Bankside at Work is a free sound walk through Bankside in Southwark. You hear it on headphones as you walk.
The route uses public streets from Webber Street to the Thames. When you reach a stop, a short story plays. Each recording is for that place and lasts under a minute. Then you walk on. We check each story against sources.
The route has 7 stops and is about 2.3 km. It takes about 34 minutes, including the audio:
Bert Hardy, The Priory, Webber Street
Eyre Massey Shaw
Crossbones Graveyard
Sydney Waterlow's workers' housing
St Thomas' Hospital and England's first printed Bible
The Wheatsheaf, Stoney Street
Sam Wanamaker, Shakespeare's Globe
The stories are about people who lived and worked behind Bankside's better known buildings.
If you cannot do the walk, you can still hear 10 stories in the WanderWalk app from anywhere.
We made this for Heritage Open Days 2026. It follows the festival theme 'Everyday Histories'. The stories include death, poverty, prostitution, war damage and exclusion from burial.
The piece is free in WanderWalk on iPhone from 11 September 2026. You do not need to book.
To listen away from Bankside, open the collection and press Play. To walk it, start at the Bert Hardy plaque on The Priory, 47-55 Webber Street, London SE1 0RQ. Use headphones. Pause the audio at road crossings.
Audio playlist
0 of 2 played
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CC-BY-NC: Callam Williams
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CC-BY-NC: Callam Williams
Credits
Callam Williams / WanderWalk: creator
ElevenLabs Archer: voice
MT-DEVA LIMITED: publisher
Made for Heritage Open Days 2026.
WanderWalk is an ElevenLabs Grants recipient.
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