LAST RITES - A Guided Tour of Death and the Dead in the Ancient City

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  • Holborn Station

Description

  • Walks & Tours, Something A Little Different and Daytime
  • Tickets from £16.50
  • n/a
  • Sun, 18th Oct 2026 @ 11:00 - 12:30
  • 11:00 - 12:30

More than three hundred thousand people work in the Square Mile each day, but their numbers are dwarfed by the dead beneath their feet. London is a great city of the departed, its oldest districts – Holborn, Fleet Street, the ancient City itself – built on two thousand years of bodies, bones and dust.



Join historian and author Richard Barnett as he uncovers the forgotten lives and extraordinary afterlives of the capital’s ordinary dead. From murderers dancing the hempen jig at Newgate to plague victims buried in vast emergency pits, from vanished churchyards and forgotten graveyards to the ever changing rituals of death and burial, discover how London’s nameless dead have shaped the streets, stories and identity of the modern city. In London, the past is never far below the surface.



Tickets £15 include a 20% donation to Tower Hamlets Cemetery. 



Richard Barnett


Richard Barnett is a writer, broadcaster and historian of science and medicine. A former medical student, he has taught at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford and is the author of eight books, including Medical London: City of Diseases, City of Cures and the acclaimed Sick Rose trilogy. He also presents Sun Street Passage, a monthly podcast exploring London’s history one street at a time.

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Tickets/Times

Ticket Event time Cost
Last Rites

A Guided Tour of Death and the Dead in the Ancient City

11:00 - 12:30 £16.50

Location

Address

Holborn Station, Kingsway, London, WC2B 6AA

Nearest Station

Holborn (Tube)

Organiser

A Curious Invitation
Each year, Antique Beat and A Curious Invitation host London Month of the Dead, a festival of over 60 different events to inform, provoke and entertain on teh subject of mortality and the city. Events include walks, talks, workshops, theatrical performances, storytelling, live-scored films, concerts, and visits to secret parts of the city. Subjects span the cultural landscape from the forensic to the esoteric with an unparalleled range of speakers, performers, guides and experts. Each year, London Month of the Dead donates 20% of ticket revenue to one of London's magnificent seven cemeteries.

More from London Month of the Dead

T&Cs

1. The ticket holder voluntarily assumes all risks and danger incidental to the event for which the ticket is issued, whether occurring prior, during or after the event. The ticket holder voluntarily agrees that the management, venue, event participants, DesignMyNight WFL Media Ltd and all of their respective agents, officers, directors, owners and employers are expressly released by the ticket holder from any claims arising from such causes.
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7. We regret that tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded after purchase.
8. Tickets are sold subject to the venue or promoter's right to alter or vary the programme due to events or circumstances beyond its control without being obliged to refund monies or exchange tickets.
9. If this ticket is re-sold or transferred for profit or commercial gain by anyone other than the promoter, venue management, DesignMyNight or one of their authorised sub-agents, it will become voidable and the holder may be
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11. The promoter, venue management and DesignMyNight accept no responsibility for any personal property.
12. The event listed on the purchased ticket is strictly for ticket holders who are over 18 years of age. Identification may be required.

Customer Reviews (0)

Previous London Month of the Dead reviews

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5

Based on 469 customer reviews

  • Written by Jason

    Rating: 5

    VERIFIED

    Visited 3 years ago
    A great talk discussing how the Devil’s attempt to destroy sacred spaces ensured their longevity in the myths built around them. Also the punch was wonderful and so was the host.
  • Written by Jason

    Rating: 5

    VERIFIED

    Visited 3 years ago
    Sam George really knows her stuff, drawing on theories of the weird and the eerie in a revealing analysis of the representation of werewolves in contemporary myth. Also loved the punch.
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