Burnings, Butchery & Black Death: A Walking Tour of London's Bloody Past

Travel through a thousand years of history, meeting kings and queens, body snatchers, Charles Dickens, an eighteenth century ghost, and William Wallace - aka Braveheart (and learn how he was in no fit state to shout "Freeeedoooommmm!" whilst being executed!)

On our walking tour we'll visit the areas around Smithfield, for centuries London's site of both animal and human slaughter. We'll learn about how the city disposed of the tens of thousands of Black Death corpses in the fourteenth century, the execution methods used in the Middle Ages, and how the area became a notorious slum which Dickens used as the setting for Oliver Twist.

The walking tour begins outside Barbican Station, ends near to Farringdon Station, and will take around two hours. Total distance is about two miles.

Ticket sales will be limited to circa ten attendees, to ensure maximum enjoyment for everybody on the tour.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: The Charterhouse Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6AN England

A fourteenth century monastery and plague pit

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Smithfield Market, 225 London Central Markets, London EC1A 9LH England

A one thousand year old meat market

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Cloth Fair, London England

A quiet alley with a noisy history

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Church of St. Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, London EC1A 9DS England

London's oldest surviving parish church

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: WIlliam Wallace Memorial, St. Bartholomew's Hospital W Smithfield, London EC1A 9DS England

The memorial to William Wallace, aka Braveheart

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Saint Bartholomew's Hospital Museum, Giltspur Street West Smithfield, London EC1A 7BE England

The oldest surviving hospital in the country

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Golden Boy of Pye Corner, 35 Cock Lane, London EC1A 9BW England

The site where the Great Fire of 1666 died out, and of eighteenth century ghost hysteria

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Holy Sepulchre London, St. Sepulchre Without Newgate Church Holborn Viaduct Across a Crossroads from the Old Bailey, London EC1A 2DQ England

A church with a bloody history

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Holborn Viaduct, Holborn street, London EC1A England

The site of the River Fleet, Victorian London's largest open air sewer

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Ye Olde Mitre, 1 Ely Court Ely Place, London EC1N 6SJ England

A hidden gem of a pub, hidden down an alleyway

Duration: 10 minutes

You can present either a paper or an electronic voucher for this activity.

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start time of the experience.