The Georgian & Regency Tour of Lancaster

The year is 1803. King George III has never visited his duchy of Lancaster but do not let that stop YOU. Lancaster is a town bustling with inns, a busy port and the summer assizes...but it's also 'the hanging town.'

Amidst an air of classical respectability, this is a town with sinister origins and its own criminal underworld.

Explore Lancaster as it enters the modern age but beware coachmen of ill repute.

Meet 'Johnny' Eccleston, coachman of the 'Perseverance' and your guide.

Lancaster Georgian & Regency Tour LTA27 finalist logo Experience Award
Tour of Lancaster, Tom as coachman.

The Tour

A stroll into the past

Explore Lancaster through the eyes of those working its roads, admiring beautiful historic buildings as you hear tales of  hangings, Jacobites and the grim reality of triangular trade.

Connect replica items and imagery with the real, everyday stories of Lancaster's citizens from all walks of life.

Learn fascinating local facts, from a professional, costumed guide, whilst walking the historic streets of Lancaster...a district boasting over thirteen hundred listed buildings and structures.

 

Your Guide

Tom Hudson is an Oxford graduate, with over a decade's worth of experience working within heritage. He has guided in Surrey, Kent, Lancashire and Cheshire since 2013.

 

Public tours currently take place on the 1st Saturday of every month, with additional dates during school holiday periods.  Tours typically last around an hour and a half.

Follow the link below to book your place on an upcominng tour.

Private tours can be booked at your own convenience.

Follow the link below to fill out an enquiries form to make a private booking.

"I really enjoyed the tour around the landmarks of Georgian Lancaster today. Even having lived in Lancaster for many years I learnt some new things from the engaging guide. A great walking tour - recommended."

Richard

"Great tour, very interesting insights into Lancaster's history. 
Despite the wet weather, the walk around the city was fascinating. Our guide was able to show us and explain numerous points concerning a varied, colourful and at times a violent history. Certainly recommend."

Anthony

"Having been on a number of town/city walking tours over the years I would like to say that the Georgian/Regency walking tour of Lancaster is among one of the best tours my wife and I have been on. The guide, John, dresses from the time period and as well as passing on a wealth of knowledge of the town he gives stories as if he was a coachman from that time, which brings history alive. If you have enjoyed walking tours before I am sure you will enjoy this one and if you haven't been on a walking tour before, give it a go, you won't get much better."

Geoff

"A brilliant tour of Lancaster! We live locally and decided to try this for some fun, we didn’t know there was so much about Lancaster that we weren’t aware of. Such an excellent tour guide in Jonny Eccleston whose knowledge knows no bounds! Well worth the price and will certainly be booking onto the tour of Chester too. Thanks!"

Dan B

"An excellent tour of Lancaster with a knowledgeable guide. In spite of some inclement weather the tour was fascinating and the guide was very knowledgeable. Very worthwhile and was a very good introduction to the history of Lancaster." 

Julian T

"A big thank you to coachman Johnny Eccleston for the fascinating tour of Lancaster city centre on 12 November. Walking to the historical parts of the city centre and listening to so much historical content was a delight to the eyes and ears!"

Phillip B

"I really enjoyed the tour around the landmarks of Georgian Lancaster today. Even having lived in Lancaster for many years I learnt some new things rom the engaging guide. A great walking tour recommended."

Richard

"Back in London now but thank you so much for your tour of Lancaster yesterday. Christine and I really enjoyed it. You spoke well and clearly even tho in character and linked up for me many of the buildings I had noticed as I walked to and fro. It's a really good enterprise and I wish you luck."

Elizabeth

"Brilliant tour by a well informed guide. Highly recommended. Lived in the area for over forty years but learnt so much." 

Lindsey W

 

"Really interesting tour, this was an engaging tour round Lancaster's Georgian history, which evoked a real sense of the town's history... I've lived in Lancaster for 20 years and listened to new stories and tales of Lancaster and its people. Would definitely recommend." 

Sionadh C

"This was a fantastic tour of Georgian Lancaster. Really brought the character of the town and its people to life during this era. Great fun, excellent tour guide, full of character with lots of stories to tell." 

Helen B

"The Georgian guide, John, was both engaging and very informative . The highlight was being able to go inside one of Lancasters hidden Georgian gems, I'll leave it as a surprise.....I am pretty well read on the history of Lancaster but Georgian John offered up some fascinating personal stories of individuals of the era.....Would highly recommend" 

Alan Maguire

Disclaimer

If due to unforeseen circumstances a tour is cancelled, and an alternative date cannot be agreed, customers will receive a full refund. 

Customers should arrive ten minutes before tour start times. If delayed, customers should contact the guide by phone before the tour is due to start. 

