Meet your guide – here’s Richard talking about the area, the times, the people, the walk
THE ROLLS ROYCE OF RIPPER WALKS
We hold this truth to be self-evident…
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR
This one’s the high-end Ripper Walk. Yes, it costs a bit more but you get more. A lot more.
You know the acronym USP – Unique Selling Point? Well, this walk has four USPs.
1. It’s sui generis. And it’s only available from London Walks
2. The unbeatable – and indeed unique – combination of a world-class guide and 24-carat, high-end technology.
3. Guaranteed small group tour. A small group tour that is the ideal size. The sine qua non for a more intimate, coherent group. There’s never a distracting, ragtag element. And if you have questions, well, you get a lot more individual attention from Richard, your – bears repeating,* this – world-class guide.
4. The huge advantage of the high-end sound system Richard uses. He doesn’t have to declaim, doesn’t have to belt the decibels out. He talks in a natural, quiet, conversational voice and you hear every word. It’s like walking with a friend who’s quietly telling you something for your ears only.
Huge advantage indeed. It’s magic: it simultaneously speeds the walk up and slows it down. If there’s something of interest in passing you hear about it as you go by. It liberates the tour from the confines – the straitjacket – of the ‘guiding’ only taking place at designated ‘stops.’
And it speeds it up because there’s no ‘dead time,’ no standing around for 25 to 30 seconds or so waiting for a slower walker to catch up. (And boy do those seconds add up over the course of a walk.) Or indeed waiting for someone who’s hung back to take photographs.
Whether you’re walking almost arm in arm with Richard – or bringing up the rear – it doesn’t matter. Everybody hears every word. And embarras de richesses, if there’s a ledge or a bench 40 yards or so from one of Richard’s stops and somebody wants to avail themselves of it – get off their feet for a couple of minutes – well, they can do so, they can have a sit down on that bench and they don’t miss out. They hear every word, as if Richard were at their side whispering in their ear.
So, yes, there’s a huge advantage. Correction: huge advantages plural. You pay £10 more but what you get in return is worth a lot more than that extra tenner.
*And it’s not just us “repeating” it; take a look at what the 129***** five-star reviews say over and over again.
**Make that 368 if you add the TripAdvisor and Google Reviews to the 129 on www.walks.com. Case closed?
DON’T JUST TAKE IT FROM US
“It is absolutely worth the money and time, twice over!”
Here’s a recent (May 7, 2024) review.
“The wireless system works wonderfully and gives the opportunity to share even more facts, anecdotes, suspects and circumstances. A two-hour tour felt like 20 minutes and still I have the idea that he hasn’t shared a tenth of all he knows. It is absolutely worth the money and time, twice over! If there is one tour to do when you visit London and the East End, it’s this one, with Richard.”
Here, below, is nonpareil guide Richard Walker talking about his small group Ripper walk.
There are plenty of Ripper walks and you will probably only go on one.
London Walks guide Richard Walker will lead you through the murder sites starting right where Jack began . . .in the infamous Buck’s Row, Whitechapel.
Practicals:
The small group Ripper walk takes place at 7 pm every Thursday and every Friday evening. But do check the calendar because there are a few exceptions that prove the rule. Earlier this summer, for example, Richard put on an extra one on Monday, June 10th, 2024. The extra one because of demand – the Thursday and Friday that week were fully booked.
Meeting point: The starting point of this walk is Whitechapel Tube Station and the tour ends near Liverpool Street station.
Price: £30 per person
Numbers are strictly limited so you must buy your ticket online. Only ticket holders can join this tour – so the small group size is locked in.
Whitechapel in the ancient parish of Stepney.
Stepney* olde English – ‘the landing place’.
For centuries the world supplied the City of London with all it required and it all passed through the Whitechapel docks in the parish of Stepney.
And it wasn’t just goods that arrived.
Refugees from the Huguenots of France, to the starving masses of Ireland, to the persecuted Jews of Europe all made their way to the lanes and alleys of Whitechapel and Spitalfields.
And so did . . .
The monster we call… Jack the Ripper
And the Whitechapel of the 1880s was made for Jack the Ripper.
It was a world of foul tenements, starving children and bottomless despair.
