Our ghostly London walks are getting a lot darker now!
The clocks changed on Sunday and the nip of winter is well and truly in the London air. Walks through the haunted City are a great way to explore and expereince the streets, passageways and hidden courtyards of which there are so many in London.
So for this one of our haunted London walks head over to Temple Underground Station and prepare to discover a haunted, gas-lit, oasis.
From Temple Station go left, walk up the stairs and then turn right. Go over the crossing and turn right on the other side of the road.
Keep ahead and at the very end of this section go in through the gates and enter The Temple.
You have entered the Inns of Court, the quarter of London where the be-wigged barristers of the London legal profession have their chambers.
Veer left through the second gate and go up the steps. You are now walking through one of London’s gaslit neighbourhoods. On your right in the garden is the 16th century Middle Temple Hall.
Keep going up the steps and turn right at the top. This area is haunted by a 19th century lawyer named Henry Hawkins. He strolls purposefully through this area clutching a bundle of legal papers.
Keep a keen eye peeled for him and walk ahead to pass through the arch. Keep ahead then go left up the steps and pass left through the cloisters.
Away to your right is Temple Church built in 1185 by the Knights Templar. This featured in the book and the film of Dan Brown’s Davinci Code.
Go clockwise round the church and when you arrive in the area behind Temple Church you are standing in the church’s burial ground.
The narrow door in the corner to your left is the back door of Ye Olde Cock Tavern.
In the 1980’s an Australian bar maid at this pub opned the door you are standing outside and found her self face to face with the disembodied head of a man. She later identified him as Oliver Goldsmith, who is buried over by the railings to your right as you stand outside the door.
This gas-lit one of our London walks ends here. But the Temple is well worth exploring at your leisure before retracing your footsteps back to Temple Station.
Tags: Haunted London walks, Inns of Court, London walks, Middle Temple Hall, Oliver Goldsmith, Temple
