Hanging around in London

I was up in town again yesterday and it was such a nice day that I decided to walk to my meeting from Paddington station. This took me past Marble Arch and down Oxford Street, on the way I passed this little memorial. If you didn't know it was there you'd miss it, it's set into the middle of a traffic island and commemorates the site of the famous Tyburn Tree, essentially a gallows where many of London's criminals (and Catholic martyrs) were dispatched from 1196 through to 1783. In those days public executions were a spectator event, crowds would often line the streets from Newgate prison to Tyburn as prisoners were transferred in open top carts to meet their unfortunate fates. Many were destined for dissection after their execution, I suppose there's always an upside if you look hard enough. Several people also survived their hanging, some being reprieved after 30 minutes dancing the "Tyburn jig" as suffocating body spasms were known. In 1740 William Duell was hanged but, showing impeccable timing, came round on the surgeons table hours later! He had his sentence commuted to transportation, I'm not entirely sure if that represents good luck or merely delaying the inevitable?

In the illustration below it shows what the scene might have looked like back in the day.

I often find it amusing that many people look back at scenes like this and think that this represents the "good old days", fortunately thanks to the evolution of secular ethics, we've come a long way since then, and thank goodness!