This is Whitechapel and this is the world of Jack the Ripper. It is one heck of a story and I want to tell it to you.
Click here to listen to The World of Jack the Ripper, another short scene-setter podcast by Richard.
Itinerary
I have been guiding for London Walks for 15 years and the Jack the Ripper walking tour was my first.
This is a new twist. I’m starting at Whitechapel Underground Station because this is where Jack the Ripper murders began. Right behind Whitechapel Underground Station in Buck’s Row – now called Durward Street.
Charles Cross and Robert Paul discovered the body of a 43 year-old mother of five children. Mary Ann Nichols known as Polly Nichols ended up walking the mean streets of Whitechapel in the early hours of the 31st of August 1888. A woman whose life was ended by a serial killer who killed at least 4 other vulnerable women on the streets of Victorian London.
Polly Nichols: a victim of a divided society; one of many who suffered in a black hole that festered in the richest city in the world.
We will head to 29 Hanbury Street where Annie Chapman became the second victim. We will get to Spitalfields Market and the Ten Bells Pub by way Brick Lane, Princelet Street and Puma Court. Back streets that still capture the feel of 18th and 19th century Whitechapel. We will see where the worst street in London once stood – Dorset Street. Miller’s Court where the brutal murder of Mary Kelly took place on November the 9th 1888.
Christ Church Spitalfields
Nicholas Hawksmoor’s magnificent church built between 1714 and 1729. An impressive landmark for the 5 ripper victims and still impressing.
The Ten Bells Pub
The Ten Bells pub that stands across the road from Christ Church Spitalfields. And it is from the ten bells that hang in the church steeple that the pub gets its name. It’s believed that at least some of the victims would have drowned their sorrows there. And almost certainly ‘Jack’ would have been seen propping up the bar there.
Image caption: Yes we can still see the Whitechapel and Spitalfields of bygone days. Dark streets light by gaslight.
Bucks Row & The Board School
Buck’s Row has changed since 1888 it’s now called Durward Street. But the board school building where Polly’s body was found is still there.
This is the board school as it was when Polly was found against the gates where the arrow points. And it’s the first location that we will visit.
The People Of The Walk
The People of the Abyss
Jack London spent seven weeks trying to survive the “Abyss”. He said he’d seen poverty in the USA but nothing like the poverty he saw in the East-end of London.
Courtesans of the 19th century
The Victims
Mary Ann Nichols (known as Polly Nichols), Annie Chapman, Liz Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly were dismissed as prostitutes by the police and journalists – though their judgement may have owed more to male attitudes to women than to hard evidence.
Four of them were over 40 and three of them had raised children before a combination of stress and alcohol left them sinking into the abyss.
Certainly Ripperologist Halle Rubenhold is reasonably certain that not all of these women sold sex. The Five is an excellent book which maybe should be compulsory reading for some tour guides who still like to dwell on the depths of depravity that they like to imagine these women sank.
It might be worth concentrating the spotlight onto what kind of society it was that left these women at the mercy of monsters.
From the Guide
I want to do justice to Jack the Ripper’s Whitechapel – especially the victims.
And I want to share the diverse and vibrant world that Whitechapel is today and in order to do that numbers are restricted – which is why you must book online to secure your place!
There is nothing better than sharing London with visitors from near and far. I hope that you will be one of them.
From the walkers – a soupçon of the hundreds of reviews
Thanks Richard that was so interesting and what a great end to the week! You have a fabulous way of narrating and giving context to the mysteries that remain to this day about jack the Ripper. I really appreciated you bringing me back to remembering and bringing focus back to the women who were victims of his horrendous crimes. – Lucy
Really enjoyed it! Fascinating. Thank you from North Carolina,. USA. – Kendi
I will definitely join you again – very interesting thank you! – Claire
Hi Richard, Really enjoyed the virtual tour the other evening, especially the 10 minute chat post tour. Actually I remember you now. Years ago I did a tour about the history of the financial system in the City, you were my guide, it was from you that I learnt about the Remembrancer. I have ordered your book it is due to arrive on the 5th of October. I will look out for your virtual tours in the future hope to see you then. God bless and keep you during these difficult times – Michael
Dear Richard, Thank you very much for the Jack the Ripper tour this evening Milly and James said it was brilliant!! Milly said she learnt more tonight than she did in her history lessons. Please can you let me know your bank details as I only transferred funds for Milly and not James, which we’d like to do. I think they are going to join you on a Saturday at some point soon. Many thanks again. – Susie.
