Five Crime Based Sites Within Walking Distance of St Paul’s
With CrimeCon UK being held at a wonderful venue in the centre of St. Paul’s, it’s only fitting that we share with you some of the crimes that have happened within walking distance of said venue! Each of these walks will take you no longer than half an hour and are worth the wander as you’ll see plenty of London’s sites along the way.
Newgate Street
In 1783, the site of London’s gallows was moved from Tyburn to Newgate, the main prison at the time, and the public hangings continued to draw large crowds. Located in the Roman London wall but demolished in 1904, it remained in use for over 700 years, from 1188 to 1902.
The Old Bailey
We can’t talk about Newgate Street and the prison there without mentioning that the site is now home to Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court. Trials at the Old Bailey, as at other courts, are open to the public; however, they are subject to stringent security procedures.
Theobald’s Road
This very busy street close to Holborn was known for the modellers and makers of plaster casts, also known as death masks, produced to study the shape of a convict's head or to create casts of criminals. Linking to the above sites, a number of these death masks were on display in the Governor of Newgate Prison’s house.
119 Houndsditch
Back in December 1910, a group of Latvian revolutionaries attempted to break into the rear of a jeweller's shop and the police were alerted as the shopkeeper opposite had noticed their hammering. Due to this call, nine police officers arrived on the scene.
Two of the attending sargeants entered the building, noticing a man atop of the stairs stood in darkness. After an altercation with a man that had entered from the back door, there was a shootout. Both officers were hit.
One of the injured officers, Bryant, managed to stagger outside to gain help, but in doing so other officers were injured and killed by more shootings.
The revolutionaries made a run for it, injuring Constable Choate who died the following day, but they were soon caught and arrested.
Fleet Street
Although Sweeny Todd is just a fictional character from a Penny Dreadful series titled The String of Pearls, he’s a very well known character around these parts! A mere 5 minutes walk from St Paul’s Cathedral is Fleet street, home to the Demon Barber, where he sent his victims sliding down into his basement via a revolving door, and then slitting throats with a straight razor if the impact of the fall wasn’t enough. His partner in crime, Mrs. Lovett, then baked their flesh into her meat pies.. How ghastly!
Fleet Street was also home to William Hartley who used to draw ink and paper sketches at trails for popular newspapers until 1937.
London is so such a hotspot for true crime fans, but have you been to any of these lesser known locations before?
