Nowadays in London there are endless ways to entertain yourselves whether it be going to the theatre in the West End, going to the O2 for a sell-out concert, visiting one of London’s many museums or having a night out in trendy east London. But back in London’s past there were some events that drew tens of thousands of people and with them created a festival atmosphere in the streets of London….. Executions! In this weeks walk around London we visited some of the infamous prison sites and their respective executions sites and learnt about the gruesome events that have occurred in this city. My favourite being the medieval method of boiling a man until death….a rather slow process of about 2 hours. They really were the concerts of there day with people renting out local hotels and pubs to get the best view. The walk meanders towards the Thames following the Fleet river valley one of the several rivers that now flows underground to meet with the cities main river. On are adventures past the prisons and the current old bailey, we encountered the remnants of an old monastery hidden to between modern offices. This was the site of one of London’s most lawless areas Alsitia, unlike Kristiana in Denmark this was not a socialist project, but a no go area for the authorities but a haven for opportunistic criminals and fiends using the monastery as a sanctuary protected by God. We ended the walk strolling through the mid and lower temple and finished off going for a drink over looking the Thames and the impressive Somerset House.
Written by Sam