Haunted London

Lincoln’s Inn, originally belonging to the Black Friars before they removed Thames-ward, derives its name from Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, to whom it was given by Edward I.,...

From this house branched off the Druries of Hawstead, in the same county, who built Drury House in the time of Elizabeth. It stood a little behind the site of the present Olympi...

On July 20, 1864, was laid the first stone of the great Thames Embankment, which now forms the wall of our river from Blackfriars to Westminster. A couple of flags fluttered laz...

The upper stratum of the Strand soil is composed of a reddish yellow earth, containing coprolites. Below this runs a seam of leaden-coloured clay, mixed with a few martial pyrit...

That ancient Roman military road (the Watling Street) came from Edgeware, and passing over Hyde Park and through St. James’s Park by Old Palace Yard, once the Wool Staple, it re...

Essex Street was formerly part of the Outer Temple, the western wing of the Knight Templars’ quarter. The outer district of these proud and wealthy Crusaders stretched as far as...

At the latter end of 1664, says Defoe, two men, said to be Frenchmen, died of the plague at the Drury Lane end of Long Acre. Dr. Hodges, however, a greater authority than Defoe,...

“And every day there passes by my side, Up to its western reach, the London tide-- The spring tides of the term. My front looks down On all the pride and business of the town; M...

On the Thames, off Somerset House, was a timber shed built on a strong barge, and called “the Folly.” In William III.’s reign it was anchored higher up the stream, near the Savo...

Saint Martin’s Lane, extending from Long Acre to Charing Cross, was built before 1613, and then called the West Church Lane. The first church was built here by Henry VIII. The d...

Temple Bar, that old dingy gateway of blackened Portland stone which separates the Strand from Fleet Street, the City from the Shire, and the Freedom of the City of London from...

“Their leaders, John Ball, Jack Straw, and Wat Tyler, then marched through London, attended by more than twenty thousand men, to the PALACE OF THE SAVOY, which is a handsome bui...

Old York House stood on the site of Buckingham and Villiers Streets. In ancient times, York House had been the inn of the Bishops of Norwich. Abandoned to the crown, King Henry...

The Earl of Lincoln’s Garden--The Headless Chancellor-- Spelman a late Ripener--Denham and Wither--Lord Lyndhurst--Warburton and Heber--Ben Jonson the Bricklayer--A Murder in Wh...

There was the grey dome looming out by fits through rolling drifts of murky smoke. The two little lion-like men stood watching “the sublime canopy that shrouds the city of the w...

Drury House--Donne’s Vision--Donne in his Shroud--The Queen of Bohemia--Brave Lord Craven--An Anecdote of Gondomar--Drury Lane Poets--Nell Gwynn--Zoffany--The King’s Company--Me...

The Devil Tavern--London Bankers and Goldsmiths--A Whim of John Bushnell, the Sculptor--Irritating Processions-- The Bonfire at Inner Temple Gate--A Barbarous Custom-- Called to...

The Gunpowder Plot--Lord Herbert’s Chivalry--A Schoolboy Legend--Goldsmith’s Audience--Dobson Buried in a Garret--Charing--Queen Eleanor--A Brave Ending-- Great-hearted Colonel...

Faithorne, the Engraver--The Stupendous Arch--The Murder of Miss Ray--One of Wren’s Churches--Thomas Rymer--Dr. Johnson at Church--Shallow’s Revelry--Low Comedy Preachers--New I...

The Protector Somerset--Denmark House--The Queen’s French Servants--The Lying-in-State of Cromwell--Scenes at Somerset House--Sir Edmondbury Godfrey--Old Somerset House--Erectio...

Essex Street--Beheading a Bishop--Exeter Place--The Gipsy Earl--Running a-muck--Lettice Knollys--A Portrait of Essex--Robert, Earl of Essex, the Parliamentary General--The Poiso...

York House--Lord Bacon--“To the Man with an Orchard give an Apple”--“Steenie”--Buckingham Street--Zimri--York Stairs--Pepys and Etty--Scenery on the Banks of the Thames--The Lon...

A Certain Proof of Insanity--An Eccentric Character-- Experimentum Crucis--St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields--Gibb’s Opportunity--St. Martin’s Church--Good Company--The Thames Watermen...

The Lollards--Cobham’s Death--The Lazar House--Holborn First Paved--The Mud Deluge--French Protestants--The Plague Cart--The Plague Time--Brought to his Knees--The New Church--T...

The Folly--Fountain Court and Tavern--The Coal-hole--The Kit-cat Club--Coutts’s Bank--The Eccentric Philosopher-- Old Salisbury House--Robert the Devil--Little Salisbury House--...

The Earl of Savoy--John Wickliffe--A French King Prisoner--The Kentish Rebellion--John of Gaunt--The Hospital of St. John--Cowley’s Regrets--Secret Marriages--Conference between...

The Plague--Great Queen Street--Burning Panama--Lord Herbert’s Poetry--Kneller’s Vanity--Conway House-- Winchester House--Ryan the Actor--An Eminent Scholar and Antiquary--Miss...