Who Knew

Sentenced to Death!

Who knew ...

You could have caught the underground to see the last public hanging?
A Duke's head had to be hacked off with a knife because five axe blows had failed to do it?
Smithfield saw a bishop's cook boiled for poisoning his porridge?
In the City of London you are never more than 500m away from a spot where someone was executed. Some had their heads chopped off, many were hanged, some were burned and some were disembowelled. Oh, and a few were boiled. On this walk we explore the reasons why the authorities developed and deployed all these methods and what this tells us about the history of crime, policing and punishment. And we hear lot of gruesome stories, obviously. NB if the dates below don't suit you, email me (andrew@whoknewtours.com) to let me know what you want to do: most times I can rearrange the schedule to suit demand.
Duration 120 mins (3.1 km)
End Smithfield/St Bart's church

Date and Time