THE ADVENTURE COLLECTIVE® · Independent discovery and booking for outdoor travel
Walk the bloodied streets of Farringdon and Smithfield on a 90-minute tour revealing London’s harshest histories. Discover public executions, secret rebellions, and chilling tales from the city’s darkest past.
Walk the bloodied streets of Farringdon and Smithfield on a 90-minute tour revealing London’s harshest histories. Discover public executions, secret rebellions, and chilling tales from the city’s darkest past.
Book with London Guided Walks
Verified experiences and guided adventures in the surrounding area.
Operated by London Guided Walks · London, England
London’s Farringdon and Smithfield districts offer a striking contrast to the city’s polished modern veneer. Here, the echoes of grim public executions, bloody rebellions, and devastating plagues linger in the cobbled streets and shadowed alleys. The Bleeding Hearts and Body Parts Walk, led by London Guided Walks, immerses visitors into this stark reality with a 90-minute journey through some of the city’s darkest and most intriguing corners.
Starting just outside Farringdon Station on Cowcross Street, the tour moves through historic sites where medieval markets once thrived alongside brutal forms of justice. Smithfield Market, now a bustling Victorian landmark, once served as the grim stage for the execution of heretics, rebels, and traitors—all recounted with vivid detail. The guide traces tales of resilience and cruelty alike, including Anne Askew’s defiant martyrdom and the shocking murder of Anne Naylor, whose story still haunts local folklore.
Walkers will pass St Bartholomew’s Church and the atmospheric Cloth Fair, locations resonating with centuries of history marked by both refuge and ruthless punishment. Beneath these streets lie plague pits memorializing the thousands lost to the Black Death, notably near the Charterhouse, a former monastery-turned-townhouse with a layered past. These spaces reveal how disease and death shaped London’s evolution.
What sets this walk apart is its focus on unvarnished, fact-based stories rather than myth or sensationalism. The route calls attention to how the area’s blood-soaked history shaped London’s social and political fabric, including the impact of the Peasants’ Revolt and the grim practice of body snatching for medical research. For history lovers and curious travellers alike, this walking tour goes beyond typical city sightseeing to offer an unflinching gaze at London’s shadowed past.
Part of London Guided Walks’ diverse offerings, this trip underscores the company’s reputation for narrating local history through knowledgeable guides who balance engaging storytelling with historical accuracy. With a maximum group size of 30, the tour maintains an intimate atmosphere suited for those ready to step off the beaten path and into the complex, sometimes unsettling stories that built the heart of London.
easy.
90 minutes.
Suitable for most walkers who can comfortably stand and walk for 1.5 hours on uneven surfaces.
The walk lasts approximately 90 minutes.
It starts at Farringdon Station, Cowcross St and finishes near Smithfield Market.
No, the route includes cobblestones and stairs, and is not step-free.
Yes, photography is encouraged but please be mindful of other participants.
Public toilets are available at Farringdon Station before the walk begins.
Wear comfortable shoes, dress for the weather, and bring water.
Smithfield Market’s grounds were used for public executions over centuries, marking one of London’s bloodiest chapters.
Maintaining the historic fabric of Smithfield and Farringdon involves careful preservation amid modern urban demands.
London Guided Walks runs a wide range of themed guided walks across central London. The company offers historical, literary, social-history and speciality routes that highlight landmarks, hidden alleys and local stories. Tours include focused experiences such as a Knights Templar Treasure Hunt, Women and Medicine in Euston and Fitzrovia, Roman London, Victorian Covent Garden and a Hampstead Village walk. Many walks are presented as 90-minute guided tours; others, like the Knights Templar Treasure Hunt, run for two hours. Guides present facts, archival insights and on-site storytelling, connecting sites such as Whitehall, Blackfriars, Fleet Street and the River Thames with broader city history. Several tours emphasise social history and reform, for example in the Footsteps of Jack London, Samuel Pepys’s London and Tale of Two Slums in St Giles. Other routes explore cultural life and entertainment, including Soho, Covent Garden, music-hall history and film locations. London Guided Walks is featured on The Adventure Collective and lists more than thirty distinct walks covering topics from suffragettes and women in the city to horror literature, Christmas traditions and Doctor Who locations. Meeting points are central to London, and tours are suitable for small groups, families and visitors seeking focused local expertise. The programme balances accessible itineraries with specialist themes to suit a range of interests. Prospective guests can select from a broad seasonal schedule and themed options to match curiosity, time and group size. Bookings are available online and schedules often change seasonally. Clients should check individual tour descriptions for durations and accessibility.
Book with London Guided Walks