London Hangings

Tyburn was the chief place of London’s public executions from about 1150 to 1759 (near where Marble Arch now stands). Other execution sites were West Smithfield, Red Lion Square, Lincolns Inn Fields, Charing Cross and Saint Giles in the Fields. It was regarded as a privilege to be executed within The Tower precincts, since the public were not admitted. You were spared the indignity of the headsman holding your head aloft for all to see, and announcing “behold the head of a traitor”. Most prisoners however were executed outside The Tower at the scaffolding Tower Hill. The site of the scaffold is clearly marked to the west of the gardens. Altogether, the hanging of over 125 people took place between 1388 and 1747. The scaffold was about 5 feet high and made of rough planks with a railing surrounding it. The whole structure was draped in black. Sawdust was scattered over the surface to soak up any blood. A basket stood beside the block for the head. Access was by means of a short wooden staircase that was apparently unsteady. Sir Thomas Moore on his way to the execution said to the assistant “See me safely up - as for my coming down, I will shift for myself. 

Beside the Town of Ramsgate pub a narrow alleyway leads to Wapping Old Stairs which gives access to the riverbank. A short distance downstream was Execution Dock - a gallows under Admiralty jurisdiction for crimes committed on the high seas. The condemned man would be brought in a cart from Newgate jail with his executioner seated behind him. In front was the Marshall of the Admiralty in his carriage with two city marshals following on horseback as escort. The procession would pass pass along Wapping High Street and down the old stairs to the gallows at the execution dock. Here the unfortunate man would be left to hang by his neck while the river washed over his body three times at high tide. Of all those who suffered this plight, the best known as Captain Kidd who was convicted in 1701 for killing a seaman on his own ship by banging him over the head with a bucket. It was frequently asserted at the time that kid was a victim of a frame up.

Hounslow Heath was the scene a frequent highway robberies between 1650 and 1800. By the mid 18th century, it had gallows hanging with the decayed carcasses of highwaymen swinging in the wind. This was the haunt of the famous Jack McLean and 16 String Jack and other notorious ‘gentlemen’ of the road.

Executions at these sites would always pull in spectators who would applaud or abuse the unfortunate prisoner according to his reputation. A prisoner, in turn, would often take the opportunity to make a final speech and the last words were often popularised in penny broad sheets. When the cart was pulled away, leaving the victim to swing by the neck, any last-minute curses were considered to be extraordinarily potent. To be cursed by hanging man was a great misfortune which only the most ardent prayer could overcome.

One of the most effective curses from the gallows was the oath sworn against the hospital of Saint Giles by John Oldcastle in 1417. While he was hanging from the gallows, which stood at the north-west end of Saint Giles in the High Street (where Centrepoint now stands). Sir John Oldcastle had led a military revolt of the Lollards, followers of Wycliffe who long before the Reformation attacked the wealth and hypocrisy of the Church. They were persecuted viciously throughout the 14th century and he was condemned for heresy in 1413 and escaped from prison to lead the 1414 rising which failed. He became a fugitive but was captured in 1417 and died hanging in chains over a slow fire at Saint Giles. In the hospital standing alongside the gallows, the authorities were no friends of the Lollards, and arranged a celebration to mark the occasion of Oldcastle’s burning. Sir John, suspended in the air with chains around his waist, retaliated by cursing the Hospital. Founded as a leper asylum in the 12th century, it had long since ceased to care for the sick and had become a comfortable home for the Kings retinue. Sir John cursed it for its extreme wealth, hypocrisy, rottenness and corruption. Sir John’s curse has continued to plague Saint Giles ever since. During the 17th and 18th centuries, churches built on the site decayed. In the 18th century St Giles’ rookery was the most filthy degraded poverty stricken slum in London, the scene for Hogarths Gin Lane.