London Whitechapel 1888 Audio Walking Tour
Walk the autumn of 1888 from Durward Street to Hanbury Street, Mitre Square and Goulston Street, ending where Dorset Street stood, told through five women's lives.
- 7 stops and 20 minutes of stories, told as you reach each place
- The intro and stop 1 are free in the app: try before you buy
- Download before you go; the audio plays without signal (the street map needs a connection)
- Walking with friends? Pick 1 to 10 seats; everyone hears each stop on their own phone, at the same moment
30 seconds of the real narration
Plays in the free Walk With Me app on iPhone and Android.
The story in order
- 31 August 1888Durward Street (Buck's Row)
Polly Nichols, turned away from a lodging house for want of bed money, is found in a stableyard gateway at about 3.40 in the morning. - 8 September 1888Hanbury Street
Annie Chapman, who had asked the deputy to keep her bed, is found in the back yard of number 29 a little before six. - 30 September 1888Henriques Street (Berner Street)
At about one in the morning, Elizabeth Stride is found in Dutfield's Yard. - 30 September 1888Mitre Square
Around 1.45, Catherine Eddowes is found in the square's south-west corner, on City Police ground. - 30 September 1888Goulston Street
A piece of her apron turns up in a doorway under chalked words; three officers wrote them down three ways, and the Commissioner had them wiped. - 1 October 1888Goulston Street
A letter signed "Jack the Ripper" is published. Many police officers later called it a journalist's hoax. - 9 November 1888Dorset Street site (Commercial St)
Mary Jane Kelly, about 25, is found in her room at 13 Miller's Court. No one was ever charged.
About this tour
On a screen, this story turns into a legend about a man in a cape. On foot it shrinks back to its real size. Hanbury Street to Flower and Dean Walk takes six minutes. Mitre Square to Goulston Street, a few more. You feel how small this world was: a handful of streets where poor women walked for hours because they couldn't afford a bed, and where everyone knew everyone. When you're done, open the Walk With Me live map to see who else is out walking London today.
The route
4.1 km in walking order from Durward Street (Buck's Row) to Dorset Street site (Commercial St). Stop 1 is free in the app.
- 1Durward Street (Buck's Row)The street behind Whitechapel station that was Buck's Row in 1888, its one surviving school building, and the life of Polly Nichols.Free in the app
- 2Hanbury StreetA brewery frontage on Hanbury Street where a house with a small back yard stood, and Annie Chapman's struggle after the money stopped.
- 3Flower and Dean WalkA footpath on the line of a street of nightly lodging houses, where three of the women slept, and a debate still unsettled.
- 4Henriques Street (Berner Street)A school playground over the site of Dutfield's Yard, a radical workers' club next door, and the stories Elizabeth Stride told about herself.
- 5Mitre SquareA small square of offices inside the City, where a different police force took over, and what Catherine Eddowes said leaving the cells.
- 6Goulston StreetA surviving Victorian doorway on Goulston Street, a piece of cloth found there, and chalked words nobody recorded the same way twice.
- 7Dorset Street site (Commercial St)The site of Dorset Street, opposite Hawksmoor's white church and now under offices, and the little we really know about Mary Jane Kelly.
Nothing else to pay
Questions
How long does it really take?
58 min of walking plus 20 minutes of stories, so plan for about 1 h 18 with stops.
Is it a gory tour?
No. It follows the five women's lives and last days in the order they happened, and says what happened plainly without dwelling on it.
How much from 1888 is still there?
Very little. Streets have been renamed and rebuilt, and Dorset Street is under offices, so most stops ask you to picture what has gone. A school building on Durward Street and a doorway on Goulston Street survive.
Does the tour name the killer?
No. Many men have been named over the years and none has been proven; the walk keeps its attention on the women.
Is it for you?
Cheaper in a bundle
Photos: Robert Lamb / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.