Fan Makers – Ghoulish Halloween Walk

The theme of the walk was the City’s obsession with death. Be it the many different ways life in the City was precarious and some of the expressions that arise from this. Our walk took us to the Old Bailey (Newgate Prison) where there were frequent executions by hanging. Or if you did not answer your interrogator’s questions, you might be pressed to death by having heavy stones placed upon you to encourage your co-operation. If the hanging did not happen outside the prison, you might be transported West to be hanged at Tyburn. This led to the expressions of “Gone West” and “One for the Road”.

Then off to Smithfield to see where the Great Fire of London reached killing many people as the flames rapidly spread through the City, also where Wat Tyler was killed leading the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. Close by is the spot where Sir William Wallace was hanged, drawn and quartered.

Next stop was Postman’s Park sited in a former churchyard and burial ground. Here many victims of the Great Plague were buried, but not all those interned were necessarily actually dead. Hence some people insisted that their coffin was fitted with a bell that could be rung by the person in the coffin, so the expression “A dead ringer”.Another form of death was noted at Guildhall Yard where we saw the area covered by the Roman amphitheatre where people died in combat against their fellow man or animals.

On the way to Tower of London we heard how the Blitz killed lots of people either from exploding bombs, falling buildings or shrapnel. Of particular note, the enormous explosion at Bank Tube Station in January 1941 that killed 56 people. At Tower Green we saw the spot where public executions took place of high ranking individuals that were not of sufficient status to be executed in the Tower of London.The walk then concluded with a convivial lunch at The Town of Ramsgate pub at Wapping.

Our grateful thanks to Lisa Andrews for organising the event and City Guide Lance Whitehouse for guiding us so amusingly.