![]() The ceremony would begin in the morning when the prisoners were handed over to the Under Sheriff. The actual hanging day itself would cause much excitement. A social commentator of the day, noted that ‘All the Way, from Newgate to Tyburn, is one continued Fair, for Whores and Rogues of the meaner sort’. Hanging days were declared a public holiday for the labouring classes. He records that there were at least twelve to fourteen thousand people there at Tyburn to see this man hang! MARCHED TO THE SCAFFOLD MEANING FULLSamuel Pepys the famous diarist, on 21st January 1664 noted a full account of going to see the hanging of a man he knew, a Colonel James Turner. The acknowledged first highwayman, Claude Duval, was hanged at Tyburn on 21st January 1670, and he was mourned by a mass of weeping women, who later attended his magnificent funeral. When Jack Sheppard, a highwayman, was hanged there, it was said that the event attracted an audience of 200,000 people. This did not please the people of London at all, as they had always considered it ‘quite an outing’ to see a ‘ good hanging’! The original gallows stood at Tyburn until 1759, when they were replaced with moving gallows, and the official place of execution for felons was moved to Newgate Prison. That that’s a tree that bears twelve times a year. Of trees, that in one year will twice bear fruit. I have heard sundry men oft times dispute The Description of Tyburn by John Taylor (the Water-Poet) As many as twelve hanging days would occur each year. Each beam could accommodate eight people at once, so that twenty-four could swing together in one go. The triangular-shape reflected the need to hang more than a single person. Today a stone plaque on a traffic island near Marble Arch marks the place where the gallows once stood.Īfter 1571 a triangular-shaped gallows was erected which reached approximately six metres. The junction of Tyburn Road (now Oxford Street) and Tyburn Lane (now Park Lane) provides its precise location. Situated in the north-east corner of Hyde Park, this place for state executions derived its name from a brook which ran beneath Brook Street: Tye Bourne. Established as a site for execution possibly as early as 1108, the first actual record of an execution at Tyburn was in 1196. In particular Speakers’ Corner was home of the notorious Tyburn hanging tree. The place known today as Speakers’ Corner began life as a place for public execution. MARCHED TO THE SCAFFOLD MEANING FOR FREEIn fact the space that the Reform League appropriated for free speech in Hyde Park had already existed as a public place to meet and discuss for centuries before. However the story as to the origins of Speakers’ Corner does not actually begin with the 1872 Act. The Reform League had pushed the question of the right to speak freely in Hyde Park. Much of the credit for the eventual passing of the 1872 Act is due to the activities of the Reform League. The official story of the origins of Speakers’ Corner is now a familiar one …an Act of Parliament passed in 1872 (The Royal Parks and Gardens Regulation Act) allowed a space in the north-eastern corner of Hyde Park to be given over for public speaking. It is often seen as a shining symbol of Britain’s entry into liberal democracy. Speakers’ Corner is one of Britain’s most famous places for public debate and discussion. ![]()
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