Whilst the weather was still quite fine I decided that my new thing for the week would be to go on a History Walk. London is a fantastic city bursting at the seams with history and true tales, this means there are hundreds of different history walks to choose from. For me it was an easy choice; I have always had a strange fascination with the story of Jack the Ripper. I remember there being a book all about the gruesome crimes committed in 1888 in our bookcase at home when I was younger. As a child who loved all types of ghost stories this book of true crime completely gripped my imagination. So when picking which walk I wanted to do, it had to be a Jack the Ripper one. Next up, was choosing the company to go with. I didn't do much research, just scrolled through a few websites. In the end I went with London Walks. It had really good reviews and has won awards for its Ripper Tours.
To attend any of the walks they offer you just need to turn up to a specified meeting place, pay £10 per person and join in, there's no need to book. Stuart and I went for the 3pm Saturday tour, meeting outside the Tower Hill Tube station.
We arrived at Tower Hill a few minutes early so had enough time to walk around the small park outside the station. This park marks the location that all the people not lucky enough to justify a private execution at the Tower of London, across the road, would meet their very public and very grim end. Luckily, now I think it is mainly used for office workers to eat their lunch in during the week, and for Stuart to wander through looking all thoughtful at the plaques, of course.
Then it was time to join the tour. We were the first people there, so we paid our money and waited to see if anyone else was going to join us.
I thought as you didn't have to book and it was a relatively cold afternoon in October that there wouldn't be many people at all. In the end I was really surprised by the number who arrived. There must have been twenty people in total, so it was nice to see so many enthusiastic history buffs! After everyone had gathered our guide led us to a spot by the old London Wall (which dates all the way back to the Romans) to introduce us to our subject matter.
I'm afraid I am a terrible blogger as I didn't even make a note of our guide's name, but the gentleman was very eloquent, interesting and animated. Most importantly he spoke very clearly and projected his voice well. Stuarts hearing isn't the best and I was worried he would miss some of the story, but Stuart confirmed he heard every word, which was a great feat considering during the tour our guide had to deal with traffic, alarms and general London street noise.
We were taken all through Whitechapel and around the outskirts of the City of London. To really feel how dirty and smelly it would have been in some of the streets during the Ripper crimes we were even treated to a section of the story whilst stood next to some pretty ripe wheelie bins!
One thing worth noting when attending this tour is how much London has changed in the past 120 years. None of the locations where the murders took place really exist in the same state any more; they've been turned into carparks or smart offices, or, like on Mitre Street (the image below the church photo) the small alleys are dwarfed by the city buildings behind them. One location that does still stand is St Botolph's Church. According to our guide, in 1888, this church was known as the 'prostitutes church' as so many ladies working the streets would visit here, walking around it to escape possible arrest from police. One of the many things I love about London is how historical sites blend and merge with the new buildings that are always being erected. History might be built on or around but it's not completely forgotten. It's just sometimes a bit of imagination is also required!
What I found interesting about this walk was how our guide brought the era to life for us. He didn't just tell us the gruesome details of the crimes, he set the scene and made sure we realised the characters in the tale were real people. He took the time to explain how tough life would have been for a large number of Londoners back then, particularly in the East End. The women working the streets almost always had no other choice. The cost for a bed for a night in a local dosshouse was exactly the same that the clients would pay the prostitute. At least one of the women killed was turned away from the local dosshouse as she lacked the money. She insisted they keep a bed spare for her, as she would earn the money and return, but she never had the chance to. On this tour we were shown the women weren't just tragic victims, but real people who had to do what they could to survive, which with the Ripper on the prowl just wasn't enough.
In total the tour lasted about an hour and a half and I think this was good value for our £10. We walked some streets I have never visited before, were entertained by a professional and knowledgeable guide and most importantly were left to question adn make up our own minds about what happen all those years ago. Why did the killings stop, so seemingly abruptly? Were there more victims than the canonical five? And the question we may never know - who was Jack the Ripper? Like so many people before us, we'll have to mull it over with a drink at the Ten Bells. Meet you there.
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