Tucked away inside the gates of St Dunstan's-in-the-west, Fleet Street, is the only statue of Elizabeth I of England. This statue was once more prominent on Ludgate Hill at the old "Lud" gate, a gateway near the bottom of the hill. When the ancient gateway was demolished, the statue was removed and placed in the basement of a nearby pub for storage. Forgotten over the centuries it was rediscovered as late as 1839, by workmen demolishing the old pubic house. Later it was found a new home, with its final resting place in the alcove of obscurity.

​

Coordiantes: 51°30'51.31"N 0°06'36.26"W

During medieval times, Smithfield was one of the most important places in London, full of jousting, livestock grazing, summer fairs and, of course, the occasional execution.

Famous dissenters and heretics who muttered their last breathe at The Elms include William Wallace (of Braveheart fame, who was executed here in 1305) and Wat Tyler, although the latter was only murdered here during a disagreement with the Lord Mayor of London and wasn't actually executed. In fact, modern day visitors 
to this area of Smithfield may want to avoid visiting during the hours of darkness as rumour has it that those executed here may haunt it still.

Types of execution at The Elms ranged from burning at the stake (for heretics) to the tried and tested hanged-drawn-and-quartered method for those convicted of high treason. For those unfamiliar with this method, it involves being dragged by a horse to the place of execution, hanged until almost dead, then disembowelled whilst still conscious, beheaded, and finally being chopped into four pieces (i.e. 'quartered) and subsequently having these pieces put on display across the city.
In fact, many of the decapitated heads were then taken to the medieval London Bridge to adorn the gatehouse as a deterrent against would-be criminals entering the city.

During the reign of Henry V in the early 1400's, it is thought that the gallows were removed from Smithfield to nearby Tyburn, a site where public executions would continue for centuries more. The fate of the Elm trees at Smithfield is not known, but by the time of John Stow's Survey of London in 1598 they had long since 
disappeared.

​

Coordinates: 51°31'06.51"N 0°06'04.05"W

This is the only outside statue of King Henry the VIII in London. It can be viewed, sited on top of the main gateway of London's oldest hospital Saint Bartholomew's Hospital (St Bart's). In 1546, King Henry VIII granted St Bartholomew's Hospital to the City of London. At the same time his statue was installed above the gates where it still stands today.

​

Coordinates: 51°31'04.63"N 0°06'03.31"W

The Cock Lane ghost was a purported haunting that attracted mass public attention in 1762. The location was an apartment in Cock Lane, a short road adjacent to London's Smithfield market and a few minutes' walk from St Paul's Cathedral. The event centred on three people: William Kent, a usurer from Norfolk, Richard Parsons, a parish clerk, and Parsons' daughter Elizabeth.

Following the death during childbirth of Kent's wife, Elizabeth Lynes, he became romantically involved with her sister, Fanny. Canon law prevented the couple from marrying, but they nevertheless moved to London and lodged at the property in Cock Lane, then owned by Parsons. Several accounts of strange knocking sounds and ghostly apparitions were reported, although for the most part they stopped after the couple moved out, but following Fanny's death from smallpox and Kent's successful legal action against Parsons over an outstanding debt, they resumed. Parsons claimed that Fanny's ghost haunted his property and later his daughter. Regular séances were held to determine "Scratching Fanny's" motives; Cock Lane was often made impassable by the throngs of interested bystanders.

The ghost appeared to claim that Fanny had been poisoned with arsenic and Kent was publicly suspected of being her murderer. But a commission whose members included Samuel Johnson concluded that the supposed haunting was a fraud. Further investigations proved the scam was perpetrated by Elizabeth Parsons, under duress from her father. Those responsible were prosecuted and found guilty; Richard Parsons was pilloried and sentenced to two years in prison.

The Cock Lane ghost became a focus of controversy between the Methodist and Anglican churches and is referenced frequently in contemporary literature. Charles Dickens is one of several Victorian authors whose work alluded to the story and the pictorial satirist William Hogarth referenced the ghost in two of his prints.

Overlooking the graveyard of St. Sepulchre's in Giltspur Street, Holborn, is this old watch house. This was built with the increase of body snatching that was an epidemic in the 17th century. The price for bodies that were bought by students of medical science for dissection was high. The only legal bodies that could be obtained were that of murderers, so with more students than bodies, supply and demand put the price at about £50 - a fortune in those times. Inside the watch house, a watchman could keep an eye on the graveyard to stop newly interred bodies being dug up and sold.

​

Coordinates: 51°31'00.22"N 0°06'06.37"W