Who would of thought? – Lantern Ghost Tours : Sex drugs and sausage rolls

If you are looking for a London walking tour that is full of juice then you will be exploding with excitement to hear that Sex Drugs and Sausage Rolls does just that.

Touring London with Lantern Ghost Tours

Sex Drugs and Sausage Rolls

Firstly I waited outside a pub to meet some old and new members of the Love Pop Ups London community before meeting up with the tour guide for the evening.

London Bridge

We wandered around the area of London Bridge firstly taking in the sights of the Thames from London Bridge.

Did you know that London Bridge was the very first bridge to cross the River Thames and that it used to have houses on it.  After the Great Fire of London the people of the city took control of the tollbooth and the money that was raised from those tolls to help build many other newer bridges in London. Even today, it helps maintain and improve them.

Borough of Market

Plus we also learnt that the spike at London Bridge is to represent the medieval crossing that had gatehouses at either end which displayed as a warning to anyone who was thinking of bringing trouble into the City of London as the heads of executed criminals were skewered onto spikes during 1209-1831.

We then went onto London Borough which was still used as a market back in the day but also a brothel for where prostitutes hanged out and criminals.  Plus we learnt about how King Henry VIII how he was excessively overweight (400 pounds) that when he died and came to burying him he literally exploded in his coffin at his own funeral leaving all guests gagging.  As luck would have it though some dogs were on hand to lick up the spilled remains of the once almighty powerful King of England.

The Clink

Outside the Clink Prison we learnt about the various tortures and rapes that took place which was quite quo-test.  Especially the torture that took place with a rat. They would place a rat under a bowl on a persons stomach and the rat would then panic and start to gnaw it’s way through the person.

And more

From then on we was taken to many other areas discovering about certain historic buildings and exploring many nooks and crannies.

Crossbones Graveyard

Finally we ended up at the Crossbones Graveyard (Redcross Street) which is a memorial to where the outcasts of society such as prostitutes were dumped. Prostitutes where also known collectively as the Winchester Geese because they were licensed by the Bishop of Winchester to work outside the City of London but at the end of the day they where still treated like rubbish and slung in the unmarked graveyard garden.

It was closed in the 1800’s but still to this day people visit there and leave tributes at the gates. There are so many ribbons, flowers and little trinkets which are attached to the railings, it is actually quite sad.

The word

Plus on the tour we also learnt that the original meanings of popular words and sayings such as “One for the road“, “f***” and “dirt poor” to name just some, but my absolute favourite was the “hangover“.

You might still be asking but still why should I do this tour?

A lot of what we discovered on the tour you would not say necessarily have learnt this at school or via any history books as they usually only ever focus on the rich and important people of the day.  We learnt so much more about the poorer folk of the day and how London was like living in a sewage.

Also the guide was so enthusiastic and really did know how to describe the horrific things that happened back then making it more thrilling to listen to.

The most interesting parts of the tour for me though had to be the pictures she showed on her i-pad at points as this really did give a better in depth of what London looked like back in the day.

Question is could I have ended up being one of the people forced to live here amongst the raw sewage?

Verdict

I really can’t recommend a better London Walking tour than Sex Drugs and Sausage Rolls by Lantern Ghost Tours.  I really did discover and learn a lot more about the fabulous city of London which I would not necessarily of learnt about on any other walking tour or history book.

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Sex Drugs and Sausage Rolls was truly a gritty and real insight of how London was back in the day. I LOVED it.

To book one of their tours click here.