Now the name of the road that runs behind the Tower of London, Tower Hill was infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher ground north-west of the Tower of London moat is now occupied by Trinity Square Gardens.
Public executions of high-profile traitors and criminals, often attainted peers, as well as innocent Catholics in the 16th century, were carried out on Tower Hill. The backgrounds to these ranged from the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 to the Wars of the Roses; Lollardism; claims to the throne by Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel; Reformation; Pilgrimage of Grace; Monmouth Rebellion; Jacobite Rising and the Gordon Riots of 1780. Lord Lovat’s execution for high treason in 1747 was the last judicial beheading in England while the final executions on Tower Hill were hangings in 1780. Much of the land on Tower Hill is preserved and unbuilt on. There is however, a statue to an unnamed building worker.
This picture, taken from the top of the tour bus, shows something else interersting, that I shall be visiting soon.
The oblong shape over on the grassy mound of Tower Hill, is a very finally preserved section of the old Roman wall of the original city of London - Londinium.
There are several short sections remaining of the wall throughout the City, but this one is the best preserved and the most visible.
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