Log in via the Zoom app and then sit back and enjoy the tour.

For more of our tours please visit our website Let's Discover London.