In the Tudor period the "Green" within the Tower was used on very rare
occasions for executions.[1] Condemned prisoners were usually beheaded
on
[Footnote 1: See page 32.]
_Tower Hill_.
Emerging from the Mark Lane railway station, the visitor obtains an
excellent view of the great fortress. Within the railed space of Trinity
Square, the first permanent scaffold on Tower Hill was set up in the
reign of Edward III, but the first execution recorded here was that of
Sir Simon Burley in 1388. Here also were beheaded, among others, Dudley,
the minister of Henry VII (1510), his son the Duke of Northumberland
(1553), his grandson, Lord Guildford Dudley (1554), Cromwell, Earl of
Essex (1540), More and Fisher (1535), Surrey (1547), and his son,
Norfolk (1572), Strafford (1641), and Archbishop Laud (1645), and the
Scotch lords in 1716, 1746, and 1747, the last being Simon, Lord Lovat.
The Tower moat is immediately before us. It is drained and used as a
parade ground. Beyond it, as we approach the entrance, we have a good
view of the fortifications. On the extreme left are the Brass Mount and
North Bastions. In the middle is Legge's Mount. To the right is the
entrance gateway. The highest building behind is the White Tower, easily
distinguished by its four turrets. In front of it are the Devereux,
Beauchamp, and Bell Towers, the residences of the Lieutenant of the
Tower and of the Yeoman Gaoler being in the gabled and red tiled houses
between the last two.
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