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Slum Dwellers of Seven Dials (People of a Victorian London Rookery)

Fact Feast

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Seven Dials was Victorian London's slum of “last resort for the poor and ill.” Imagined as the ‘new Covent Garden’, it declined into a warren of dirty overcrowded streets and, like St. Giles adjacent, home to the lower classes, thieves and prostitutes. We take a tour around the rookery, its pubs and lodging houses with Henry Mayhew to hear his first-hand account of the lives of its inhabitants. From tricksters to pickpockets and prostitutes - these are the people you can meet in Seven Dials.

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Victorians

Credits:
Narration by markmanningmedia.com
CC BY - Attic occupied by a family of ten persons; Lodging House in Field Lane by Wellcome Collection
CC BY-SA – Seven Dials north-west facing by Clem Rutter; Seven Dials London WC2 by Mike Quinn

#VictorianLondon #VictorianDocumentary #VictorianLondonDocumentary #VictorianEraDocumentary #FactFeast #VictorianLife #VictorianSlums #Victorian #19thCentury #StGilesSlum #SevenDials

20 Comments

@FactFeast Creator 5 years ago Pinned

✅ Please support the channel by sharing this video on social media 📲 It really helps the channel grow so we can bring you more content to watch 📺 Thank you 👍

@alexandralusco 3 years ago (edited)

My great grandmother x3 was born in Holborn- just by Fleet Street in 1801. She lived in Hosier Lane ( still there) and her husband who was a tallow chandler- around 1830/40ish. Hosier Lane is next door to St Bart’s Hospital, on the other side was Newgate Prison and Smithfield meat market on the other.

I think my grandfather got the fat from there for his candles. How totally grim! Death all around you, hangings and the noise animals being slaughtered . I cannot imagine how on earth my family managed. Dystopian hell. My grandmother lived until she was 89! I have one photo.

Her elder daughter married a rich man and they all moved to Hampstead. Her children became millionaires as financiers for Lloyds ! Her other daughter married an ordinary bloke and they lived in a poor mews cottage nearby. Of course- I’m descended from the poor side. Typical! 😅

This is great series! I love UK history But people suffered so much - we’d all be totally traumatised if we had to go back and experience such dire and grinding poverty. I’ve stood in Hosier Lane and tried to imagine what it was like- quite difficult when the whole area is now so smart and expensive. If you are nearby, go to ‘ Ye olde Cheshire Cheese’ pub. Been there for centuries, an amazing pub! Charles Dickens used to drink there .

@pinkharlequin994 5 years ago

For those who think Britain just destroyed the old buildings, this was not the case. London was a mess after the bombings of WW2. There was nothing they could do to save some of them so a lot of these places were destroyed. It took decades to clean up London, I can remember playing in cleared bomb sites during the 80s.

@REDRAWVISIONS 4 years ago

The narration is, probably, the absolute best I have ever heard. The subject is cool too. Well produced ... subscribed!

@phubblewubbphubblewubb 2 years ago

And all those poor enslaved horses who never saw a blade of grass.....

@thehuntforprofit8663 5 years ago

Your voice is epic! Really enjoying this.

@NoName-mi8bm 5 years ago

This is the moment many north Americans realize that their true ancestors weren't royals or vikings. This is your true past not kings and lords.

@margaretnorris7825 5 years ago

Very interesting vidio I was born in London's East end and my great grandfather was a pickpocket! He spent time in Newgate prison! Fascinating to see how they lived back then and the hardship of daily life for them .

@fred3467 5 years ago

Actually Seven Dials doesn't seem like a bad area at all! Especially compared to White Chapel or the other neighborhoods covered on your channel! Very enjoyable post.

@GoogleUser-wy2vv 5 years ago

Your pictures transport me to the era and location. Chilling and satisfying...

@englishcountrylife3805 5 years ago

It’s nice to know nothing has changed in central London.🙄

@GrandDawggy 5 years ago

Love your style and scripts!

@cynthiawestbrook720 3 years ago

THIS CHANNEL IS SO INTERESTING, THE NARRATOR SO APPEALING, l'm hooked on ths showi

@mysteriousfun4759 5 years ago

This is why I love this series. They highlight the place affected by inequality and shows how the people there really did their best to take care of each other with any way they can. It reminds of the situation where I'm from here in 2021.

@ritadaniels7931 4 years ago

Love your channel. You give an insight into the reality and true history of working class people who were, and still are, the actual backbone of our country. Just look at us now after the main wave of the pandemic, our shops are not filled our petrol station not getting deliveries. Its not the so called brains (that's a joke) who keep a country going it's the thousands of working class, immigrants included 👍👍👍 who keep us going. Many other peoples from different countries am sure would have similar tales to tell. We are diverse, multi cultural and that's what makes us GREAT and Wonderful. Thanks again for great info

@crystallong9625 5 years ago

Thank you for another intriguing account of life in the past. It’s also nice to hear about people of the lower classes who didn’t have it extremely bad. It’s a pity that so many had to live in squalid conditions in those days. God bless them!!

@chrissybarr7508 5 years ago (edited)

I love this sort of history it’s not all kings queens lords and ladies 🇬🇧

@Jammo1978 5 years ago

Wow pretty mad how they mentioned Henry mayhew as I've just read a book by him recently about the poverty and dismay of Victorian London but I'd never heard of him previously and some of the stories of the people are heartbreaking, people of today have nothing to complain about.