Tower Hill Scaffold Site: The Memorial to the Executioner's Platform

England, London · United Kingdom · Execution site

Outside the walls of the Tower, on Tower Hill, stood the public place of execution for four centuries.

Here the crowd could gather and watch while the condemned lost their heads. Among them were Sir Thomas More in 1535 and Thomas Cromwell in 1540. A memorial on Trinity Square marks today where the scaffold stood. There was a difference between these public executions and the more private ones inside on Tower Green, where Anne Boleyn among others was put to death out of sight of the mob.

Visitors describe sudden zones of cold, a smell of burnt wood and voices in a crowd that is not there. That kind of report comes mostly from ghost tourism, so weigh it accordingly. But one story is hard to shake off: Margaret Pole, an elderly noblewoman, was beheaded here in 1541 by an inexperienced executioner in a chaotic and bloody killing, and her shade is still said to flee across the grass. Stop at the memorial and think of all those who climbed the scaffold while thousands watched. Death was a public performance, and Tower Hill was its stage.

FAQ

Where is Tower Hill Scaffold Site: The Memorial to the Executioner's Platform located?

Tower Hill Scaffold Site: The Memorial to the Executioner's Platform is in England, London, United Kingdom.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Mariordo (MarioRoberto Duran Ortiz) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons