Cast members of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power have been picking their favourite bleak, brooding corners of London — and the results are a reminder that the capital has a genuinely dark, atmospheric side most visitors never see. Away from Buckingham Palace and Borough Market, there are places in the city that look like they were dreamed up by Tolkien's dark lord himself.
The appeal is obvious once you know where to look. London's industrial relics, Victorian gothic cemeteries and riverside wastelands have a cinematic, almost otherworldly quality — especially on a grey winter afternoon. Highgate Cemetery, with its overgrown tombs and ivy-strangled angels, is probably the closest thing the city has to a haunted fantasy set. The Honourable Society sites around Postman's Park, the abandoned railway arches of Bermondsey, and the rusting hulks of the Docks all carry that same heavy, history-soaked mood.
One of the best candidates for a modern-day Mordor is Battersea Power Station in its pre-renovation days — four white chimneys looming over a derelict brick cathedral that stood empty for decades. It has since been redeveloped into shops and flats, but the exterior still dominates the river like a fortress. Further out, the Walthamstow Wetlands and the marshes of the Lea Valley offer wild, empty-feeling scrubland inside Greater London, and the atmospheric gasworks and pumping stations scattered around the city edge bring serious industrial-goth energy.
For travellers, this is a genuinely fun way to explore London differently. Combine Highgate Cemetery with a walk up Hampstead Heath for the full brooding-landscape experience. Take the Docklands Light Railway through the glass-and-steel canyons of Canary Wharf, then detour to the Greenwich Peninsula or the old Enderby Wharf area for riverside grit. Film and TV fans can build entire days around locations: London has doubled for everything from Victorian horror to dystopian sci-fi, and the city's self-guided walking routes make it easy to string together a themed afternoon.
Practicalities are simple. Most of these spots are free or cheap — Highgate's East Cemetery charges a modest entry fee for visitors, and the West Cemetery is guided-only — and all are reachable on the Tube or Overground. Go in late autumn or winter for maximum atmosphere: London's short days, low sun and frequent drizzle are part of the aesthetic rather than a problem. Wrap up warm, wear decent shoes for the cemeteries and marshland, and check opening hours, as several of these sites close early.
Whether or not you rate the show, using its cast's eye for gloomy beauty is a clever excuse to see a grittier, more interesting side of the capital — one most first-time visitors walk straight past.
Story via Secret London.
