In Focus – Smithfield

St. Paul's underground station, London (exit 2)

Guided by Sue

Streets Ahead! More trail blazing by the best urban walking tour guides on the planet. In Focus walks are an extremely detailed look – "what I love about London Walks is the degree of granularity you get" (as that American visitor memorably put it) – at the most famous streets and squares of London. And their tributaries. Today's In Focus walk explores Smithfield. Whoa! Smithfield. More history than any other comparable acre in London. The Romans used this "smooth field" as a cemetery in the 3rd and 4th centuries. It was the site of public executions. And witch burnings. The Peasants' Rebellion climaxed here. On 23 August 1305 William Wallace ('Braveheart') was hanged, drawn and quartered here. Knights jousted here. The oldest hospital in the United Kingdom – the second oldest in Europe – is here. You've got half a dozen pre-Great Fire houses and buildings (there's no other concentration of those anywhere else in London like this one). There's, of course, the market. Livestock market first, then, since 1868, today's cold meat market. There are ghosts. There's dramatic evidence of the Zeppelin bomb. There are street names that sing: Cow Cross Street, Giltspur Street, etc. There are people names that sing: Ben Franklin, John Milton, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rahere, to name but a few. The walk's been created and is curated (guided) by another one of London Walks' star Blue Badge guides, Sue.

The In Focus – Smithfield walk takes place at tba on tba. The meeting point is just outside exit 2 of St. Paul's Tube.