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Many of the locations of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' can still be seen today. Scrooge's counting house is thought to be in Newman's Court, in the City of London. "The ancient tower of a church" is described, whose "gruff old bell was always slyly peeping down at Scrooge out of a #gothic window." That church has been identified as St Michael's Cornhill, which looms over Newman's Court. In addition, Bob Cratchit heads home via nearby Cornhill, where he "went down a slide" on the ice "at the end of a line of boys, twenty times, in honour of it being Christmas Eve." Scrooge's "usual melancholy tavern" where he takes his "melancholy dinner" is thought to be Simpson's Tavern in nearby Ball Court, which has been trading since 1757. The door knocker which turns into the ghostly head of Jacob Marley was apparently inspired by one in Craven Street, near Charing Cross, where Dickens worked as a boy in a shoe-blacking factory. #Christmas #literature #history #folklore #Yule #books #London
@david_castleton This is fascinating. I love A Christmas Carol, it's my favorite Christmas story and my favorite of Dickens' work. 
@david_castleton I was briefly detained in a nunnery near London in my impetuous youth. Finding it trivial to escape to London, one of the first things I did was try to find Dickens landmarks. Also, Knights Templar. Then I found Camden and punks and...and then the nuns found me. All in all, a great weekend out when I was about 13. :)
@MissConstrue Wow, that's quite a story! If you like Camden, you might be interested in this: https://www.davidcastleton.net/mother-damnable-witch-camden-town-london-mother-red-cap-black-cap/
@david_castleton Ooooooh! Once I've got christmas dinner in the oven, I'm going to settle down for a few minutes and read this. Fun! Thanks. :)