Although executions took place elsewhere (notably on
Tower Hill, generally related to treason by gentlemen), the Roman road junction at Tyburn became associated with the place of criminal execution for the
City of London and
Middlesex after most were moved here from
Smithfield in the 1400s. In the 12th century, the
Sheriff of London had been given the jurisdiction in Middlesex, as well as in the City of London. Prisoners were taken in public procession from
Newgate Prison in the city, via
St Giles in the Fields and
Oxford Street (then known as Tyburn Road). From the late 18th century, when public executions were no longer carried out at Tyburn, they occurred at
Newgate Prison itself and at
Horsemonger Lane Gaol in
Southwark. The first recorded execution took place at a site next to the stream in 1196.
William Fitz Osbert, a populist leader who played a major role in an 1196 popular revolt in London, was cornered in the church of
St Mary-le-Bow. He was dragged naked behind a horse to Tyburn, where he was
hanged. In 1537, Henry VIII used Tyburn to execute the ringleaders of the
Pilgrimage of Grace, including Sir Nicholas Tempest, one of the northern leaders of the Pilgrimage and the King's own
Bowbearer of the
Forest of Bowland. In 1571, the Tyburn Tree was erected near the junction of today's
Edgware Road,
Bayswater Road and
Oxford Street, 200 m west of
Marble Arch. The "Tree" or "Triple Tree" was a form of
gallows, consisting of a horizontal wooden triangle supported by three legs (an arrangement known as a "three-legged mare" or "three-legged stool"). Multiple criminals could be hanged at once, and so the gallows were used for mass executions, such as that on 23 June 1649 when 24 prisoners (23 men and 1 woman) were hanged simultaneously, having been conveyed there in eight carts. After executions, the bodies would be buried nearby or in later times removed for
dissection by
anatomists. The crowd would sometimes fight over a body with surgeons, for fear that dismemberment could prevent the resurrection of the body on Judgement Day (see
Jack Sheppard,
Dick Turpin or
William Spiggot). The first victim of the "Tyburn Tree" was
John Story on 1 June 1571. Story was a
Roman Catholic who was tried for and convicted of treason. There is a plaque to the Catholic martyrs executed at Tyburn in the period 1535–1681 at 8 Hyde Park Place, the site of Tyburn convent. Among the more notable individuals suspended from the "Tree" in the following centuries were
John Bradshaw,
Henry Ireton and
Oliver Cromwell, who were already dead but were disinterred and hanged at Tyburn in January 1661 on the orders of the
Cavalier Parliament in an act of posthumous revenge for their part in the beheading of King
Charles I.'s ''The Idle 'Prentice Executed at Tyburn
, from the Industry and Idleness'' series (1747) The executions were public spectacles which attracted crowds of thousands. Spectator stands provided deluxe views for a fee. On one occasion, the stands collapsed, reportedly killing and injuring hundreds of people. A hanging as public spectacle was depicted by
William Hogarth in his satirical print ''The Idle 'Prentice Executed at Tyburn'' (1747). Tyburn was commonly invoked in
euphemisms for capital punishment: for instance, to "take a ride to Tyburn" (or simply "go west") was to go to one's hanging, "Lord of the Manor of Tyburn" was the public hangman, "dancing the Tyburn jig" was the act of being hanged. Convicts would be transported to the site in an open ox-cart from Newgate Prison. They were expected to put on a good show, wearing their finest clothes and going to their deaths with
insouciance. 's Trade Card Between 18 June and 3 October 1759 the fixed gallows at Tyburn were replaced by movable ones. A new toll-house was erected where the fixed gallows had been, at the junction of the roads to Edgware and Uxbridge, with gates across both roads. Thereafter the gallows were normally erected near the corner of Bryanston Street and Edgware Road, but could lie closer or further from the former site. across the second site of Tyburn Gallows on Edgware Road near its junction with Bryanston Street, 1785
William Capon's view from 1785 shows one of three stands for spectators which then remained at the site. Edgware Road is in the foreground. Beyond the paddock is Bayswater Road with Hyde Park behind the wall. On 19 April 1779, clergyman
James Hackman was hanged there following his 7 April murder of
courtesan and
socialite Martha Ray, the mistress of
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. The Tyburn gallows were last used on 3 November 1783, when
John Austin, a
highwayman, was hanged. Subsequently, hangings were staged outside
Newgate prison. Then, in 1868, due to public disorder during these public executions, it was decided to execute the convicts inside the prison.,
Bayswater Road and
Oxford Street The site of the Tyburn Tree is now marked by three young oak trees that were planted in 2014 on a
traffic island in the middle of Edgware Road at its junction with Bayswater Road. Between the trees is a
roundel with the inscription "The site of Tyburn Tree". It is also commemorated by the Tyburn Convent, a Catholic convent dedicated to the memory of martyrs executed there and in other locations for the Catholic faith. Although most historical records and modern science agree that the Tyburn Tree used between 1571 and 1759 were situated where Oxford Street meets Edgware Road and Bayswater Road, in the January 1850 issue of
Notes and Queries, the book collector and musicologist
Edward Francis Rimbault published a list of faults he had found in
Peter Cunningham's 1849
Handbook of London, in which he claimed that the correct site of the gallows is where 49
Connaught Square was later built, stating that "in the lease granted by the Bishop of London, this is particularly mentioned". == Process of executions ==