Plaque

(lost) Tower of London execution site - 1972

Tower of London execution site - 1972
Inscription

Site of scaffold

In the first 2 minutes of the 1972 CCF film "The Boy Who Turned Yellow" some boys are taken on a school trip to the Tower of London and we see this memorial. The inscription is about as terse as it's possible to be but it does the job. Certainly minimal by comparison with the glass cushion monument erected in 2006. 

And then we came across an article in the New York Post (July 2017) that locates this plaque - it's one of the unusual objects decorating the bar at the Yeoman Warders’ Club: "Among them is a plaque that reads “SITE OF SCAFFOLD” – kept as a souvenir after it was removed from the site where executions took place. For good measure, the Yeoman Gaoler’s axe hangs just above it, a ghoulish reminder of the gruesome past."

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. We're being very nerdish, publishing them as 'lost' memorials, even though the current location of one of them is actually known.

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 Londonist have analysed the who, why, where, when and how of London executions. To see the more than 100 executees on London Remembers click here.

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Tower of London execution site - 1972

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 - c.1910

Tower of London execution site - c.1910

This image came from Twitter via Londonist, and from the children's clothes m...

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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

John Walter

John Walter

SW4, Clapham Common North Side, 113

The plaque can just be seen in our photo, to the right of the door. From Times Property: The area was fashionable in 1750, when Walter b...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
William Wilberforce - SW1

William Wilberforce - SW1

SW1, Cadogan Place, 44

William Wilberforce, 1759 - 1833, opponent of slavery, died here. London County Council

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Cross Bones Graveyard

Cross Bones Graveyard

SE1, Redcross Way

This graveyard has a website all its own and the colourful crowd-sourced memorials attached to the railings are a splendid commemoration ...

1 subject commemorated
Cobden House

Cobden House

E2, Nelson Gardens

See St Peter's Close. As far as we can discover Richard Cobden had no particular association with this area.

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Dr. Barnardo - Ben Jonson Road

Dr. Barnardo - Ben Jonson Road

E1, Ben Jonson Road, 58 Solent House

Doctor Barnardo, 1845 - 1905, began his work for children in a building on this site in 1866. London County Council

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator