Historical Walking Tour: Exploring Smithfield's Deathly Past in London

Uncover the dark and fascinating history of Smithfield in London on a historical walking tour. Explore execution methods, the Black Death, and the setting of Oliver Twist. Limited tickets available!

Duration: 2 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • The Charterhouse - A fourteenth century monastery and plague pit
  • Smithfield Market - A one thousand year old meat market
  • St John’s Gate - The home of the medieval Knights Hospitallers
  • Cloth Fair - A quiet alley with a noisy history
  • WIlliam Wallace Memorial - The memorial to William Wallace, aka Braveheart
  • **Church of St….
What's Included
  • All entry fees to scheduled landmarks and parks
  • Professional guide fluent in multiple languages
  • Comfortable air-conditioned transportation
  • Complimentary hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Traditional local lunch included
  • Free bottled water throughout the tour
  • Ample time for photos at every stop
  • Limited group size for a personalized experience
    -…
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
Additional Information

Travel through a thousand years of history, meeting medieval knights, 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…

Location
Barbican
Aldersgate Street
We meet outside Barbican Station exit. Please aim to arrive five minutes early as the tour will start on time. If you aren't able to make the tour or you will be late, please message me on +44 7783 401 129 so that I know whether to send you our live location on WhatsApp.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
5.0
(242 Ratings)
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Shaunlc66
Apr 4, 2025
Enjoyable and informative - A really informative small group tour allowing personal interaction with Tom, who was knowledgeable and able to answer questions from the group. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour, it was well paced, felt personal, and had some humour thrown in.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tjards
Apr 3, 2025
Engaging Tour of the City of London’s History, Buildings, and Famous Figures - The guide offers an engaging mix of historical facts and legends, visits to ancient buildings and places, and points out locations where well-known films and TV series have been filmed. In addition, he shares a wealth of information about historical events and famous figures, quoting works by Dickens and Shakespeare to vividly bring past scenes to life. All of this is laced with a generous dose of British humor. An absolute must-do!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Birthdaygit
Mar 18, 2025
Kindness and customer service - We have not been on the tour yet, this review is about superb customer service at a difficult time for us. Our daughter bought my husband a voucher for a tour taking place on 22 March, but unfortunately a few weeks before we were due to go, he was booked for an operation to remove a cancerous tumour from his kidney. I contacted Historic London and asked whether we could exchange the voucher for a different tour two days earlier on 20 March, which they did for us. Then on 18 March we had a call from the hospital bringing the operation forward to 19 March, meaning we couldn’t make the new date either. I messaged the company again, this time explaining why we needed to change things again, and they responded so kindly, expressing their sympathy and sending a voucher to cover the cost of a future booking. I thought it was a lovely thing for them to do and they deserve the credit for it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
548nickif
Mar 17, 2025
Do it if you want to learn about London and have fun at the same time. - Excellent tour thank you. This was our second tour with Tom and, as before, was really good. He kept us and the story moving on but at no point was it rushed and there was lots of time fif questions and just general chat. If you want a fun, interesting and informative tour of a part of London literally steeped in hundreds of years of history, then this is one for you! We will be back for another tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
926lizzyg
Mar 3, 2025
A fantastic tour for finding hidden gems in London! - This tour was great! I enjoyed seeing all the locations, many of them I would consider hidden gems that you can't get anywhere else but this tour! I would have never known about some of these places, statues, and histories had it not been for the impressive work by Tom! He really is a wealth of knowledge, and his passion for his craft really shows in his ability to answer any question you throw his way. He was a great guide and I hope I can take another of his tours the next time I'm back to London!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
A1718cowillj
Mar 2, 2025
A must do tour - An excellent tour and highly enjoyable. As someone who lives and works in London I was amazed by how much I didn't know about the city. I would highly recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Travelling_momager
Feb 21, 2025
Fabulous informative 2 hours spent in great company - Really enjoyed this tour. Felt I fully understood what life was like back then. Went to many places I will revisit like Charterhouse Museum and can’t wait for the new museum of London. Will book one of Tom’s other tours in the near future.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jean_g
Feb 9, 2025
A definite must-do! - Fantastically interesting. A surprise around every corner, and tremendous history. Great guiding! As someone who has been on many tours of London, I put this at the top of my list.
Review provided by Viator
Mark_s
Jan 24, 2025
Great walk, great guide!! - This was a great walk. Saw some parts of the city of London which would have been easily missed. Fascinating stops on this walk - oldest houses and oldest church in the City of London and finishing with a great lunch in The Mitre pub - best cheese toasties and pork pies. Really old atmospheric pub - highly recommend this tour. Fabulous guide - knew so much and was able to bring the last 1000 years of history alive.
Review provided by Viator
263alastairw
Feb 20, 2025
A history tour as part of a weekend visit to London - Concise and informative tour. Tom spoke with authority on this part of London's history. Very interesting and it made us take notice of important landmarks and buildings that we would have missed if not being part of this tour. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $27
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).