Leadenhall Market

Discover Legends of Leadenhall - your own personal audio tour delving into the stories surrounding Leadenhall Market’s place in history

We begin 500,000 years ago. London is all wild scrublands and forests, and you have just stubbed your toe on a Neanderthal tool.

It is now 550AD, and the scene is not dissimilar to the one you just left: wild scrubland, and trees stretch before you, but with more rocks scattered around the place, and the remains of some walls. Those of you who know your history will be wondering where the Romans are, or at least their roads...

Legend 2: What have the Romans ever done for us?

We find ourselves in Elizabethan London. A maid at the Market has just spilled some milk down your leg, and is excusing herself by saying that Robin jogged her. But there's no-one there, so who is she talking about? The Robin she's blaming is Robin Goodfellow, a famously naughty fairy.

It is September 1666, and you are at Leadenhall Market, which is wreathed in smoke and panicked shouts.On the 2nd of September a baker’s shop in Pudding Lane caught fire. At first people thought it would quickly be extinguished. But instead the fire took hold and grew.

It is 1698, and you are standing in the newly rebuilt Leadenhall Market. A richly dressed man with a strong accent is deeply involved in a technical conversation with a craftsman, a leatherworker perhaps. His flamboyant entourage waits restlessly, their patience exhausted.

Our next stop is at the East India Company, formed in 1600 with a royal charter granting a monopoly over trade in Asia. The frontage you see is that of the original headquarters, complete with impressive carved doors telling the story of how the Company's power once stretched from Cape Horn to China, influencing every area of British life from the tea we started to drink, to the fabrics we wore.

Legend 7: The East India Company and the clockwork tiger

In the 19th Century, people consumed a far wider range of birds than today. Your Sunday dinner might be a chicken, but it might equally be finch, bunting, cormorant or lark. Because of the enormous variety of creatures to be found at the Market, Leadenhall was also a hunting ground for ornithologists and taxidermists looking for rare and unusual specimens.

Legend 8: The emporium of rare birds and animals, living or dead

The end of the 19th Century saw change beyond the fall of the East India Company. As the City became more prosperous, it moved towards white collar jobs and away from the more visceral realities of daily life. The Markets remained as stinky, noisy islands among the gentility, and there began a conversation about what to do with them.

We are in Horace Jones’ grand new vision for Leadenhall Market, in 1940. Sirens ring out and people rush to take cover. We have found ourselves in the Blitz. The City was a major target during the second world war, and was regularly bombed as a result.

Legends of Leadenhall

10 ECHOES

DOWNLOAD OUR APP TO DISCOVER THIS TOUR AND MANY OTHERS.

The Echoes

Legend 1: The singing Neanderthals

Legend 2: What have the Romans ever done for us?

Legend 3: Medieval resurgence

Legend 4: The Fairies are out to get you

Legend 5: First, protect the parmesan

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Legends of Leadenhall

room 10 ECHOES

DOWNLOAD OUR APP TO DISCOVER THIS TOUR AND MANY OTHERS.

The Echoes

Legend 1: The singing Neanderthals

Legend 2: What have the Romans ever done for us?

Legend 3: Medieval resurgence

Legend 4: The Fairies are out to get you

Legend 5: First, protect the parmesan

Discover more geolocated content in our apps.

Are you a creator?

Get in touch

Echoes creative apps

Echoes labs

About us

10 ECHOES