Explore the real-world places that appear in The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Blackfriars Bridge & the Thames, The Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret, London Bridge Station & Borough Market, Gresham College, The Fleet River & Farringdon and 9 more.
South Bank, London Bridge to Blackfriars — Where the apothecary's poisons end lives
The Thames is the artery through which Nella's poisoned tinctures flow to unsuspecting victims. Men arrive at the bridge seeking revenge for wrongs done by their wives and lovers, and Nella—the Lost Apothecary—dispenses her fatal remedies from her hidden shop, telling them to drop the poisons into the water or administer them secretly. The river becomes both confession and crime scene, carrying away the evidence of her deadly work.
Blackfriars Bridge was completed in 1769, though the area was known as a crossing point for centuries. The medieval Blackfriars Priory stood here until the Dissolution in 1538. The Thames in the 17th century was far more polluted and dangerous than today, a dumping ground for refuse and corpses.
Blackfriars Bridge is a major pedestrian and vehicle crossing, maintained by Transport for London. The South Bank is now lined with museums, galleries, and restaurants. The river water is much cleaner and supports fish populations.
Visit: Blackfriars Bridge (landmark)
9A St Thomas Street, Southwark — The hidden apothecary knowledge
This museum preserves the very world Nella inhabited—a working herb garret and apothecary space where plants were dried, ground, and transformed into medicines. Nella's knowledge of plants, poisons, and remedies echoes through these rooms. The museum reveals the fine line between healing and harming that Nella exploited, showing how apothecaries in the 1650s used the same tools for cure and curse.
This operating theatre was built in 1822 atop St Thomas's Church, but the herb garret dates to the 17th century. It served as the apothecary's workspace where medicines were compounded for the hospital below. It is one of the oldest surviving operating theatres in Europe and preserves authentic period equipment and recipes.
The Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret is a fully functioning museum open to the public. Visitors can see authentic 17th-century apothecary jars, dried herbs, surgical instruments, and the actual theatre where amputations and procedures were performed without anesthesia.
Visit: The Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret (museum)
Bridge Street, Southwark — Where Caroline Clark conducts her modern investigation
Caroline Clark, a pregnant historian and palaeobotanist from America, discovers a skeleton and clay jar in the Thames while researching the river's contents. This modern day narrative unfolds as she investigates the identity of the skeleton and its connection to a mysterious apothecary from the 1650s. The station and market area represent her base of operations in contemporary London as she pursues her historical mystery.
London Bridge Station opened in 1836 and is one of the oldest railway stations in the world. The area has been a trading hub since medieval times. Borough Market, adjacent, dates to at least 1014 and is London's oldest food market still in operation.
London Bridge Station is a major transport hub serving the London Underground and National Rail. Borough Market is a vibrant public market with food stalls, restaurants, and shops. The area is heavily gentrified with modern offices, galleries, and trendy restaurants alongside historic structures.
Visit: London Bridge Station & Borough Market (landmark)
Bishopsgate, City of London — Center of scientific learning and botanical knowledge
Gresham College represents the world of legitimate botanical and apothecary learning that contrasts sharply with Nella's dark work. While scholars and physicians here study plants for healing, Nella perverts that same knowledge toward murder. The college embodies the 17th-century intersection of science, medicine, and alchemy that made someone like Nella possible—someone with dangerous knowledge in a world hungry for both cures and poisons.
Gresham College was founded in 1597 by Sir Thomas Gresham as a free institution for public lectures on law, astronomy, music, geometry, arithmetic, and rhetoric. It became a meeting place for early scientists and was involved in the founding of the Royal Society. The original building survived the Great Fire of 1666.
Gresham College still operates at its original Bishopsgate location as a free educational institution offering public lectures. The building has been restored and remains an active center for learning and discourse, open for events and tours.
Visit: Gresham College (historic site)
Underground stream, Clerkenwell Road — The hidden waterway where bodies are concealed
The Fleet River, once London's second-largest river, is now buried underground. In Nella's time, it flowed visibly and became a dumping ground for filth, waste, and—in her darker moments—bodies. Nella uses the Fleet as a natural barrier and hiding place, a liminal space between the respectable city and the criminal underworld. Men seeking her poisons must know how to find their way to her shop near this hidden water.
The River Fleet was one of London's largest rivers until it became severely polluted in the medieval period. By the 17th century, it was an open sewer carrying industrial waste, sewage, and human remains. It was gradually covered over during the 17th-19th centuries and is now entirely underground, forming part of London's sewer system.
