Museum London's walking tours lead historical strolls through 'Heaven and Hell'

From towering gothic cathedrals to rabble-rousing ale houses, Museum London's latest walking tours take a stroll through the city's rich history. 

Tales of brawls, murders and 19th century architecture are forefront in this Saturday morning's Heaven and Hell walking tour journeying through architectural historic churches and taverns in the downtown core. 

It's just one of many walking tours Museum London is hosting through September — and something local historian and walking tour guide Sylvia Chodas knows a thing or two about. 

The idea for the Heaven and Hell tour was born while bouncing around ideas about cathedral tours, Chodas said. 

"If we could work our way over to Old Whiskey Row... we could call it Heaven and Hell," she said. "We both laughed about it — and then the name stuck."

The tour starts at London's Old Court House on Ridout Street where 19 hangings took place, she said. "Decisions were made if you needed to be hanged or not, and therefore your spirit go up or down." 

The courthouse and all three of the churches on the tour have gothic architectural features, she said. 

LISTEN | Sylvia Chodas gives preview of Heaven and Hell walking tour 

St. Peter's Cathedral at Richmond and Dufferin streets was modelled after Notre Dame in Paris, built between 1880 and 1885.

"Much money was poured into that. The materials and the style and the architect came from Toronto, and it took five years to build," she said. 

Another stop is St. Paul's Cathedral, an Anglican church on Richmond Street, which has a more simple design based on the English parish church. 

Talbot Street Church is also featured, designed by one of London's premier architects, George Durand, and built between 1881 and 1882. 

"[There's] lots of interesting heritage in the architecture here," she said. 

Whiskey Row

And for a taste of Hell on the tour — London's Whiskey Row, once found along King Street, became notorious in the late 1880s when people would come to the market to shop. It was a popular place for pubs, inns and taverns to spring up, she said. 

"Sometimes husbands would get lost during the day and then to be found hours later in one of the drinking establishments along Whiskey Row across the street," Chodas said. 

"It was a scene of brawls and bar fights and the occasional murder."

It became a hang out for some of London's chilling characters of the past, such as Peg Leg Brown, a Texan with a long criminal record who murdered a London police officer, and was later hanged in 1899. 

Museum London is hosting tours on Saturdays and Thursdays through September. 

Chodas highlights Hidden in Plain Sight, a circular tour around the market that focuses on overlooked details of buildings or public art pieces.

Another, Bats, Beans and Bridges tours through London's Blackfriars neighbourhood taking a closer look at bridges and the world's oldest baseball grounds, Labatt Park, she said. 

Upcoming walking tours: 

• Heaven and Hell, Saturday, Aug. 5 at 10:30 a.m. 
• Digging Dundas, Saturday, Aug. 12 at 10:30 a.m.
• Castles to Cottages, Saturday Aug. 19 at 10:30 a.m. 
• Murals of Downtown, Thursday, Aug. 24 at 6 p.m. 
• Hidden in Plain Sight, Saturday, Aug. 26 at 10:30 a.m.
• Hidden Secrets of Downtown, Thursday, Aug. 31 at 6 p.m. 
• Bats, Beans and Bridges, Saturday, Sept. 2 at 10:30 p.m.

Walks are $15 or $10 for early bird pricing and registration is required.