The village of Clerkenwell has to be seen to be believed, for it is a place where the past has never really died. Scratch its surface and you can easily imagine yourself walking its warren of alleyways in the company of either Shakespeare or Dickens.

Indeed the very name of this bygone gem of a quarter brims over with antiquity - for the Fons Clericurom - or Clerks’ - Spring was the place where Medieval Mystery Plays were once performed and where the clerks’ of London once gathered.

And here’s the first surprise of a tour that positively crackles with them, the old well still exists, enabling us to look upon it and use it as our window on the past.

And oh what sights abound in this village of secrets. London’s only surviving medieval gatehouse for one, little changed since the long ago age when William Shakespeare came a calling. Then there’s the city’s only Tudor town house, where both Elizabeth 1st and James 1st stayed. There is the green that isn’t green from which Oliver Twist was chased, and the church that can still boast its old “modesty” boards.

There are stunning views over the valley of the River Fleet and on towards the shimmering dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, which rises majestically over the rooftops of the city, much as it did when this area was a crime ridden ghetto where Dickens found inspiration.

In short this is a splendid tour through an unknown and secret part of London where history was made and time stands well and truly still.