Tourists have sought out the landmarks, streets, and alleys of Charles Dickens’s London ever since the death of the world-renowned author. Victorian and Edwardian fans were obsessed with tracking down the locations — dubbed “Dickensland” — that famously featured in his novels. But they were faced with a city that was undergoing rapid redevelopment, where literary shrines were far from sacred. Over the following century, sites connected with Dickens were demolished, relocated, and reimagined.

In this talk, Lee Jackson traces the fascinating history of Dickensian tourism, exploring both real Victorian London and a fictional city shaped by fandom, tourism, and heritage entrepreneurs. From vanishing coaching inns to submerged riverside stairs, hidden burial grounds to apocryphal shops, we will navigate the curious history of an imaginary world.

Lee Jackson is a well-known expert on Victorian London. He is the author of Dirty Old London, Walking Dickens’ London, Palaces of Pleasure and a new book Dickensland: The Curious History of Dickens’s London. Lee has lectured on Victorian topics for libraries and museums throughout London and is an academic advisor to the Dickens Museum.