“Medicine, Monks and Murder” is a walking tour that combines medical history with current cancer research to raise awareness of active research at Barts Cancer Institute (BCI), using the historical setting of Charterhouse Square within the City of London to attract new audiences.

The tour focuses on the medical history of the area, visiting The Charterhouse (the original 14th century monastery/almshouse) and moving through to St Bartholomew’s Hospital (circa 1123) and The Great Hall (with the Hogarth Paintings). The route also brings in modern entertainment trivia throughout the route (site of Sherlock Holmes TV series, Poirot. Skyfall, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mission Impossible etc).

Following this, the visitors return to the Charterhouse Square Campus and are then shown around an active cancer laboratory with the research explained by an active academic who prepares practical demonstrations and ends the tour with an informal refreshments section in which visitors are invited to tea with 1-2 researchers to ask questions and gain a better understanding of the research conducted at BCI.

The 1 ½ hour walk has been devised with input from both the BCI and a certified City of London tour guide, who delivers the historical part of the walk. The laboratory tour takes place in different BCI Centres to provide information on a range of cancer research and gives opportunity for different staff to engage with the public and explain their research.