The dark side of London: Some of it is fictional, a lot of it factual

There are several stories and spots in London that you wouldn't ordinarily find on lists of places to visit form part of the two-hour tour

We are late. As luck would have it, a snag in the London Underground has delayed us and we have missed the group we were supposed to meet at the Farringdon tube station — the starting point of the “Dark Side of London” walking tour. But our guide, Matt Zimoch, has helpfully emailed us the location of the next ghostly stop on the walk that promises to introduce us to the fantastical, and often forgotten, side of London — some of it fictional, a lot of it factual.

Our tour is tailored around the little-known stories that Zimoch’s own rambles in the city led him to. We catch up with him at Charterhouse Square, the third stop on the itinerary. Many in the group already look wide-eyed. We’re yet to get our first dose of wonder.

Farringdon tube station, known for The Screaming Spectre | Photo: Mattbuck [CC BY-SA 2.0] Wikimedia Commons

Charterhouse Square, a pentagonal space in central London, stands on a 14th-century plague pit that was discovered as recently as 2014 when workers digging for the Crossrail railway project stumbled upon skeletons. It turned out to be the largest mass grave in London during the so-called Black Death, which arrived in Britain in 1348 and killed six out of every 10 people in the city within a year. Charterhouse, which appears in the writings of Charles Dickens and Daniel Defoe, now accommodates pensioners, the Queen Elizabeth II Infirmary Care Home, a chapel and private apartments. Set amidst serene surroundings and overlooking a small park by which people meet over beer and drinks, it is hard to imagine its morbid past. Everything passes, I think, as we move to the next stop — St Bartholomew’s Hospital, simply called Barts, the oldest hospital in Britain and which still provides medical services.

An old picture of the Smithfield Meat Market | Photo: iStock

On the way, Zimoch tells us about “The Screaming Spectre” of Farringdon station, the chilling story of 13-year-old trainee hat-maker Anne Naylor who was murdered in 1758 and whose ghost is still said to haunt the station. We’re also told of the public executions at what is today the Smithfield Meat Market, a massive wrought-iron structure created in 1866 by Horace Jones, the architect remembered most for the iconic Tower Bridge. It was here that Henry VIII and his daughter, Queen Mary 1, or “Bloody Mary”, would burn scores of Protestants at the stakes. And it was here that William Wallace, the hero of the First War of Scottish Independence whose character Mel Gibson played in Braveheart, was hanged, drawn and quartered in 1305. A wall of the nearby St Bartholomew’s Hospital carries a plaque marking the dreadful event.

St Bartholomew Church | Photo: iStock

Sitting by the ornate fountain in the quadrangle of the 12th-century hospital, which survived both the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the Blitz, we listen to some more gory tales, now from the world of medicine. Zimoch takes us back to the time when surgical trauma and post-operative infections were among the biggest killers, until Florence Nightingale forced a change. Sitting in that square, surrounded by the grand wings of the hospital, it is easy to picture the solitary figure relentlessly working to transform the way medicine was practised.

By now, the evening is beginning to get chilly. We head to St Bartholomew the Great, London’s oldest parish church, which is said to be haunted. Zimoch points to the level of the church, which is much lower than the street we are standing on — a grim reminder that the entire city had once burnt down and was rebuilt on its remains. Stepping down into the church complex would be like crossing over from the new town into the old. Pleased with the effect this information is having on the group, Zimoch now points to a wooden house sandwiched between concrete structures. It was the lone house in the area that survived the Great Fire. How and why no one seems to know, but its resilience has turned it into a sought-after address.

Amelia Dyer in 1893 | Photo: iStock

Several such stories and spots that you wouldn’t ordinarily find on lists of places to visit form part of the two-hour tour: why an Anglo-Norman monk haunts a church; how an ancient street-side fountain worsened the cholera outbreak; why doctors teamed up with body snatchers; why an army roasted its king’s body; and why Amelia Dyer was called the “Angel Maker”.

The last story, told outside the Old Bailey Courthouse where the tour ends, is in fact the most bone-chilling of all. It’s the tale of a prolific serial killer, a nurse, who murdered babies in her care over 20 years. Hence the name Angel Maker.

We disperse with the stories swimming in our heads. What was advertised as a ghost tour had left us with so much more. Zimoch’s advice is: “Don’t take the ghosts too seriously; they are scared of you too.” Sure enough, the real events were scarier.

A London walking tour | Photo: iStock

City of stories

Skip the bus and boat tours. Many self-taught “historians” are willing to take you through London on foot, often for free. If you are short on days, there’s the six-hour London All-in-One tour of the city’s popular attractions. There’s also the graffiti and street-art tour for a taste of the eclectic, shocking or beautiful. Or, the theatreland walk that takes you back to Shakespeare’s London. Food tours, pub-hopping jaunts, night walks, gallery walks, rock ’n’ roll excursions, Jack the Ripper tour, Harry Potter outings — name it and London has it.

Old Bailey Courthouse | Photo: iStock

The tour is on Friday evenings through the year. Till the end of October, there is an additional Tuesday tour. It is free of cost, though contributions at the end are welcome. For this and more, visit freetoursbyfoot.com/london-tours/#walk and wondersoflondon.co.uk