Jack Jewers, author of Seething Lane, takes us on a trip down the historic thoroughfare.
A bust of Pepys surveys Seething Lane Gardens. Image: Dave Bonta, Creative Commons
Seething Lane is an unassuming little thoroughfare.
Barely 160 metres from end to end, it's tucked away among the warren of narrow byways that connect the Tower of London in the south with bustling Fenchurch Street to the north. But Seething Lane holds an essential place in the literary heritage of London, as the home of Samuel Pepys — the man who kept the most famous diary in English history.
Pepys lived and worked on Seething Lane from 1660 until 1673. For nine years of these years, he recorded his daily life in extraordinary detail. His writing can be funny and it can be tender. It is also racy, at times shocking, and utterly indiscreet. His diaries are frank and honest, whether or not they paint him in a good light — and frequently they don't.
