Despite being a guide of 10 years standing, I never used to go in the Tower of London very much. I don’t like crowds and I always felt having guide in an attraction was a bit surplus to requirements or something ‘anyone’ by that I suppose any guide could do. Thus spring and summer however… Continue reading The Executioners Axe at the Tower of London
Tag: Executions
Touching a doorway to hell – the old door of Newgate Prison
There was no place grimmer on this planet than Newgate Prison and as someone once wrote…“It was, almost from its beginning, an emblem of death and suffering… a legendary place, where the very stones were considered ‘deathlike’…it became associated with hell, and its smell permeated the streets and houses beside it.” Indeed if something is… Continue reading Touching a doorway to hell – the old door of Newgate Prison
The stained undershirt worn by King Charles I for his execution
Even though I work every day in London and surely spend more time walking its streets and alleys than anyone but the most enthusiastic police officer, I never really get to enjoy the attractions of London. I’m always busy. I see what things are coming months or even years in advance but always working so… Continue reading The stained undershirt worn by King Charles I for his execution
Smithfield Market on the moo-ve after 900 years
One of my favourite less-visited parts of London is the area known as Smithfield. Like many an ancient city in the Middle-East, India or elsewhere, London had and to an extent still has, districts that would specialise in certain produces such as gold, silver, fruit or meat. Smithfield has been a meat market for more… Continue reading Smithfield Market on the moo-ve after 900 years
Stephen Liddell 