Leadenhall Market

I spent my Friday night on a Ghost Walk around the City of London's old buildings and cobbled passageways. This is Leadenhall Market, designed in 1881 by Sir Horace Jones (also the architect behind Smithfield and Billingsgate markets) and recently beautifully restored (- you may also recognise it from Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter films).

At this point we were told the story about the ghost of Nathanial Bentley, also know as 'Dirty Dick'; a prosperous merchant in the mid-18th century, who owned a warehouse and hardware shop nearby.

Bentley had planned a lavish wedding to his beloved fiancée, including a huge reception in a back-room at the warehouse. Tragically, the night before the wedding, his bride-to-be fell gravely ill and died the following morning.

Bentley was distraught, a broken and solitary man from that day on.Legend says he declared he would never bother to wash himself or his clothes again "It's of no use if I wash my hands today, they'll be dirty again tomorrow..."

Unsurprisingly, it is said that his ghost is usually smelled before it is seen...

He continued to trade from his filthy premises, but closed shop every April, the month of his intended betrothal.

After his death in 1809, a sealed door was discovered, behind which was the wedding banquet left untouched from that fateful day years before. It's suggested that the story inspired Charles Dickens, a frequent visitor to the area, to create Miss Havisham.

Both the name and story are also now linked to the Dirty Dicks pub near Liverpool Street station - which used to display some of Bentley's besmeared belongings.