The Fleet River runs entirely underground beneath Farringdon and Clerkenwell. Above ground, Farringdon Road marks its path. There are occasional access points and the 'Crossrail' (Elizabeth Line) project has exposed sections of the historic river for archaeological study. Visitors cannot directly see the river but can learn about it at nearby museums.
St Paul's Churchyard — The spiritual heart of London, site of public executions and judgments
St Paul's Cathedral looms over the moral landscape of Nella's London. It represents divine judgment and public penance in a city where Nella herself remains hidden and unpunished. The cathedral's churchyard was a place of public executions, pillorying, and harsh justice—the very justice Nella evades through her poisonings. The contrast between the cathedral's spiritual authority and Nella's shadowy power defines her transgressive existence.
The medieval St Paul's Cathedral was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, completed in 1697—just after Nella's era ends. The original medieval cathedral stood for over 900 years. St Paul's Churchyard was indeed a place of public punishment and execution throughout the medieval and early modern periods.
St Paul's Cathedral is one of London's most iconic buildings and an active Anglican cathedral. It is open to the public daily and is a major tourist destination. Visitors can attend services, explore the interior, climb the Whispering Gallery, and view the crypt. It remains a symbol of London's resilience and spiritual life.
Visit: St Paul's Cathedral (landmark)
21 New Globe Walk, South Bank — Theater, crowds, and hidden identities
The Globe Theatre represents the public spectacle and masses of London—the very crowds Nella uses for concealment and opportunity. Theater-goers passing through Bankside might unwittingly carry her poisons, might be plotting revenge against unfaithful spouses. The theatrical world of deception and hidden identities mirrors Nella's own double life as a seemingly respectable apothecary and secret dispenser of death.
The original Globe Theatre was built in 1599 and was destroyed by fire in 1613. It was Shakespeare's playhouse and one of London's most famous entertainment venues. The site was abandoned until 1997 when the Shakespeare's Globe Trust rebuilt a reconstruction based on historical research. Bankside in the 1650s was still an entertainment district with bear-baiting, brothels, and playhouses.
Shakespeare's Globe is a working reconstruction of the original theater, hosting performances of Shakespeare's plays and other classical works. Visitors can tour the building, attend performances, and learn about Elizabethan and Jacobean theater. The surrounding South Bank area is London's premier arts and culture district.
Visit: Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (theater)
Central London — The bustling marketplace where Nella procures her materials
Cheapside is London's great marketplace, bustling with merchants, traders, and buyers of all kinds—including those seeking rare plants and obscure ingredients. Nella sources her botanical materials through these networks, purchasing herbs, roots, and minerals from traders who ask no questions. The anonymity of the marketplace allows her to gather the raw materials for her poisons without suspicion.
Cheapside has been London's principal marketplace since the medieval period. By the 1650s, it was famous for selling every conceivable commodity—cloth, meat, fish, spices, and medicines. The Great Fire of 1666 destroyed much of the area, but it was rebuilt and remained the commercial heart of London.
Cheapside is still a busy street in the City of London, though now dominated by banking, finance, and insurance companies rather than market stalls. The historic street layout remains, and several historic buildings survive. St Mary-le-Bow Church still stands on Cheapside, and modern shops line the street.
Visit: Cheapside Street (landmark)
Medieval Street, City of London — Nella's hidden apothecary shop location
Deep in the City's narrow medieval streets, near the poultry market and butchers, Nella operates her hidden apothecary shop. Desperate men find their way through winding alleys to her door, seeking poisons to eliminate unfaithful wives, rivals, or enemies. She dispenses her tinctures in small, unmarked bottles, asking no questions and accepting payment with grim efficiency. The location's proximity to butchers and markets provides cover for the foul smells of her work.
Aldermanbury was a significant street in the medieval City of London, lined with substantial houses and businesses. The Poultry district dates to at least the 13th century when it was London's main market for poultry. Many buildings in this area were destroyed during the Great Fire of 1666 and the medieval street plan was somewhat altered in rebuilding.
The area still follows medieval street patterns, though buildings are now modern offices, banks, and shops. The Poultry and Aldermanbury remain recognizable streets in the City of London. The Museum of London, located nearby, preserves artifacts from this era.
Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury — Where modern researchers study historical artifacts
Caroline Clark uses the British Museum's collections and research facilities to investigate the skeleton and clay jar found in the Thames. The museum's botanical records, medical histories, and apothecary archives provide evidence linking the remains to Nella's era. The library and expert consultants help Caroline piece together the historical puzzle that connects past and present.
The British Museum was founded in 1753 and opened to the public in 1759. By the time this novel is set (present day), it had become one of the world's greatest repositories of human culture and natural history. The building itself, designed by Robert Smirke, was completed in 1852.
The British Museum remains one of London's most visited attractions, free to enter. It houses over 8 million objects spanning human history. Visitors can explore Egyptian mummies, Greek sculptures, medieval manuscripts, and countless scientific specimens. Special collections and research rooms are available to scholars.
Visit: The British Museum (museum)
South Bank at Rotherhithe — Where skeletal remains are discovered in mud
Caroline discovers the skeleton—the remains of someone poisoned by Nella centuries earlier—in the Thames mud near Rotherhithe. The river at low tide exposes layers of history, and this body, preserved in the mud with a small clay jar, becomes the anchor for the entire investigation. The discovery launches both Caroline's professional mission and her personal obsession with uncovering Nella's identity and motive.
Rotherhithe has been a riverside settlement since at least the medieval period. It was a center for shipbuilding and maritime trade. The Thames foreshore at Rotherhithe contains extensive archaeological deposits spanning thousands of years, with remains frequently exposed by erosion and dredging.
Rotherhithe is now a gentrified residential neighborhood with modern apartments alongside historic riverside pubs and warehouses converted to flats and offices. The Thames Path offers pedestrian access along the river. Rotherhithe Pier provides river access and boat services. Museums and heritage centers document the area's maritime history.
Visit: Thames Path & Rotherhithe Riverside (park)
Warwick Lane, City of London — Legitimate medical authority that Nella subverts
The College of Physicians represents the official, sanctioned world of medicine and botany that Nella operates outside of and against. While physicians study healing, Nella weaponizes the same botanical knowledge for murder. The college's attempts to regulate apothecaries and medicines highlight how Nella's underground practice exists in the shadow of institutional authority, hidden but tolerated because her clients keep silent.
The College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 by Henry VIII and received a royal charter from Elizabeth I in 1571. By the 17th century, it was the primary regulatory body for medical practice in London. The college building on Warwick Lane (completed in 1674, designed by Sir Christopher Wren) still stands as a symbol of institutional medical authority.
The Royal College of Physicians (as it is now known) still operates in a Wren-designed building on Warwick Lane, though it moved to its current location in 1825. The building is a historic landmark open for tours. It remains the governing body for medical practice in the UK.
Visit: Royal College of Physicians (historic site)
Original site at Moorgate, City of London — Where madness and medical authority meet
Bedlam represents the darker, more chaotic side of 17th-century medicine and human suffering. Some of Nella's clients may have lost family members to Bedlam's horrors—or may have sought refuge in poisoning those who sent their relatives there. The institution embodies the desperation and moral ambiguity of an era where medical authority could be as cruel and deadly as Nella's poisons.
Bethlem Royal Hospital (Bedlam) was founded in 1247 as a priory and became an asylum for the mad by the 14th century. By the 17th century, it was notorious for its brutal treatment of inmates, lack of sanitation, and high mortality rates. It operated at its original Moorgate location until 1676 when it moved to a new building in Moorfields.
The original Bedlam site no longer exists. Bethlem Royal Hospital is now a modern psychiatric facility located in Beckenham, South London, and operates to high contemporary standards. The site at Moorgate is occupied by modern office buildings. The Museum of London and Bethlem Museum of the Mind preserve the history of this notorious institution.
Thames Foreshore, Central London — Where artifacts and remains emerge from the mud
The Thames mud holds the secrets of centuries. Caroline's discovery of the skeleton with the clay jar containing Nella's poisons comes from this liminal space where the river preserves and reveals its dead. The foreshore becomes a kind of archaeological narrative, where the past literally surfaces in the present. Each tide exposes new fragments of history that Caroline must piece together.
The Thames foreshore has been a place of discovery and dumping for millennia. In the 17th-19th centuries, children called 'mudlarks' would scavenge the exposed mud at low tide for valuables and salvageable items. Archaeological surveys in recent decades have revealed extraordinary deposits of Roman, medieval, and early modern artifacts preserved in the anaerobic mud.
The Thames Path allows public access to the foreshore in designated areas. Mudlarking remains a popular hobby, though now regulated. Formal archaeological work continues along the Thames, with finds catalogued and displayed in museums. The Foreshore Museum and river-front heritage centers document discoveries.
Visit: Thames Path & Thames Foreshore (park)
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