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London · Mysteries & legends

Ghosts, hangmen and a demon barber

Between Cannon Street and Fleet Street, the old City keeps stories of executions, body snatchers, Templars and fairground ghosts. We tell them as they are: what the records say on one side, and what imagination added on the other.

  • 6 stops
  • 2.9 km
  • 2 h
  • Free
Start with GPS Read about this stop 1
Temple Church and its round nave

The route

Stop by stop

  1. 1 London StoneA block of limestone behind glass in an office front, on which London's fortunes depend, according to a fake prophecy.
  2. 2 St Sepulchre and the Newgate bellOpposite the old Newgate Prison, this church keeps the handbell that announced their last night to the condemned.
  3. 3 The Golden Boy of Pye Corner and Cock LaneA plump golden boy marks where the Great Fire stopped, on the corner of the street of the 18th century's most famous ghost.
  4. 4 St Bartholomew the Great and SmithfieldA vision in Rome, London's oldest church still in use and the open ground where William Wallace was executed.
  5. 5 St Dunstan-in-the-West and Sweeney ToddTwo giants striking the hours, a statue of Elizabeth I said to be made in her lifetime and fiction's most fearsome barber.
  6. 6 Temple ChurchThe round church of the Knights Templar, with stone knights lying on the floor and a secret invented by a novel.

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Start with GPS

Guide mode

Walk it with GPS.

Open guide mode on your phone: you’ll see your position and the distance to each stop, and we’ll let you know when you arrive. Then read or listen.

Start with GPS

  1. Turn on your location

  2. Walk to the spot

  3. Check the photo and listen

What you’ll discover

Ghosts, hangmen and a demon barber

Legends with an address

Every story is tied to a stone, a statue or a church you can see from the street.

Record and tradition

We separate verifiable facts from popular embellishments, without taking the fun out of the mystery.

Details nobody notices

A stone behind glass, a golden boy on a street corner and two knights on a single horse.

Keep exploring

More routes in London

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HistoryFrom Londinium to Wren's dome: two thousand years in the City EssentialsFrom Nelson to the royal balcony: picture-postcard London