London Crime and History Exploration Tour

This tour will cover a number of neighbourhoods, all of different characteristics & historical time periods. Starting in the East End where The Krays famously & violently ruled the roost in the heart of the old East End.
Not too far away you will go back in time almost a century and retread the footsteps of Jack The Ripper & his victims whilst visiting and learning about the feared Workhouses that so many lived in and so many were trapped in. Then towards Smithfields, home of many a famous & bloody execution. Stopping briefly at the beautiful St. Bartholomews church before visiting the shrine of William Wallace (Braveheart) where he was put to death in one of the most horrible ways imaginable.

Then to old Newgate prison where people awaited their trials & deaths for centuries before standing on the spot where many of the executions were enacted. The notorious Clink Prison awaits us... then the maze of alleys around Borough Market & the poverty stricken neighbourhood of Charles Dickens.

Meeting Point

Whitechapel

277 Whitechapel Rd, London E1 1BY, UK

Just outside the entrance!

What's included:

• Local guide
• Private tour
• Professional guide
• Hotel pickup and drop-off (on foot / London Underground)

Not included:

• Transportation to/from attractions

What to expect:

Duration: 3 hours

Whitechapel Bell Foundry

32-34 Whitechapel Road, , London, E1 1EW

Having visited an important site relating to early Communism, we next stop off here at the famous foundry which made Big Ben and the Liberty Bell and will learn how Big Ben got its name.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

The Blind Beggar Public House Whitechapel

337 Whitechapel Road, , London, E1 1BU

The scene of perhaps the most infamous London gangland shooting back in the 60's with the feared Krays.... Londons answer to Al Capone!

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

The Ten Bells

84 Commercial St, London E1 6QQ, UK

The pub most closely linked with Jack The Ripper, possibly at the end of the street at which he lived.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

The White Hart

89 Whitechapel High Street, London, E1 7RA

This famous pub is one of a few closely associated with Jack The Ripper. After few minutes up the road we will visit the site of a potential Ripper killing.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Brick Lane

London

Now a trendy street and home to a thriving 1-mile stretch of curry restaurants, we will learn what life was like here in Victorian times when Jack was about.

15 minutes

Brick Lane Jamme Masjid

59 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL

Now a beautiful mosque, at the time of Jack The Ripper the building was a synagogue and a century earlier a Protestant church for fleeing French refugees. Learn about the history and heritage of this once poverty stricken part of London

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Golden Boy of Pye Corner

35 Cock Lane, London, EC1A 9BW

Why do we have a golden statue of a rather fat young boy in this quiet London Street? It's all to do with The Great Fire of London.

5 minutes

Christ Church Spitalfields

Commercial St, London E1 6LY, UK

This beautiful stone built church was the centre of Victorian life and just across the road from both the bustling market and brewery but also adjacent to perhaps the most dreadful street in London.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Soup Kitchen for the Jewish Poor

Brune Street, London, E1 7NE

Here we can see the first and indeed one of the last Jewish soup kitchens in the East End of London

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Old Spitalfields Market

16 Horner Square, , London, E1 6EW

Once an industrial market, now a funky market where these is always something to see under the fabulous old Victorian roof.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Smithfield Market

Grand Ave, London, EC1A 9PS

Smithfields has long been the centre of the London meat trade. Centuries ago when food production was less ethical, it wasn't just dead animals that were butchered here.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

WIlliam Wallace Memorial

St. Bartholomew's Hospital, W Smithfield, London, EC1A 9DS

See the site of where William 'Braveheart' Wallace was Hung Drawn and Quartered as well as quite a few other interesting histories just a few feet away.

10 minutes

Peasants' Revolt Plaque

Northern Wall of St Bart's Hospital, Smithfield, London

Learn all about the infamous Peasants Revolt and how it helped shape life in modern day Western countries today.

5 minutes

Church of St. Bartholomew the Great

West Smithfield, Barbican, London, EC1A 9DS

Visit this small but fascinating graveyards and learn of the secrets within.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

St. Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Churchyard, London, EC4M 8AD

From the outside see one of the most beautiful of buildings and learn of how it miraculously avoided destruction in WW2.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

The Viaduct Tavern

126 Newgate Street, , London, EC1A 7AA

This old pub is notorious for both being right next to the site of centuries of executions but also in the cellars beneath the streets being holding cells where condemned men would spend their last night on earth.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Holy Sepulchre London

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

Learn the often rather gruesome history of this fabulous old church.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Old Bailey

Old Bailey, , London, EC4M 7EH

Perhaps the oldest court in the Western World. Still the place where the baddest of the bad are put on trial.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Christchurch Greyfriars Church Garden

King Edward St, London EC1A 7BA, UK

This small garden and ruins is a memorial garden to The Blitz in WW2.

5 minutes

London Bridge

London, EC4R 9HA

The modern incarnation of London Bridge with the large ceremonial spike on which the heads of the executed would be stuck as a warning to those entering the city.

5 minutes

The National Firefighters Memorial

Carter Ln, Peter's Hill, London EC4V 5EY, UK

This small memorial remembers those who gave their lives protecting London and other cities from the terrible bombings and fires of the WW2 Blitz bombings by the Luftwaffe.

5 minutes

Millennium Bridge

Thames Embankment, London, SE1 9JE

20 year old Millennium Bridge doesn't have any gore itself but from here we can see what was once one of the top suicide spots in London and decidedly sexist it was too!

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Shakespeare's Globe

21 New Globe Walk, London SE1 9DT, UK

Now one of the finest places to see a play but in the time of Shakespeare, this area was the absolute pits. Rather like the Amsterdam of its day... for good or for bad!

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

The Clink Prison Museum

1 Clink Street, London, SE1 9DG

Not going in the museum itself but the outside is very authentic as it is. We'll learn why this part of London was just so bad.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Winchester Palace

Clink Street, London, SE1 9DG

Winchester Palace, mostly destroyed in one of the many huge fires of London. Once the home to the Bishop and we'll find out about his terrible ways just a little bit further on.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Borough Market

8 Southwark Street, , London, SE1 1TL

Now entering the heart of Dickensian London and the setting for much of Oliver Twist. There has been a market here pretty much since Roman times.

10 minutes

The Marshalsea Prison

Angel Pl., London SE1 1JA, UK

We finish the tour at the location of an old debtors prison that had such a terrible impact on Charles Dickens.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Crossbones Graveyard & Garden of Remembrance

Junction of Redcross Way and Union Street, Entrance by the Golden Gates on Union Street, London, SE1 1TA

Crossbones Cemetery if almost unknown even to Londoners, perhaps because of its grisly history. The resting place of criminals, prostitutes, plague victims and suicides for centuries. Learn the fascinating story this tragic but beautiful place.

15 minutes

Red Cross Cottages & Garden

Red Cross Garden 50 Redcross Way, London, SE1 1HA

Learn the story of one of the first attempts to improve the welfare of the poverty stricken in London.

5 minutes

Ye Olde England Tours

London

This tour is run by Ye Olde England Tours

3 hours • Admission Ticket Included