Whitechapel, 1888: the victims of Jack the Ripper: audio walk in London
The story of Jack the Ripper told through the five women and their neighbourhood: a pair of pawned boots, an invented shipwreck, a chalked message wiped away before dawn, a letter from Wandsworth, the lodging houses, the survey of poverty, and the panic that found a culprit before the police did.
1.99 km · ≈ 58 min · 13 stops · ES / EN
What this walk is about
You start in Mitre Square with Kate Eddowes, back from hop-picking in Kent without a penny, and with Liz Stride, who died that same night and told everyone about a shipwreck she never lived through. In Middlesex Street, the old-clothes market of Jewish London; in Goulston Street, the chalked message the police wiped away before it could be photographed, for fear of a riot against the Jews. In George Yard, the Salvation Army sisters who climbed up to the poorest rooms; by Whitechapel High Street, Polly Nichols, who said she'd soon be back; then Toynbee Hall and the lodging houses of Flower and Dean Street, the neighbourhood a millionaire set out to measure to disprove the poverty, and ended up confirming it. In White's Row, Mary Jane Kelly, whom we know almost entirely through a man who read her the newspapers; in Brune Street, the soup kitchen for the Jewish poor, with one door in and another out; by Christ Church, "Leather Apron" and the letter that invented the name Jack. You finish in Hanbury Street with Annie Chapman, who sold flowers and crocheted. No re-enactment of the violence, and no guessing game about the killer.
- Start
- Kate's return from hop-picking
- Finish
- Annie's crochet, flowers and the church clock
- Who it is for
- A walk for anyone curious about crime and social history. For anyone who wants the Ripper walk without the gore. Written for adults and teenagers; check the content notes before listening.
- Languages
- Spanish and British English
- Underfoot
- The walk is mostly level.