Newgate Prison and Its Black Dog
The Black Dog of Newgate legend claimed that starving prisoners killed and ate a sorcerer or scholar, after which a monstrous hound hunted the guilty. Its best-known printed form…
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2034 articlesThe Tyburn Tree
Tyburn served for centuries as London's principal public execution place. Prisoners travelled from Newgate along a crowded route that became a theatre of punishment in itself. The…
The Tide for the Condemned at Execution Dock
Execution Dock at Wapping was used for pirates and offenders under Admiralty jurisdiction. The condemned travelled from the Marshalsea through London behind a silver oar…
The Clink: The Prison That Became a Word
The Clink was a prison in the Liberty of the Clink on the south bank, a jurisdiction controlled by the Bishop of Winchester. From the medieval period it held debtors, religious…
Where the Great Train Robbery Was Planned
The Star Tavern in Belgrave Mews West is associated with planning the 1963 Great Train Robbery, in which a gang stopped a Royal Mail train and stole more than £2.6 million. The…
London's Most Haunted House: 50 Berkeley Square
50 Berkeley Square gained a reputation as Victorian London's most terrifying address through newspaper stories of a locked room, a deranged resident and witnesses supposedly…
The Man in Grey of Drury Lane
At the Theatre Royal Drury Lane the “Man in Grey” is described as a figure in cloak, powdered wig and tricorn seen crossing the upper auditorium. Theatre tradition treats a…
William Terriss and the Ghost of the Adelphi
Actor William Terriss was fatally stabbed on 16 December 1897 at the Adelphi Theatre stage door by former colleague Richard Prince. Terriss was a popular star, while Prince blamed…
The Black Nun of the Bank of England
The “Black Nun of the Bank of England” was Sarah Whitehead, sister of former bank employee Philip Whitehead, executed for forgery in 1811. Unable to accept his death, she…
The Grenadier's Phantom Officer
At the Grenadier, a small Belgravia pub, tradition tells of a young guardsman named Cedric beaten to death by comrades for cheating at cards. Visitors pin banknotes to the ceiling…
Dick Turpin and The Spaniards Inn
The Spaniards Inn stands beside the old road between Hampstead and Highgate and genuinely preserves the atmosphere of a country stopping place at London's edge. Legend claims that…
Ghosts Above the Newgate Cells
The Viaduct Tavern, opened beside Holborn Viaduct in 1869, presents itself as the City's last surviving Victorian gin palace. Visitors are shown confined stone basement spaces…
