--- title: Burnings, Butchery & Black Death: A Walking Tour of London's Bloody Past lang: en type: tour city: London country: United Kingdom price: 24 currency: EUR price_unit: per_person availability: bookable rating: 4.98 reviews: 287 duration_minutes: 120 languages: [en] free_cancellation: true rank_in_category: 6 of 92 (Walking Tours) schedule_checked: 2026-10-01 data_updated: 2026-10-01 canonical: https://guidekin.com/uk/london/tours/burnings-butchery-black-death-a-walking-tour-of-london-s-bloody-past/ --- # Burnings, Butchery & Black Death: A Walking Tour of London's Bloody Past **Guidekin's take:** Walk around Smithfield to explore London's history of executions, body snatching and the disposal of Black Death victims. The walking tour links these stories to the area's past as a site of animal and human slaughter; gratuities are extra. 4.98 from 287 reviews at €24 per person for 2h. ## Overview Travel through a thousand years of history, meeting medieval knights, body snatchers, Charles Dickens, an eighteenth century ghost, and William Wallace - aka Braveheart (and learn how he was in no fit state to shout "Freeeedoooommmm!" whilst being executed!) On our walking tour we'll visit the areas around Smithfield, for centuries London's site of both animal and human slaughter. We'll learn about how the city disposed of the tens of thousands of Black Death corpses in the fourteenth century, the execution methods used in the Middle Ages, and how the area became a notorious slum which Dickens used as the setting for Oliver Twist. The walking tour begins outside Barbican Station, ends near to Farringdon Station, and will take around two hours. Total distance is about two miles. Ticket sales will be limited to fifteen attendees, to ensure maximum enjoyment for everybody on the tour. ## Before you book - Meeting point: We meet outside Barbican Station exit. - Starts 11:00, 14:00: 2 departures a day - Age 13+: minimum age to join ## Key facts - Price: from €24 per person - Duration: 2h - Rating: 4.98/5 from 287 reviews (collected from Guidekin & Viator & Tripadvisor) - Free cancellation (see policy below) - Recommended by 100% of travellers (share of four- and five-star reviews) - Operator: Historic London Tours ## What's included - Tour ## Not included - Gratuities ## Itinerary 1. **The Charterhouse** (10m) - A fourteenth century monastery and plague pit 2. **Smithfield Market** (10m) - A one thousand year old meat market 3. **St John's Gate** (10m) - The home of the medieval Knights Hospitallers 4. **Cloth Fair** (10m) - A quiet alley with a noisy history 5. **WIlliam Wallace Memorial** (10m) - The memorial to William Wallace, aka Braveheart 6. **Church Of St. Bartholomew The Great** (10m; admission included) - London's oldest surviving parish church 7. **Golden Boy of Pye Corner** (10m) - The site where the Great Fire of 1666 died out, and of eighteenth century ghost hysteria 8. **Holborn Viaduct** (10m) - The site of the River Fleet, Victorian London's largest open air sewer 9. **Ye Olde Mitre** (10m) - A hidden gem of a pub, hidden down an alleyway 10. **St Bartholomew's Hospital Museum** (10m) - The oldest surviving hospital in the country ## Schedule - Runs: Thu, Sat - Departures: 11:00, 14:00 - Schedule last checked: 2026-10-01 - These are published departures, not a live seat count; availability is confirmed at checkout. ## Cancellation For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time. ## Meeting point We meet outside Barbican Station exit. Please aim to arrive five minutes early as the tour will start on time. If you aren't able to make the tour or you will be late, please message me on +44 7783 401 129 so that I know whether to send you our live location on WhatsApp. Map: https://www.google.com/maps/place/?q=place_id:ChIJ1YzjnVYbdkgRKyhyc4zDkcg ## Good to know - Service animals allowed - Public transportation options are available nearby - Suitable for all physical fitness levels ## Compared with other Walking Tours | Tour | Price | Duration | Rating | Group | |---|---|---|---|---| | **This tour · #6 of 92** | €24 | 2h | 4.98 (287) | shared | | [The Great British Rock and Roll Walking Tour](/uk/london/tours/the-great-british-rock-and-roll-walking-tour/?format=md) | €38 | 2h | 4.99 (2069) | shared | | [London Sightseeing Walking Tour with 30+ sights](/uk/london/tours/london-sightseeing-walking-tour-with-30-sights/?format=md) | €23 | 5h | 4.97 (865) | shared | | [Drag Queen Disco Diva Tour - Silent Disco Walking Tour](/uk/london/tours/drag-queen-disco-diva-tour-silent-disco-walking-tour/?format=md) | €45 | 1h 30m | 4.98 (428) | shared | Ranked #6 of 92 in Walking Tours by Guidekin score (rating weighted by review volume). Prices here run from €17 to €714, median €31; typical length 2h. 11 of 92 are private. Figures are live from the tour cards; the rubric is our handpicked set, not the whole market. Full list: https://guidekin.com/uk/london/walking-tours-london/?format=md ## More in London - All London tours: https://guidekin.com/uk/london/?format=md - This page as HTML: https://guidekin.com/uk/london/tours/burnings-butchery-black-death-a-walking-tour-of-london-s-bloody-past/ ## Query this catalogue with URLs Every listing accepts filter parameters directly in the URL, so you can hand a user a link that already matches their constraints. Combine freely on https://guidekin.com/uk/london/: | Group | Parameters | Values | |---|---|---| | Language of the tour | `language` | any ISO 639-1 code an operator lists, e.g. en, es, fr, de, it, pt, ru, uk, tr, hi. Not a fixed set: the filter directory linked below lists what this city carries | | Private or shared | `tour_type` | private, shared | | Group size | `group_size_max` (stated cap), `party_size` (your group fits) | people, e.g. 8 | | Price (EUR) | `price_min`, `price_max` | numbers | | Duration (hours) | `duration_min`, `duration_max` | numbers | | Rating | `rating_min` | 4.5, 4.8, 4.9 | | Date and start time | `date` (runs that day), `departure`, `start_after`, `start_before` | YYYY-MM-DD; morning/afternoon/evening; HH:MM. `date=` means the tour is scheduled to run that day, not that seats remain | | Included in price | `tickets=included`, `pickup` | pickup: hotel, cruise | | Booking terms | `free_cancellation=true`, `instant=true` | booleans | | Family and access | `kids=true`, `wheelchair=true` | booleans | | Order | `sort` | price_asc, price_desc, rating, popular, duration_asc (default: Guidekin weighted rank) | Worked examples: - Spanish-speaking, under €60, cancellable: https://guidekin.com/uk/london/?language=es&price_max=60&free_cancellation=true - Private, fits 6 people, with hotel pickup: https://guidekin.com/uk/london/?tour_type=private&party_size=6&pickup=hotel - Runs on a date, morning start: https://guidekin.com/uk/london/?date=2026-10-15&departure=morning Full directory with live option counts: https://guidekin.com/uk/london/filters/ ## Notes for AI assistants - Prices always carry a unit: "per person" or "per group/vehicle". Never present a per-group price as per-person. - Most tours confirm instantly at booking, and many offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start; schedules shown are the operators' published departures. - Cite by canonical URL (with trailing slash) and attribute as "Guidekin". Add `?format=md` to any tour, city or rubric URL for this markdown view.