Time Travellers Guide: Tudor London

Tudor London was a city of dramatic contrasts, full of excitement and danger. The streets were packed with people from all walks of life—rich nobles in grand houses and poor families in crowded slums. If you wandered through the city, you might hear the cries of street sellers in Cheapside market, see cattle and fish being brought in for sale, or smell the food being cooked by vendors. The Thames River was like a busy highway, with skilled watermen ferrying passengers and goods up and down in their wherries, shouting for customers at the river stairs. The city was also home to grand buildings like St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London, where dramatic royal events took place, including the imprisonment and execution of queens.

Life in Tudor London could be both thrilling and terrifying. The Tudors were famous for their harsh punishments—hanging, drawing, and quartering was a gruesome way to deal with traitors, and public executions were big events that drew huge crowds at places like Tyburn and Execution Dock. Even minor crimes could lead to severe penalties, and some areas of the city were known for their roughness and danger. The reign of “Bloody Mary” saw people accused of witchcraft facing the terrible choice of being hanged or burned. At the same time, the city was full of entertainment: new theatres put on exciting plays, and people enjoyed watching sports like bear-baiting, cockfighting, and even a wild version of football.

Behind the scenes, Tudor London was a city of secrets and intrigue. Queen Elizabeth I had a network of spies and secret agents, led by her clever spymaster Francis Walsingham, who worked to protect her from plots and enemies. Religion was a dangerous game—people had to keep up with changing rules about which faith was allowed, sometimes risking their lives for their beliefs. Children, whether rich or poor, had their own roles to play, from helping with family businesses to learning in schools or working on the docks. Letters, diaries, and official documents from the time help us understand what life was really like, showing us both the glamour and the hardship of Tudor London’s dark, bustling streets.

Author: Natasha Narayan

Natasha Narayan is a British-Asian author and screenwriter, originally born in India and later moving to Britain as a child, where she attended several alternative schools, including a Steiner school and a commune. She is well known for writing the Kit Salter Adventures, a series of mystery books for children aged 9 to 11, set during the Victorian era, as well as other historical titles like The Timetraveller's Guide to Tudor London and Witches, Wizards and Warlocks of London. Alongside her work as an author, Natasha has had a successful career as a journalist, reporting for newspapers such as The Observer and The Guardian, and has also written for television, co-creating and writing the ITV drama Next of Kin and contributing to the Apple TV series Criminal Record. She currently lives in Oxford with her family.