91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Plaque

(lost) Tower of London execution site - c.1910

Inscription

Site of the scaffold on which were executed Queen Anne Boleyn, Queen Katherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey & others.

This image came from via , and from the children's clothes must be about 1910.

2020: Terje Hartberg contacted us via Twitter directing us to which has a photo of this plaque in 1939, from a different angle. The frame of the plaque has changed since the earlier photo but that's all. Thanks Terje.

Site: Tower of London execution site (5 memorials)

EC3, Tower Green, Tower of London

Members of royalty sentenced to death were spared the ordeal of public execution on Tower Hill. This spot, inside the very secure Tower of London, was reserved just for them, and apparently the executions took place under cover. Excavations have confirmed the existence of a building here.

But one also hears that Lady Jane Grey's prison windows looked out over Tower Green and that she must have seen her scaffold being erected, which would not have been the case had it been enclosed.

2017: Within a few weeks we came across not just one but two predecessors to the glass cushion which has been here since 2006.

2023: We watched the 1946 short documentary film 'Prisoners of the Tower' from which we captured images of 2 other plaques at the site.

2023: Using Museum of London data have analysed the who, why, where, when and how of London executions. To see the more than 100 executees on 91³Ô¹ÏÍø click here.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Tower of London execution site - c.1910

Subjects commemorated i

Anne Boleyn

Second wife of Henry VIII and so Queen of England, 1533 to 1536.  Though marr...

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Lady Jane Grey

Married to Lord Guilford Dudley.  Her husband’s father persuaded the dying Ed...

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Catherine Howard

As lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves Catherine attracted Henry's ever-roving ...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Tower of London execution site - c.1910

Also at this site i

Anne Boleyn beheaded - 1946

Anne Boleyn beheaded - 1946

This image comes from the 1946 short documentary film 'Prisoners of the Tower...

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Tower of London execution site

Tower of London execution site

Catling wrote the poem as well as creating the sculpture. Doesn't that cushio...

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Tower of London execution site - 1972

Tower of London execution site - 1972

In the first 2 minutes of the 1972 CCF film "The Boy Who Turned Yellow" some ...

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Tower scaffold - 1946

Tower scaffold - 1946

See Anne Boleyn's plaque for when/how this plaque was displayed.

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Nearby Memorials

London Casino

London Casino

W1, Frith Street, 20

The doors are labelled "Prince Edward Theatre", whose main entrance is in Old Compton Street.

1 subject commemorated
Cricket World Cup victories - Lords

Cricket World Cup victories - Lords

NW8, Lord's Cricket Ground

We have assumed that the lost plaque read the same as the one at The Oval.

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Hyde Park Conduit House - 2

Hyde Park Conduit House - 2

W2, Hyde Park, to east of Serpentine Bar and Kitchen

The river Westbourne used to run though Hyde Park following the course of what is now the Long Water and the Serpentine and left the Park...

4 subjects commemorated
Robert Graves

Robert Graves

SW19, Lauriston Road, 1

Robert Graves, 1895 - 1985, writer, was born here. English Heritage

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Thomas Cromwell - SW15

Thomas Cromwell - SW15

SW15, Brewhouse Lane, 3

The plaque fails to explain why it is on this particular spot.  Cromwell's family was based in Putney and he was brought up here but we c...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators