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
(236 Ratings)
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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
Livelife2max
Jan 23, 2025
Fascinating history - My third tour with Tom and another fantastic experience. I learnt so much about an area of London I have never explored. Tom made the tour informative, interesting and entertaining. His historical knowledge is amazing. It was a thoroughly enjoyable outing on a very cold day. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Biscuit1962
Jan 15, 2025
Fascinating, entertaining tour. - The tour was excellent. Tom was very well informed and shared the information in a highly engaging way. He was happy to answer questions and had obviously carried out very in depth research. His stories of London were fascinating.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Soraya_p
Nov 21, 2024
Excellent Tour 👍👍👍👍👍 - Tom was an exceptional guide. The tour was full of interesting information that was filled with intrigue, history - as well as snippets of information, as we passed filming locations. It was fascinating to hear the history of the Markets, bomb attacks during the blitz, Charterhouse, St. John Ambulance origins, William Wallace & heaps more riveting facts. Wow! The time flew by & it was truly a wonderful tour. I would reccomend this to anyone who has an interest in London history - totally mesmerising. It is amazing what you will discover 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Review provided by Viator
46jackiep
Nov 20, 2024
A definite must! - Tom was an exceptional guide. The tour was full of interesting information that was filled with intrigue, history - as well as snippets of information, as we passed filming locations. It was fascinating to hear the history of the Markets, bomb attacks during the blitz, Charterhouse, St. John Ambulance origins, William Wallace, historic houses & churches - & heaps more riveting facts. Wow! The time flew by & it was truly a wonderful tour. I would reccomend this to anyone who has an interest in London history - totally mesmerising! It is amazing what you will discover 👍👍👍👍👍
Review provided by Tripadvisor
226jaynee
Nov 5, 2024
Excellent - Out two hour tour was fascinating and entertaining. It was very well structured and presented and our guide knew his history and is an excellent story teller.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jokespoke
Oct 27, 2024
Very interesting and good guide! - Tom is an enthusiastic guide with a lot of knowledge about this area. The area is not large but with so much history that it is easy to fill 1.5 hours. Great!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Adrianbi7567uh
Oct 13, 2024
Great Guide - Our tour guide Tom was extremely knowledgeable, affable and likeable. I would thoroughly recommend this tour (apart from the rain). Which Tom said he couldn’t control….
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Alibagain
Nov 25, 2024
Interesting 2 hour tour - A great way to get to know more about this part of London. Very polished. We were lucky with the weather too, which helped!
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).