Tower Hill

   
 

The first permanent scaffold was set up in about 1465 during the reign of Edward IV. But the first execution recorded was that of Sir Simon Burley in 1388. It was on Tower Hill that most of the prisoners held in the Tower and condemned to die would meet their ends. Executions within the Tower were reserved for royalty and not open to the public. Executions on Tower Hill were for the nobility and the public did attend. The Tower of London was used to imprison only the aristocracy. Ordinary folks were generally sent to Newgate Prison and executed at Tyburn 3 miles away (where the present day Marble Arch stands). But there were cases of the lesser nobility executed at Tyburn and of commoners held in the Tower.

Some of those executed on Tower Hill were:

John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, 1553

His grandson Lord Guilford Dudley, 1554

Sir Thomas More, 1535

John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 1535

Henry, Earl of Surrey (son of the Duke of Norfolk), 1547

Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, 1552

Thomas Seymour, Lord Seymour of Sudeley,(Lord Admiral, 4th husband to Queen Dowager Katherine Parr, Edward Seymour's younger brother), 1549

Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, 1540 .

   
 

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