WHITECHAPEL & SPITALFIELDS 1888
RIPPER MURDER SITES & LOCATIONS
Our walking Jack The Ripper Tour Of London stops at many of locations made infamous by the Whitechapel Murders and runs 7 days a week.
We believe our tour offering is the most complete in London, delivered by our engaging and expert guides in a way that cannot fail to captivate and intrigue. Before you know it, you’ll be transported back to the year 1888, walking the eerie streets that were the hunting grounds of London’s most infamous serial killer, and you’ll be learning about the lives of his victims and about the murders themselves.
Jack The Ripper Murders Map of London
The crimes known as the “Jack the Ripper Murders” took place in the autumn of 1888 in the area to the East of the City of London. It was an area that comprised the districts of Spitalfields and Whitechapel, two of the Victorian capital’s most poverty-stricken and crime-ridden neighbourhoods.
Looking at the murder sites today in our Jack the Ripper Walking Tour Map below, the first thing that strikes you is the smallness of the locality in which the Whitechapel murder atrocities occurred.
However, it should also be remembered that in 1888 the area was made up of lots of narrow, unlit alleyways and passageways and it was the labyrinth-like layout of the area that enabled jack the Ripper to commit his crimes and then melts away into the night.
How has London changed since Jack the Ripper Murders?
It is often said that not much has actually survived of the London of Jack the Ripper; and, whereas this is, to a large extent, true of the murder locations, it is most certainly not true of the area itself.
Indeed, a great deal has survived that can give you the true flavour of the Victorian East End as it was around the time of the Whitechapel atrocities.
Our Jack the Ripper locations guide is a resource that will enable you to find places that featured in the story of the crimes which can still be visited and experienced today.
Where Our Jack the Ripper Tour Takes You
Below is a list of all the locations and landmarks you will pass when embarking on one of our walking tours.
Whitechapel High Street
Our journey into the sinister world of Jack The Ripper’s London starts on Whitechapel High Street, near Aldgate East tube station.
The Princess Alice Pub
The Princess Alice pub in Aldgate was commonly frequented by the local prostitutes at time of the Ripper crimes. It was also the haunt of a sinister potential suspect called ‘Leather Apron’ and was the last place the final victim of the Whitechapel Murders was seen alive.
The Ten Bells Pub
The Ten Bells was one of the most famous and popular pubs in the East End and that infamy grew as a result of its connection with the Ripper murders. Some of the Ripper’s victims were last seen in The Ten Bells and it’s even thought that he stalked the pub to find his prey.
The White Hart
The White Hart’s claim to Ripper fame is its close link to one of the prime suspects, a Polish immigrant called Severin Klosowski, later known as George Chapman. He worked in a barber shop in the basement of the pub. Mary Ann Nichols, one of the Ripper’s victims, was also found no more than 50-feet from the back of the pub.
Osborn Street
Although the murder of Emma Smith was not attributed to the Ripper, it did lead to the creation of the Whitechapel Murders file, which by the end of the year came to include the crimes we now know as the Jack the Ripper murders.
Hanbury Street
Annie Chapman made her way to 29 Hanbury Street, which was just a short walk from The Ten Bells pub in the early hours of 8 September 1888. Her mutilated body was found in the backyard just half an hour later.
Ye Frying Pan on Brick Lane
Ye Frying Pan, on the corner of Brick Lane, was the pub where Ripper victim Mary Nichols had her last drink before she was brutally murdered in the early hours of 31 August 1888.
George Yard (Now Gunthorpe Street)
George Yard, now Gunthorpe Street, lived up to its reputation of being one of the least desirable thoroughfares in East London when, on 7 August 1888, the body of a prostitute of Martha Tabram was found. She was not thought to be a victim of the Ripper.
Dorset Street
In 1888, Dorset Street had a reputation for being one of the most lawless in the whole of London. This was proved correct on 9 November 1888, when the horrifically mutilated body of Mary Kelly was found. She became the final of the five confirmed victims of Jack the Ripper.
