A Walking Tour of “The Great When”
Perfect for walking yourself into a trance
Here are all the walking directions that Alan Moore gives us in The Great When novel, with real life addresses plotted on a Google map.
Dennis wakes up at Coffin Ada’s:
-Start at Coffin Ada’s (approx. 1 Shacklewell St, Bethnal Green, London)
-Side trip: Arnold’s Circus is where the meeting with Harry Lud takes place (4 min from Coffin Ada’s)
Dennis walks to get books from Harrison Book’s :
-Cross Shaftesbury Ave
-Past Leicester Square
-Cecil Court
-Harrison’s Books is approx. 100 Charing Cross Rd
From Harrison‘s he goes to Mr. Harrison’s house (above a wool shop):
-Back on main road (Charing cross)
-Left then to Manette street
-Slip down horse throat of Soho
-Cross Soho Square
-Threaded into St. Anne’s Court
-Then into Waldor street
-Harrison’s House is halfway up on the east side of Berwick St (past the market stalls) (approx. 72–69 Berwick St)
With the box of books, he meets his friend at Bond’s Coffee House, then as he’s on his way back to Ada’s, he meets Grace across from St. Brides Churchyard:
-Bond’s Coffee House — near Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand
-Continued up the Strand to Fleet St
-To Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
-Almost to Ludgate Circus
-Stopped at Bride Lane
-Across from St. Brides Churchyard, Dennis meets Grace
He walks from Bride Lane back to Coffin Ada’s:
-Down Ludgate hill
-Off Warwick Lane, he eats fish and chips
-Carried on with walk back to Shorditch
-Descends Alders Gate
-Belicia Beacons
-Cripplegate
-London Wall
-Past Glasshouse Yard
-Old Street
-St. Luke’s
-Past busy station
-Over the main road to Austin st
-Home stretch of Virginia rd
-Near Gibraltar walk
-Top end of Gibraltar walk is where the bookstore is (1 Shacklewell St.) (He returns with Machen books)
The next day, Dennis returns to Harrison’s house and gets chase by two gangsters:
-Running down Berwik st
-Turning on a sixpence into soho
-Right turn onto Broadwick St
-Across the road into Ingrestre Place
-Left turn
-Right
-Brewer street
-Bourchier St
-Got Lost
-Narrow entry
-Opens gate (Gate is approximately on Bourchier St)
-It wasn’t a real gate it was wooden pallets into Long London
Through Long London:
-Called “Soho Entire” (worst way in)
-More than Bateman st
-Frith St Absolute
-Older Compton St
-Greek St
-Soho is behind them
-Endless avenue
-They exit long London in Bride Lane, in front of St. Brides Churchyard
When Dennis gets out of Long London, Grace takes him back to her apartment:
-Spitalfields
-Grace Shilling’s ground floor apartment is on the end of Folgate St
The next morning he goes to Austin Osman Spare’s house via bus:
-Start on Folgate St (Grace Shilling’s house)
-Austin Osman Spare residence is on Wynne Rd in Brixton (Liberal House, London SW9 7AA, United Kingdom) (today it has a Spare quote on the side of the house)
The Dennis goes with Austin to the bar to meet the Grants:
-Start at Austin Osman Spare’s house (Liberal House, London SW9 7AA)
-Take a side journey to see where Spare’s art show was, at the end of the book: The Temple Bar (286 Walworth Rd.) Now it’s a Poundland shop
-Walk to The Elephant and Castle Pub (119 Newington Causeway)
-Drink a pint of stout with Kenneth Grant and Austin Spare
-I recommend that your end your journey at The Last Tuesday Society which is an absinthe bar that has a gallery of Austin Osman Spare’s artwork in the back room. If you are more than one person, a reservation is recommended.
A few more random locations:
From the meeting with heads of Long London, they go to Stoke Newington via Cripple Gate in Long London. In the physical London, this is quite far and not walkable.
Stoke Newington: (details from Arthur Machen’s story “N”)
-Canons Park
-Park Cresent (approx 207 Stoke Newington Church St)
-Old red brick buildings where the technical college is now
-Rodman’s Row, Fothergill Terrace, Chatham Street (don’t seem to exist)
-Abney Park is essentially where the magical view happens
A London Walk: Meditations in the Streets of the Metropolis by Rev. Thomas Hampole, 1853 (purchased at a stall in Farringdon St)
About the Author
Justin K Prim is not a Moore scholar, but he does appreciate his work immensely. Justin is an American gemcutter and gemologist living and working in Lyon, France. He has previously published an article on the history of gemcutting in London, which covers the Blitz and other events in the 1930s and 40s, which nicely overlaps the events of The Great When. Justin works as a Lapidary Instructor as well as writing articles, producing videos, and giving talks about gem cutting history.
