The Darker Side of Nursery Rhymes

  • Walk
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  • 2 HOURS

About The Tour

Nursery Rhymes, these seemingly innocuous little tales, read to us and loved by us growing up, and that mothers around the world happily sing to their children, actually have their roots based firmly in historical fact and much of it pretty dark!

Many of our favourites rhymes are associated with dastardly deeds, plagues, poverty, religious persecution, fires and wars. These ditties have been in existence since the 14th Century and possibly earlier, and on this fascinating tour in London, we discover the dark history and meaning behind the tales.

Visit many of the places referred to in the rhymes:- See where the Muffin Man went door to door giving out muffins in what was one of London’s most poverty and disease ridden areas. Visit the Eagle for a small libation and learn why in Victorian Britain too many visits would have seen you having to “Pop your Weasel”! Pass the churches that rang out their bells along the route of the condemned man in Oranges and Lemons, and many other fascinating locations.

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