Goulston Street
Goulston Street is unique in that it’s the location where one of the only bits of Ripper evidence was found. It was here in the early hours of 30 September 1888 that a missing piece of Catherine Eddowes’ apron, who had been murdered just minutes earlier, was discovered.
Mitre Square
In the southernmost corner of Mitre Square, on 30 September 1888, the mutilated body of Catherine Eddowes was found. The attack was the most western of all the Whitechapel Murders and the only crime committed in The City area of London.
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Other Locations Related to the Whitechapel Murders
Our tour is focused around the Whitechapel and Spitalfields area where the murders took place. Unfortunately, it is not possible to take you to every location of interest relating to the Jack The Ripper case, such as the sites of the victim’s graves, due to the size of the city and considerable time/distance it would take to travel to them all.
Below is a list of all the London spots of interest relating to Jack the Ripper that the walking tour does not visit. We recommend a trip to any of these landmarks in your own leisure time if you wish to further experience the fearful and gruesome events that occurred in London over several months in 1888.
Batty Street
At 22 Batty Street in Whitechapel, the landlady Mrs Kuer believed she had a lodger who could be Jack the Ripper. Not only did Francis Tumblety’s nightly outings coincide with the crimes but she also found bloodstained clothing in his room.
Buck’s Row (Now Durward Street)
Buck’s Row, now Durward Street, was the dark alley where Mary Ann Nichols, the first confirmed Ripper victim, was found. She had been violently attacked and her throat cut so savagely that her head had almost been separated from her body.
City of London Cemetery
It is in the City of London Cemetery that Mary Nichols and Catherine Eddowes, the first and fourth victims of Jack the Ripper, were both buried. Their graves have long since been reused but there are memorial plaques to mark the spots where the women lay.
Commercial Street Police Station
The Commercial Street Police Station in Shoreditch has now been turned into flats, but in 1888 it was the station where many of the officers who were investigating the murders, including detective Abberline, were based.
Dutfield’s Yard on Berner Street
It was in Dutfield’s Yard off Berner Street on the night of 30 September 1988 that the body of Elizabeth Stride was found. Intriguingly, this could have been the only time that someone saw the Ripper in the act of committing a murder.
East London Cemetery
Elizabeth Stride, the third Ripper victim, was buried in the East London Cemetery on 6 October 1888. Although most of the burial sites of the Ripper victims have been reused and plaques erected in their place, the grave of Elizabeth Stride remains to this day.
The London Hospital
It was at the London Hospital where the assistant surgeon Dr Openshaw performed an analysis on a kidney that had been received anonymously in the post. He believed the kidney could have belonged to Catherine Eddowes, who had been murdered a month earlier. Once Dr Openshaw had reported his findings, he received a letter signed by Jack the Ripper confirming what he had found.
Manor Park Cemetery
Annie Chapman, the second victim of Jack the Ripper, was buried in the Manor Park Cemetery on 14 September 1888. Everything was done to keep the details of the funeral secret to prevent public fanfare and the ceremony went ahead with just the family present.
The St. George In The East’s Mortuary
The St George in the East Mortuary is now a rundown brick shed which was once the mortuary where the body of Jack the Ripper’s third victim, Elizabeth Stride, was taken following her murder on nearby Berner Street.
St Patrick’s Cemetery
Mary Kelly was the final and youngest of all the Ripper victims. She was buried on 19 November in St Patrick’s Cemetery in Leytonstone. Although our tour does not travel to Mary Kelly’s grave, it is something you can easily see for yourself.
Swallow Gardens – Royal Mint Street
At the time, Swallow Gardens was little more than an alleyway running under a railway arch. It was here, on 13 February 1891, that Frances Coles’ body was found. She was the final victim of the Whitechapel Murders, although the attack was not considered to be the work of the Ripper.
The Working Lads Institute
It was inside the Working Lads Institute in the East End of London that the inquests into the deaths of several of Jack the Ripper’s victims took place. The gruesome facts revealed at the inquests led to the sensational reporting of the murders by the press.