3 Awesome London History Tours To Book In 2023

There are so many London history tours to choose from in this massive city, it’s hard to know where to start.

With thousands of years of history to choose from, there is a London history tour for every interest. But if you want really unique tours of London from a different perspective, here are 3 incredible tours to book today.

Explore the dark history of London’s criminals, sex workers, witches and witchcraft, persecution, public executions, prisons, jail birds, and dramatic court cases from the female perspective with these 3 dramatic London history tours.

Disclaimer: Maria reached out to me to join her tours for free. I was not paid for this review but given a free ticket, and these are my honest opinions.

Maria Beadell, founder of Herstorical Tours, right. Image by LDT.

Herstorical Tours: London Dark History with a Feminist Twist

If you’re looking for historical tours of London, there’s a whole lot to choose from. Jack the Ripper tours abound, historic pub tours are everywhere, and you can even find niche tours like London gangster tours and visit the filming locations of your favorite movies.

But if you’re into London dark history – especially as it pertains to feminism and how women were treated by London society – only one company is putting on the best London history walks for women, by women.

London’s Dark Herstory: Exploring the Forgotten Tales of Women

Founder of Herstorical Tours Maria Beadell is passionate about feminist London.

She’s particularly interested in how women were degraded, scapegoated, isolated, and persecuted throughout London’s dark history, and how that comes to influence women’s place in English society today.

After being unceremoniously fired from a (very male-dominated) tour company, Maria knew there had to be something better; something that catered to women and by women.

So she created Herstorical Tours, offering London history walks that are entertaining, enlightening, and funny.

London History Tours with Herstorical Tours: What to Expect

The Cittie of Yorke Pub, one of the oldest in London.

When you arrive at a Herstorical tour, you’ll be warmly greeted by Maria in period costume. During the tour, she’ll go through cases and instances of women influencing history, acting out each scene in dramatic and comic fashion.

She even has a surprise cast of characters pop up to help her demonstrate the lives and deaths of some of London’s most notorious women.

On my tour, there were several guests back for their second and third tours with Maria – this just goes to show how talented Maria is that people come back again and again. She’s the only one in London telling these forgotten stories!

There will be a lot of walking with Herstorical Tours, so wear comfortable shoes and bring an umbrella and raincoat, just in case.

There also might not be a great place to pop to the loo along the way, so make sure you go before the tour starts.

Here are some of the incredible tours Herstorical has to offer.

1. Hex and the City

Interested in a London history tour of all things witchy? Join Maria as your High Priestess for a London immersive theatre tour of the history of witches and persecution in the capital.

Hex and the City begins at Farringdon Station, where you’ll meet some of London’s forgotten women accused of occult activity. Branded “witches” and outcast from society, learn all about the hidden history of witches and how they were cruelly taken down. Were they really practicing witchcraft? Or were men just afraid of a woman having power?

Your journey will take you all the way to St. Paul’s cathedral with some picturesque London sights along the way.

You’ll meet costumed characters of medieval healers, Elizabethan social climbers, pagan priestesses and wartime mediums. It’s a seriously bewitching tour!

2. Harlots & Strumpets & Tarts, Oh My!

The Georgian sex trade laid bare for all to see, in a frightfully funny, honest look at what life was like for sex workers in the 18th and 19th centuries. This is one of the only London history tours that explores the lives of sex workers from the female perspective.

We often hear about Jack the Ripper’s victims working in the sex trade, but we don’t get to hear their stories. Now we do.

Meet your guide – ‘The Baroness’ – outside Covent Garden tube station, and allow her to guide you through the centuries of women selling their bodies to survive.

Poverty in London for women was very real and very widespread, as women were not offered the same opportunities as men.

On this tour you can meet the women who defied the patriarchy and used it against itself.

*There will be a lot of walking, so wear comfortable shoes!*

Some women made it big: business-savvy brothel madams and high class courtesans made a good living off the vices of men. But some were not so lucky, and ended up in the gutter, prowling the gin palaces, and even becoming the victims of serial killers.

You’ll meet them all in dramatic reenactments brought to you by Maria and her talented cast of characters.

The tour ends at a historic pub, where you can have a tipple and ask Maria all of the questions you have about women’s place in Georgian London.

3. Gaol Birds of Old London

*Were high-class women treated differently by the courts than lowly servants?*

This is my favorite London history walk of Maria’s because it goes over all of the ghastly details of what life was like for women accused of crimes.

You’ll start at the historic Old Bailey, London’s highest criminal court where centuries of trials, media frenzies, sentences and executions took place.

The Old Bailey was once connected to the notorious Newgate Prison, and Maria will reenact some of the stories of the women who spent their lives and deaths at this notorious prison.

Some were guilty, some were innocent. But all were treated unfairly by the patriarchy and the press.

*It’s not all doom and gloom. There are some lighthearted moments, too!*

Would a man have been given the same harsh sentence? Why was fainting in court seen as the ultimate feminine gesture? Why were those accused called “hysterical”?

You’ll learn the answers to all those questions and more in this enthralling tour.

Gaol Birds of Old London also offers some incredible views along the way of the City of London’s most historic locations.

You’ll visit the Thames and learn about some grisly crimes that took place in those dark waters, how the perpetrators were caught, and how they were treated by the courts and society.

London History Tours with Herstorical Tours: London Immersive Theatre at its Best

Sure, you could choose any of the thousands of London history walks that take place in the city everyday. But those are (often) written by men, led by men, and only focus on the male perspective of London’s vast history. There’s so much more to the story.

Book with Herstorical Tours today and support a woman-owned business, and hear about the long-forgotten tales of the women who shaped London’s history. We need to keep these historic stories alive for feminist London to live and thrive in 2023.

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