Martha Tabram and the George Yard staircase
At half past three on the morning of 7 August 1888, cabdriver Alfred Crow climbed the stairs of George Yard Buildings. On the first-floor landing he saw a shape lying in the dimness. People…
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2034 articlesMary Jane Kelly and the vanished Miller's Court
At about a quarter to eleven on Friday morning, 9 November 1888, Thomas Bowyer walked from John McCarthy’s chandler’s shop into Miller’s Court. He had been sent to collect rent from Mary…
Newgate Prison: seven centuries of fear at the City's gate
Stand at the junction of Old Bailey and Newgate Street and look up at the gilded figure of Justice. She belongs to a courthouse opened in 1907. Beneath and around it lies the footprint of a…
The Old Bailey: justice on the site of the old prison
Look up from Old Bailey and the figure seems to offer a complete theory of justice. A sword in one hand. Balanced scales in the other. No blindfold. She stands about sixty metres above the…
The Tyburn Tree: the ritual of public execution
At Marble Arch, London seems to have erased Tyburn with movement. Oxford Street arrives from the east. Edgware Road runs north. Bayswater Road follows the park. People cross with shopping…
The Marshalsea: debt, Dickens and Little Dorrit
The Marshalsea is easy to miss because London has not preserved a grand prison façade. You leave buses, shops and hospital traffic, enter a narrow passage and meet a long wall. Its bricks…
The Clink: the prison that gave English a nickname for gaol
Clink Street looks designed for a ghost story. It is narrow enough to hold shadow in daylight. Brick warehouses close in from both sides, a railway arch cuts off the long view, and the name…
The Fleet Prison: debt, corruption and clandestine marriage
Stand on Farringdon Street and two vanished institutions overlap under your feet. One is a river. The other is a…
Bridewell: palace, workhouse and prison
It is the young Edward VI, carved into the keystone of a sober classical building. He looks down on New Bridge Street, where commuters pass between Blackfriars and the City. The facade…
Millbank: the grim fortress beneath Tate Britain
Behind you is a national collection of British art: white portico, domed entrance hall, quiet galleries and carefully controlled light. In front of you the Thames moves past Westminster.…
A day at the Tower: fortress, prisoners and a Thames walk
Build a day around the Tower, choose the stories that interest you and leave time for the riverside.
Walking the City: Roman London, London Stone and the medieval city
A route through the City’s historical layers, separating surviving remains from reconstructions and interpretation.
