THE ADVENTURE COLLECTIVE® · Independent discovery and booking for outdoor travel
Walk London’s Southbank with a costumed witch guide and discover real tales of witches, dark history, and hidden landmarks. This unique urban tour reveals the city’s eerie past alongside iconic sights.
Walk London’s Southbank with a costumed witch guide and discover real tales of witches, dark history, and hidden landmarks. This unique urban tour reveals the city’s eerie past alongside iconic sights.
Book with Enthral Experiences
Verified experiences and guided adventures in the surrounding area.
Operated by Enthral Experiences · London, England
London’s Southbank district is a stretch where centuries of history sit side by side with the vibrant hum of the modern city. At the heart of this landscape lies a captivating journey offered by Enthral Experiences: the London: Witches & History Bankside Walking Tour. This isn’t your typical stroll through the city—it’s a 75-minute plunge into the shadowed corners of London’s past, led by a guide costumed as a witch, weaving together folklore, real witch trials, and unsettling tales that shadow this iconic neighborhood.
Starting at Southwark View Point (SE1 9DF), the tour moves beyond the obvious tourist highlights and advances through winding cobblestones and narrow streets echoing with stories of betrayal, persecution, and survival. Along the way, participants pass landmarks like London Bridge, the ancient ruins near the old Palace, and the infamous Clink Street—once home to one of the city’s most feared prisons.
The pathway skirts Borough Market’s edges and heads toward the Thames, treating walkers to ever-changing views of the river and city skyline. The climax is near the monumental St. Paul’s Cathedral, whose towering dome stands as a silent witness to the centuries of tales uncovered.
What sets this tour apart is its theatrical approach, breathing life into figures like Nicholas Culpepper, the herbalist whose reputation is as complicated as the herbs he used, and Jinny Bingham, known as “Mother Damnable.” With authentic stories of London’s real witches, this tour balances history with dark enchantment, offering a fresh angle on the Southbank area.
For locals and visitors alike, Enthral Experiences' tour enriches the urban outdoor scene with a blend of storytelling and walking that invites reflection on justice, myth, and memory. It’s a perfect urban adventure for anyone curious about London’s layered past and eager to see the city through an eerie, spellbinding lens.
easy.
1 hour 15 minutes.
Suitable for most fitness levels; involves urban walking on mainly flat but sometimes uneven surfaces.
The tour is generally suitable for older children, but younger kids might find the historical content and walking distance challenging.
The tour is easy-paced over mostly flat terrain, suitable for most fitness levels.
Since it is an outdoor walking tour, you should dress for the weather; the tour continues rain or shine.
Yes, the guide combines well-researched history with local legends to provide a compelling narrative.
The tour starts at Southwark View Point (London, SE1 9DF) and ends near St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Absolutely, there are many photogenic spots along the route, including views of the Thames and iconic landmarks.
Bankside has a complex history with tales of early herbalists, witch trials, and the notorious Clink prison, grounding its eerie tales in fact.
Efforts to preserve London’s historic architecture and River Thames walkways ensure this urban heritage site remains accessible and vibrant.
Enthral Experiences is a York, England-based tour operator offering guided walking tours across York, Edinburgh and London. Their program includes themed experiences that blend historical research with immersive storytelling. Tours are led by characterful costumed guides — a costumed witch in London and York, a charismatic storyteller in Edinburgh, and an eccentric local guide in York — who present documented local history alongside folklore and theatrical interpretation. Offerings include witch-themed Old Town walking tours in York and Edinburgh that explore real-life witch trials, underground vaults and kirkyards; a Bankside walking tour in London that visits St. Paul’s Cathedral and Southbank sites; historical-gems tours in York and Edinburgh highlighting hidden corners, Outlander filming locations and local landmarks; and food-and-drink experiences combining York chocolate tastings and Scottish whisky with traditional fare. Each tour description specifies sites and experiences, such as the Edinburgh “Lost Close” underground site (dating back to 1742), the Minster and the Shambles in York, and a concluding kirkyard associated with J.K. Rowling in Edinburgh. The York Historical Gems tour includes a chocolate treat from York’s Chocolate Story; the Edinburgh historical tour includes haggis with Glenlivet whisky and handmade Scottish fudge. Enthral Experiences is featured on The Adventure Collective and promotes walking tours that prioritize storytelling, local flavour and site-based interpretation. Visitors can choose from multiple city routes and themed walks to match interests in history, folklore and culinary experiences. Detailed booking information and meeting-point details appear on each individual tour listing to help visitors prepare for the walking experience in advance.
Book with Enthral Experiences