Resident guides

The voices at the
meeting point.

Four people, four lifetimes spent reading the city. Between them they hold a doctorate, a parish ministry, a fellowship in Gothic architecture and a London Blue Badge. Each of them knows the route by heart, in winter rain.

When you book a Abbey Creed walk, you'll know in advance who is leading it. We rotate the routes between guides — tell us if you'd like a particular voice and we'll do our best to honour the request.

Lead Guide · Anglican history

Eleanor Ashby

Eleanor founded Abbey Creed Tours in 2014 after a decade in academic publishing. She holds a doctorate in English ecclesiastical history from King's College London and an MPhil from Cambridge in late-medieval liturgy. Her thesis on the iconography of the Westminster Retable is, she says, the only thing she's written that nobody disagreed with.

Eleanor leads the Westminster Sacred Mile most Sundays and the City walk by appointment. She is the company's lead trainer for new guides and writes the reading lists we send to walkers the week before.

“I do not love the Abbey because it is famous. I love it because it has been telling the same story to a different city every century, and the story keeps changing.”

Reverend Thomas Whitfield photographed outside an English parish church.

Senior Guide · Liturgy & pilgrimage

Rev. Thomas Whitfield

Tom served forty years as an Anglican priest, the last twelve as Vicar of a south-London parish that included three Wren churches and a Victorian bus garage. He retired in 2019 and joined the company a year later. He brings a working knowledge of the liturgical year, the Book of Common Prayer, and what it actually feels like to bury someone you knew.

Tom leads the City walk most Saturdays and the Southwark Pilgrim's Path on Wednesday afternoons. He is also our usual guide for parish-group commissions from outside the UK.

“I'm not here to convert you. I'm here to introduce you to a few thousand people who lived in this city before you and built half of it for reasons we still don't fully understand.”

Guide · Architecture & stonework

Margaret Trelawney

Margaret read History of Art at Cambridge and spent twelve years at the Courtauld before turning to public history. She is the author of Reading the Wren Spire (Yale, 2021) and the chief architectural advisor on the BBC's recent series on the City churches. She joined the company in 2017.

Margaret leads the City walk on weekday mornings and the Westminster walk by appointment. She is happy to take groups with a particular interest in stained glass, mason's marks, or the rebuilding of the City after the Blitz.

“Half of these buildings were built by men who couldn't read. Once you start looking at the marks they left in the stone, you can almost hear them complaining.”

Guide · Comparative religion · Blue Badge

Daniel Okonkwo

Daniel is a Blue Badge tourist guide and a doctoral candidate at SOAS, where his work concerns the religious geography of nineteenth-century London. He grew up between Lagos and Peckham, and brings to the walks a comparative eye — the dissenting chapels of Bankside read differently when set beside the Methodism of Wesley's London, or the Quaker meeting houses of the City.

Daniel leads the Southwark walk on most weekend mornings and is our usual guide for university groups and continuing-education courses.

“Every parish in London has a story about being the wrong kind of Christian. I find the wrong kinds tend to be the most interesting.”

Standards & safeguarding

Trained, vetted, insured.

All four guides hold an enhanced DBS check, current first-aid certification, and a written safeguarding agreement with the company. We carry public liability cover with Hiscox up to £5,000,000 per occurrence. Our walks have run continuously since 2014 with no recorded incident.

Tell us which voice, and which morning.

See the three walks Request a quote

The voices at themeeting point.