One Morning As A Ratcatcher's Boy In Victorian Clerkenwell, 1862 |…

It is ten past four on a March morning in 1862, and an eleven-year-old boy is about to count rats in a Clerkenwell cellar, for a penny each. A full-length Victorian London history for sleep: one slow morning in the life of a ratcatcher's boy, told gently, to relax, unwind or fall asleep to. Follow Alf Dray and his uncle through the dark streets of Clerkenwell, down into a provision merchant's cellar, and through the count that decides whether Alf's family eats today. Along the way you will hear how a ratcatcher worked, what a penny bought, why a customer checks the count himself, and why one small boy says, quietly, "Count it again." ✨ In this story: • A cage, two ferrets and a lantern in a Clerkenwell cellar • A stern customer with a slate and a rule of his own • A contract paid on a count that someone else checks • What a penny and a half-crown could mean in 1862 📖 Chapters 0:00 Ten Past Four In Clerkenwell 2:04 The Cage And The Ferrets 3:50 The Streets Of Clerkenwell 5:15 Mr Pargeter's Cellar 6:35 The Contract 7:11 Into The Dark 9:40 The Cold One 11:33 The Count 13:06 Count It Again 15:09 Nine Pennies And A Sixpence 16:24 Bread And Dripping 💬 Where are you listening from tonight? Tell me in the comments! 🔔 Subscribe for a new Victorian story, every day. A work of fiction. Names, characters and events are imagined, and the history is told as carefully as we can. Narration and visuals were created with the help of AI tools, and all images are AI-illustrated. #VictorianLondon #HistoryForSleep #VictorianHistory