Guides will wait for up to ten minutes after tour start times. If customers do not arrive by this time, there will be no refunds on tickets purchased. 

A brief history of North West England

Scroll through the timeline to discover some fascinating local facts...

ROMAN...
43AD
72-80AD
SAXON/VIKING...
630
685
907AD
NORMAN/MEDIEVAL...
1070
1092
1133
1158
1207
1265
1403
1485
EARLY/MODERN...
1506
1536-1540
1540-1541
1542-1551
1555
1564
1568
1603
1612
1617
1642-1643
1644-1646
1648
1652
1660
1665
1687
1689
1714 
1715
1717
1732
1745
1758
1775-1776
1779
1788
MODERN...
1797
1798
1801-1804 
1803
1810
1815
1819-1820
1820
1831-1833
1837

-:-

Roman invasion of Britannia

Romans build forts at Carlisle (Luguvalium), Chester (Deva Victrix) and Manchester (Mancunium) with an auxiliary station at Lancaster (Calunium)

-:-

First church on site of Lancaster Priory

Monastery founded in Carlisle by St Cuthbert

Chester and Manchester burhs created by Aethelflaed and Edward the Elder

-:-

Chester castle built by William the Conqueror

Carlisle Castle built by William II

Lancaster Castle built by Roger of Poitou

Caer Luel/Carlisle becomes a city when King Henry I's founds its Diocese

Carlisle receives its first charter

King John grants Liuerpul (Liverpool) charter and 1421: original building (now Chetham’s Library) erected in Mameceastre (Manchester)

Duchy of Lancastre/Lancaster created by King Henry III

Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy’s rebellion in Chester

Wars of the Roses end  

-:-

Chester becomes a city after King Henry VII's great charter

Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries

Henry VIII dissolves Chester‘s friaries, turning St Werburgh’s Abbey into new cathedral
(www.chestercathedral.com)

Lancaster Priory dissolved, reopening as parish church
(www.lancasterpriory.org)  

Carlisle Priory dissolved, with secular chapter added
(www.carlislecathedral.org.uk)

War of the Rough Wooing between England and Scotland

George Marsh under house arrest for heresy in Chester
chesterghosttour.co.uk/

Birth of William Shakespeare 

 Mary Queen of Scots under house arrest in Carlisle Castle

Death of Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch 

Pendle witches tried at Lancaster Castle (www.visitlancashire.com)

James I
visits Carlisle, Lancaster and Chester on his jubilee progress

Royalists capture Lancaster but not its castle
(www.lancastercastle.com)

Carlisle Castle made a royalist garrison

Parliamentary siege of Chester (www.visitcheshire.com)

Parliamentary siege of Carlisle

Start of Second Civil War as Scots and royalists seize Carlisle

Quaker George Fox preaches in Lancaster (www.pendleheritage.co.uk)   

Charles II visits Lancaster Castle, freeing its prisoners (www.lancashire.gov.uk)  

Great Plague
(www.sicktodeath.org) 

James II talks religious
toleration when visiting Chester (www.westcheshiremuseums.co.uk)  

William III brings troops to Chester for Irish campaign

Tullie House built in Carlise
(www.tullie.org.uk)

 Death of Anne I, the last Stuart monarch

 First dock in Liverpool

Carlisle town hall built

 Lancaster’s port breaks free of Chester’s control (www.visitlancaster.org.uk)

Precautionary walling up of Chester’s Watergate and Northgate against Jacobites

Bonnie Prince Charlie arrives in Lancaster with 5000 Jacobites (www.visitlancaster.org.uk)

Carlisle besieged and captured by Bonnie Prince Charlie

Carlisle-Newcastle turnpike road constructed

John Poole publishes Chester Chronicle

Start of American War of Independence

Chester-Nantwich Canal opens (www.gps-routes.co.uk)

 Skerton Bridge built in Lancaster

-:-

John Rennie’s Wyre Viaduct opens for Lancaster’s canal (www.lancaster.gov.uk)

Wedding of novelist Sir Walter Scott in Carlisle 

The Carlisle Journal newspaper introduced

William Minshull
publishes Lancaster Gazette

Anne Lister studies at York

Start of Napoleonic Wars

Demolition of Chester's Pentice

New courthouse built in Carlisle

Wigan highwayman George Lyon hanged in Lancaster

Gas lighting introduced in Carlisle and Lancaster

Peterloo Masacre in Manchester

Duke of Wellington visits Park House, Chester

Princess Victoria opens the Grosvenor Bridge in Chester

Great Reform Act

"The worst army hospital in Britain" built within Carlisle Castle

Cholera epidemics in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Liverpool

Birmingham's botanical gardens opened

George Hudson begins work on the Leeds-York line

 Grasshopper Tea Warehouse opens in Lancaster
(www.thecoffeehopper.com)

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