Read Charles Dickens and you’ll know what a grim place London used to be. Jack The Ripper has walking tours dedicated to him and parts of the East End are still associated with the notorious Kray Twins. Here are a few other historical links.
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Tyburn Gallows
London’s most used gallows saw public hangings from at least 1100. The ‘Tyburn Tree’ was actually a triangular scaffold that let several people be hanged at once - on June 23, 1649, 23 men and one woman were hanged together. The last victim was highwayman John Austin in 1783.
Cnr Bayswater Road/Park Lane W2
Tube: Marble Arch
The Blind Beggar
In March 1966, East End gangster Ronnie Kray shot a rival gangster, George Cornell, three times in the head here for calling him a ‘fat old poof’. Kray was later sentenced to life in prison. (This is also where William Booth gave his first sermon in 1865 - the birth of The Salvation Army.)
337 Whitechapel Road E1
Tel: +44 (0)20 7247 6195
Tube: Whitechapel
Coldbath Fields Prison
This house of correction lasted from 1794 to 1889. The ground it covered now houses the massive Mount Pleasant Sorting Office, giving you some idea of its size. Known for its harsh conditions, in the 19th century, prisoners were forbidden to talk to each other and did hard labour.
Mount Pleasant WC1
Tube: Farringdon
Gore
Tower Hill Execution Block
Beside the Merchant Seamen Navy is a set of plaques marking the deaths of more than 125 people - most former prisoners at the Tower of London - who were executed here for treason. These include Sir Thomas More and Lord Lovat in 1747 - the last beheading here.
Tower Hill EC1
Tube: Tower Hill
Hung Drawn & Quartered
‘I went out to Charing Cross, to see Major-general Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition,’ wrote Samuel Pepys of an execution at Charing Cross. This pub, close to Tower Hill execution block, borrows the quotation.
26-27 Great Tower Street EC1
Tube: Tower Hill
William Wallace Memorial
As gruesomely shown by Mel Gibson in 'Braveheart', this is the spot where Sir William Wallace was hung, drawn and quartered in 1305 after being found guilty of treason. The damage to the walls nearby is from a German Zeppelin raid of September 1915, during World War I.
West Smithfield EC1
Tube: Barbican/St Paul’s
The Bridewell
Tothill Fields Prison, or Bridewell, was a House of Correction dating back to 1633. Its main purpose was to provide meaningless work, such as the treadmill, for those being provided with poor relief, discouraging them from ‘idleness’. This tiny 17th-century gate - the main gate - is the last remnant.
Little Sanctuary SW1
Tube: Westminster
