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 Twitter via Londonist, and from the children's clothes must be about 1910.

2020: Terje Hartberg contacted us via Twitter directing us to this Flickr stream 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 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.

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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

West Silvertown Urban Village

West Silvertown Urban Village

E16, Wesley Avenue

In our photo the plaque can be seen in the paving, in the shadow but catching the light. Quite a dull foundation stone which we may not ...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Plaque to a lost plaque commemorating the Great Fire

Plaque to a lost plaque commemorating the Great Fire

EC3, Monument Street

This plaque appears to be that oddest of things, a plaque commemorating a lost plaque but it's not lost, it's in the Museum of London. 

3 subjects commemorated
Thomas Arne

Thomas Arne

WC2, King Street, 31

English Heritage Thomas Arne, 1710 - 1778, composer, lived here.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Verlaine birth

Verlaine birth

57000, W, Rue Haute Pierre, 2

In Metz, France. Yes, you guessed it, we spotted this while on holiday, and knowing we already had plaques for Verlaine in London and on ...

1 subject commemorated
Carnegie - Islington West Library

Carnegie - Islington West Library

N1, Thornhill Square, Islington West Library

We were admiring the decorative brickwork on this 1906 building, rather hoping it might have a plaque so that we could include it. It has...

1 subject commemorated

Previously viewed

Henry Reader Williams Clock Tower

Henry Reader Williams Clock Tower

N8, The Broadway

The bas-relief of Williams is by Sir Albert Gilbert.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
London Bridge - information/viewing panel

London Bridge - information/viewing panel

SE1, Montague Close

Unveiled by the Duke of Gloucester, this is actually an "interpretation panel". It shows the, modern (2017) , river view from Cathedral S...

14 subjects commemorated, 6 creators
John Blanke - Trinity Laban Conservatoire

John Blanke - Trinity Laban Conservatoire

SE10, College Way, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance and Music

'fl' stands for 'floruit' (Latin) which means 'he or she flourished', and denotes the period during which a person was alive.

4 subjects commemorated, 3 creators
RIPWC - Hunt

RIPWC - Hunt

W1, Piccadilly, 192-196

The building by E. R. Robson was erected for the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colour, founded in 1831 (the crest in the centre of...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator