On Saturday 13 October, four of the official London tour guide groups put on a series of free ‘taster’ walks on the theme of heroes and villains. The organisations involved were City Of London Tourist Guides, Clerkenwell & Islington Guides Association, Greenwich Tour Guides and Westminster Guides.
Settling on the Clerkenwell & Islington Guides Association walk we met at Farringdon station for one of a series of hour-long walks taking place throughout the day.
Centering on Clerkenwell Green, our walking tour took in the surrounding streets where we learned about many of the nefarious figures that had made their home here over the centuries as well as a relatively small number of upstanding citizens. This disparity is not that surprising given that from before the industrial revolution through to the Victorian era the banks of the River Fleet which ran through the area were known as a haunt for ruffians and neer-do-wells – upstanding citizens were rarer than hen’s teeth around here…
The people that we encountered included:
- Executioner Jack Ketch. Giving his name to the area around Turnmill St which was known as Jack Ketch’s warren, he dispatched several conspirators during his tenure. Most famous of these were William Russell, one of the men involved in the Rye House Plot of 1683 to assassinate Charles II, and the Duke of Monmouth who sought to overthrow James II. Unfortunately Jack Ketch was the most incompetent executioner that England had ever seen – it took 3 blows to remove Russell’s head and probably around 8 to finish off Monmouth!
- Johann Steinberg, his wife Ellen Le Fevre and their four children lie in St James Clerkenwell’s churchyard. Unfortunately the reason that they rest here is because Steinberg stabbed his entire family to death before turning the blade on himself. Subsequently, some enterprising locals managed to rent the property where the dastardly deed took place and also got their hands on the bloody clothing. They made massive profits from showing people around the murder scene until they were eventually closed down – not because they offended public decency but due to the fact that the massive numbers of visitors were starting to cause a nuisance to local residents and traders…
- A Mr Jacob Richter used one of the buildings on Clerkenwell Green as a base of operations for the printing of pamphlets and political meetings at the turn of the 20th century. Given the seditious nature of his politics he was regularly observed by the Metropolitan Police at the adjacent Crown Tavern (which is still a pub today). Unfortunately the nature of the conversations which took place there escaped the boys in blue because they were conducted in Russian – Richter was the pseudonym of a certain Vladimir Iilych Lenin…
- Isaac ‘Ikey’ Solomon was a notorious ‘kidsman’ up until around 1850 (a ‘kidsman’ specialised in training children to commit petty crime). After observing the activities of the local pickpockets on Clerkenwell Green, Charles Dickens took Mr Solomon as the inspiration for the character of Fagin in ‘Oliver Twist’.
As well as a colourful array of personalities, taking one of the Clerkenwell & Islington Guides walks will also furnish you with a lot of information on the notable buildings in the area. These include the impressive Middlesex Session House, from where thousands of criminals were transported to Australia, and the Hugh Myddleton Central School. This was built on the site of the Middlesex House of Detention, London’s busiest prison in the Victorian era. ‘Mother’s ruin’ also gets a look in with the site of the Booths Gin Factory. More modern construction also gets a mention – the area has an intriguingly designed block of flats built by Janet Street Porter when she still practiced as an architect. Apparently she used to hang a pirate flag from the top floor terrace when she was in residence as a warning to guides showing people the house that they should keep their voices down!
As I’ve said before, I find walking tours of London very insightful – I always come away from them with more knowledge than when I started. The Clerkenwell & Islington Guides Association is one of London’s accredited groups of guides and are recognised by the local authority. Not that having official recognition is an absolute necessity if you have a passion for sharing your knowledge of London, but it does provide an assurance that these men and women are top-notch when it comes to their expertise.
The walks provided by the Clerkenwell & Islington Guides Association offer much better value for money than most – their regular two-hour walks cost just £6 (£5 concessions). You can find out about all of the walks that they offer on their website – I encourage you to check out the other organisations listed at the top of this post too.