Throughout the centuries there have been many different execution sites used across England
to take the lives of many condemned criminals.
In Tudor England there were many which were synonymous, including Tyburn where many people
were hanged, drawn and quartered.
Also Smithfield in London became popular with burnings, when Mary I burned many people at
the stake who defied her changes on religion.
But there was one execution site that was linked closely to the most feared prison across
the country, and a place where torture and execution occurred inside of the walls.
Prisoners were taken from the Tower of London and were then taken to the public beheading
spot on Tower Hill, a short walk north of the Tower’s gates, and many were executed
by axe here in brutal scenes.
But what is the story behind the Horror of Tower Hill?
The Tower of London itself during the Tudor period became a place of execution, and it
was notorious as two of Henry VIII’s wives Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were beheaded
on the scaffold on Tower Green.
But the Tower is part of London known as the Liberties of the Tower, and this was an area
under the control of the Tower itself which could exercise control over the land to make
sure it stayed secure.
One area of the Liberty was Great Tower Hill which labelled all of the land lying to the
north and the west of the Tower which included the London Wall, and the area which today
is around Tower Hill Underground Station.
Tower Hill is a point of high ground that overlooks the River Thames, and it was here
where the public beheading spot was established, a convenient place close to the Tower of London’s
walls where prisoners would be kept inside before their execution.
Executions that occurred inside of the Tower of London were reserved only for the incredibly
high up members of society and royalty, and with this the common people were not allowed
to be given a private execution.
So the commoners and those deemed not royalty were taken from the Tower to Tower Hill to
be executed in front of a huge crowd, and the crowds that gathered at Tower Hill sometimes
swelled well into their thousands.
Stands would be created to witness the brutal proceedings, and at times these were so poorly
built and were so busy that they collapsed and caused problems.
Also at Tower Hill crushes were common where the crowd would rush to dip their handkerchiefs
in the blood of the condemned criminal.
The executions there were a sign of the King or Queen’s power over the people, and they
sent a message to the people that you would die if you crossed the monarchy.
At tower hill, executions were treated like a family day out, and were seen as a public
spectacle and families would flock to see the axeman take someones head clean off.
Street vendors also sold snacks and programmes documenting the execution and would make some
money from the killings.
At Tower Hill the most common execution method was beheading, and this was considered the
most dignified but other methods took place there too.
Hangings occurred there on a gallows, and this was usually done for lower class condemned
people, but also burning at the stake was used twice at Tower Hill for two victims who
were condemn of heresy.
Also hanging, drawing and quartering took place at Tower Hill despite Tyburn being the
common place for this, and then heads would be taken on the short walk to London Bridge
where they were displayed in front of a huge crowd.
Beheadings would usually result in this too, with a executed prisoners head being placed
on London Bridge nearby above the gatehouse.
In 1485 a permanent scaffold was created for use during the executions, as before hand
there was not a permanent structure where this happened.
One of the first executions to occur at Tower Hill was of Simon Sudbury the Archbishop of
Canterbury who was seized during the Peasants Revolt.
He was taken from the Tower of London where he was hiding by the rebels and dragged to
Tower Hill where his head was hacked clean off his body by the baying crowd.
Further executions during the Peasants Revolt occurred on Tower Hill, but it was during
the Tudor period where the executions on Tower Hill seemingly occurred on a weekly basis.
During the reign of King Henry VIII, to establish his early reign and to win over his population
he brought the two unpopular advisors of his father’s government Edmund Dudley and Sir
Richard Empsom to Tower Hill where they were both beheaded by axe.
It became a place where traitors were killed, as the Duke of Buckingham Edward Stafford
was executed there in 1521.
But following Henry VIII’s changed to the church, Tower Hill became a place where some
of the King’s closest friends and advisors said their final words.
John Fisher the Bishop of Rochester who opposed Henry VIII’s changes to the church was beheaded
on Tower Hill by an axeman, and then within a few weeks his friend Sir Thomas More a key
advisor to Henry VIII also lost his head on the scaffold in front of a huge crowd.
But following the downfall of Anne Boleyn, more executions occurred as George Boleyn
the Queen’s brother, and 4 other men were executed there as they were accused of sleeping
with Henry VIII’s queen.
Conspirators and suspected plotters involved in the Exeter conspiracy against the notorious
Tudor King were also killed on the scaffold of Tower Hill.
But one of the most shocking events to occur there happened in 1540, where Thomas Cromwell
the King’s Chief Advisor who was instrumental in the Dissolutions of the Monastery made
his way from the Tower of London to the scaffold.
The site of seeing the King’s former best friend and closest advisor beheaded was a
shocking one, but following Henry VIII’s death more killing occurred there.
During Edward VI’s reign, Henry’s only son the King ordered the killing of Edward
Seymour the 1st Duke of Somerset and the lord protector who it was deemed was stealing wealth
and power from the monarchy.
He died on the same scaffold as his brother Thomas Seymour did, and Edward even signed
his brother’s death sentence.
But following Mary I seizing the throne, she ordered the execution of Lord Guildford Dudley
the husband of Lady Jane Grey, the 9 day Queen who Mary displaced off the throne.
The executions continued throughout the 17th century and into the 18th century at Tower
Hill, with the final killing taking place in 1747 with Simon Fraser the 11th Lord Lovat
being beheaded by axe.
It was a place where botching executions took place and were synonymous.
Taking someones head in one clean stroke of the axe was considered a skilful and tricky
thing to do, and with this Jack Ketch became known for being the botching executioner who
has gone down in history as one of the worst.
He took multiple swings to take the head off of James Scott the Duke of Monmouth, and the
crowd were so angered by this that a riot almost occurred and many people wanted Ketch
on the scaffold next.
Today Tower Hill is a rather quiet garden and memorial site for those people who were
executed there during the centuries.
It is a short walk from the hustle and bustle of the Tower of London and is a much quieter
space, but it’s a space where many people lost their lives.
The axe swung for centuries there and it’s a place where there was much bloodshed.
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