STAFF REVIEW: SECRET OLD TOUR OF LONDON FOR 2 PEOPLE
Although I have been to London a couple of times, I still feel like I have so much more to discover. This is why Connor and I went on this Secret Old Tour of London to uncover the capital’s history once and for all.
Connor and I arrived outside of Barbican Tube Station, where we met our friendly tour guide Matt and the rest of our group, a family of four coming all the way from Oregon to visit London.
As soon as we finished introducing ourselves, it was time to delve into our first stop, Charterhouse Square. This opening location made us dive into the darkest secrets of London straight away. Connor and I couldn’t believe our ears when the guide explained we were standing over a black death burial ground. It was fascinating but also terrifying to stumble on so much history all at once. London holds many secrets from all centuries and decades, and it is fulfilling to learn about the mid-1300s in our century.
The tour route then took us to Smithfield Market, which is the largest wholesale meat market in the UK. However, between the 17th and 19th century, when divorce was exorbitantly high-priced and time-consuming, numerous lower-class British citizens could not afford the paperwork; therefore, the solution was to sell their wives in public places like fairs or markets instead and Smithfield was one of the most popular markets in London.
Connor and I were repulsed to hear women were sold right where we were standing, I even dropped my luggage because I couldn’t believe it. It was very eerie to believe these methods existed.
Within the same area just a couple of steps away, we reached our 3rd stop, a site that used to be dedicated to executions. I will not get into the details of the guides explanations if you are not a fan of torture, but London does hide many secrets, that is all I am going to say for this stop.
Next was the Cloth Fair & the Hand and Shears Pub. Matt explained this pub started as a cloth fair like any other at the time for textile merchants in the early 1100s, but by the 16th century this place had taken a lot of value and was officially announced open every August at the Hand and Shears pub.
Our following stop was 41 Cloth Fair, which is the oldest residential home in the Square Mile. This property is the only house that has survived the Great Fire of London in 1666. You will have to book your tickets for this tour to find out how it escaped the flames of the fire, because I do not want to ruin Matt’s explanation. Plus, I hear Mr Shakespeare was around this property in the late 1500’s.
Have you heard of the Great Church of St Bartholomew? Me neither, but this why this tour is great because now I know. Whilst Connor was behind doing God knows what, Matt explained this church was built in the 12th century as the chancel of a monastery. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the building saw use as a stable and factory, before returning to being a church in the 19th century.
After calling Connor’s name to catch up with us we had the chance to pass under The entrance gate of St Bartholomew. The church that the gatehouse protects was founded in 1123 as an Augustinian priory.
The architecture was fascinating and relatively undamaged for a couple of centuries – even through the Great Fire of London, which we thought was impossible – but our knowledgeable tour guide told us all.
We then passed by Cock Lane and the site of the Golden Boy of Pye Corner. A few moments later we stopped at the Old Bailey which is a site of Newgate and executions. This is where the word hangover came from, and I won't tell you why or how, but it opened our eyes to a whole different understanding of the phrase “I am hungover” as we both use it every weekend.
We then got to walk in what used to be the Christchurch Greyfriars which is now an open garden as it was bombed in WW2. It was fascinating!
Our final stop before leaving was the most memorable, Postman's Park, which was a memorial to heroic self-sacrifice which occurred in London around the late 1800’s. Connor and the whole group including me were all very emotional throughout the tour of this area. It was something we had never seen before. Matt then dropped us off at Guildhall to part ways.
Overall Connor and I had an amazing time on this Secret Old Tour of London, and would like to say thank you so much to our tour guide Matt and the group! We learned so much about the area and had a fantastic tour of London. I would recommend this experience to any tourists who would like to discover London, or locals who might want to uncover secret areas they’ve never seen before.
