Smithfield | DeadlyCurious

The Coroner’s Report July 25, 2026 · London

The Great Smog of December 1952, the Five Days of Coal Fog That Killed Thousands of Londoners

From 5 to 9 December 1952 a windless anticyclone trapped London's coal smoke at street level. Visibility fell to arm's length, transport stopped, and cattle died at Smithfield. The official count was around 4,000 deaths; modern analyses put the toll at 10,000-12,000. It produced the Clean Air Act of 1956.

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The Cabinet June 27, 2026 · Smithfield, London

The English Peasants' Revolt of 1381 That Briefly Captured London, Beheaded the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Was Ended When the Lord Mayor Stabbed Wat Tyler in Front of the King

The Peasants' Revolt began in Essex on 30 May 1381 in response to the third Poll Tax in four years. About 60,000 rebels marched on London by mid-June. They beheaded the Archbishop of Canterbury Simon Sudbury on Tower Hill. The Lord Mayor William Walworth stabbed the rebel leader Wat Tyler in the throat at Smithfield on 15 June while Tyler was negotiating face-to-face with the 14-year-old King Richard II.

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