London Walks Private Tours
If you can’t make the regularly scheduled, Jack The Ripper Whitechapel tour why not think about booking it as a private walk? If you go private you can have this walk– or any other London Walk – on a day and at a time that suits your convenience. We’ll tailor it to your requirements. Ring Fiona or Niamh or Peter on 020 7624 3978 or email us at [email protected] and we’ll set it up and make it happen for you.
Derek D –
This tour is about the history of the period and the world that Jack the Ripper inhabited, not about sensationalizing the killer. It was amazing and a little spooky (just enough). Can not recommend enough. We paid a little extra for the small tour and I’m glad we did. Richard Walker was a wonderful guide.
John Unsworth –
A different perspective than the other Jack the Ripper London Walk and well worth the extra cost.
Jason –
My wife and I had a great time on Richard’s walk! Very informative and lots of fun walking the same areas these infamous murders took place!
Michelle –
My family and I just returned from a wonderful UK vacation that included this tour. As I said to Richard, I wasn’t going to go to London without seeing the sites of the infamous Jack the Ripper case, and I was so glad that we chose this specific tour on the last night of our vacation prior to returning to Toronto – it was definitely a highlight! Richard’s knowledge about the case was amazing, and the detail he provides to his tour group was fascinating. I loved that he spoke about so many of the circumstances of the times and that he went in depth with information that would have had a major effect on the crimes at that time. The history he provided was enlightening and very interesting – my teenage daughters loved it and agreed that it was definitely worth every minute! If you are looking for a Jack the Ripper tour, look no further! This is the one to take!
Lawrence Bendelow –
Me, my wife and 2 teenage girls took this tour on 28th June and it was amazing. Richard is extremely knowledgeable and presents well researched facts and opinions, presenting the popular theories but then exposing potential faults or holes in them, this particularly interested my youngest who had recently been taught about JtR at school. His personable style along with the small group size, headphones and iPad leads to an immersive and inclusive tour. Highly recommended – Thank you!!
Lauren –
Richard’s tour was highly informative, energetic, and engaging. The timing and route ensured we were not in contention with other groups allowing for plenty of time and space. I can highly recommend this for others!
Elaine and Peter –
We totally agree with all of the other five star reviews. Richard is a consummate performer with an ability to tell the fascinating story of the Ripper murders, the victims, the Victorian social landscape, and the ensuing investigation by the authorities in a thoroughly engaging manner. Richard is terrifically knowledgable and well-researched, and is keen to share his own theories around the case alongside the established ones. We appreciated the small group experience and loved the use of headphones along the tour as it meant that Richard could talk to us as we were walking, as well as when gathered around him. It takes the stress out of keeping up and in earshot! We’ve been on many London Walks over the past 10 years and this has to be one of the best. The very first London Walk we did was the original, standard ‘Ripper’ tour which piqued our interest, and to the best of our memory Richard’s small group tour did not overlap in content. Consequently, we’d wholeheartedly recommend Richard’s walk even if you’ve already done the other one: it really is a cut above!
David –
I can thoroughly recommend this walking tour to anyone with an interest in the Jack the Ripper mystery and more particularly, the social conditions in Whitechapel during the late Victorian period. The emphasis is on the victims as individuals, each with their own personal story, together with the confluence of events that led to each woman becoming a murder victim. Richard guides the walk in a way that holds everyone’s attention, including plenty of information adding local colour. He is exceptionally knowledgeable and thought-provoking and takes us beyond the general stereotype of the Jack the Ripper story. The locations visited are evocative, even though many have changed dramatically since 1888. All in all, this was an engrossing walk and left me wanting to delve more deeply into the subject.
Nancy –
Fascinating tour. We signed up for it hoping to learn more about the infamous unsolved murders and were not disappointed. Richard’s descriptions of the scenes, suspects and victims were thorough and held our interest. We would highly recommend this tour for anyone with more than a passing interest in Jack the Ripper.
Anna –
We really enjoyed this informative tour! Richard was so knowledgeable and even kept the teenage boys interested!