Tower Green

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Lawn in front of the Queen's House

Tower Green , formerly East Smithfield Green, is a square in the inner ring of the fortress of the Tower of London . The square is on the west side of the tower between Queen's House , Beauchamp Tower and St. Peter ad Vincula . It was created by the construction of the inner walls under King Heinrich III. in the 13th century.

For most of its existence, Tower Green served as a garden and open space for residents and visitors to the tower. It was also used as a place of execution between 1483 and 1743 . Prisoners of the tower were usually beheaded outside the tower on Tower Hill , but some notably high-ranking personalities were executed on Tower Green.

The square has been overgrown with lawn since 1890, a strip of paving separates the lawn in an east-west direction. Next to the strip is a memorial to seven people who were executed there. The square is inclined about one meter to the south.

history

Northern part of Tower Green in the late 19th century

During the expansion of the fortress, the area of ​​today's Tower Green came into the walls of the tower. The southern part has been part of the tower since the time of Richard I , the northern part and the church of St. Peter ad Vincula since the reign of Henry III.

The north of today's Tower Green was used as the cemetery of St. Peter ad Vincula until the 19th century .

Archaeological excavations in the summer of 2007 found remains of a medieval barrel vault that was used as a cellar under Tower Green . The walls consisted of a variety of different stones (sandstone, limestone, chalk, brick). The cellar itself was backfilled in the 17th century.

Old Main Guard

In the 16th century before 1562, the constable of the Tower had the Old Main Guard - a house for the guards in the Tower - built from brick east of the Beauchamp Tower . Among other things, the house was built on the walls of the cellar under the square, which was not yet filled in at the time. Historical maps from the end of the 16th century show a T-shaped building that originally had one floor. A print by Wenceslaus Hollar from 1667 shows the building as a significantly larger L-shaped structure that takes up almost a third of today's Tower Green over two floors. Knowledge of the exact location of the Old Main Guard has been lost over the centuries. Presumably it extended beyond today's paving strip to the south and north, but so far only excavations have taken place there. The Old Main Guard was demolished in 1680 and replaced by the New Main Guard further north of the tower.

As a place of execution

Memorial to those executed in the Tower

The first victim, William Hastings , was after an argument with Richard III. brought to Tower Green in the White Tower . Richard, not yet king at the time, accused Hastings of plotting a murder against him and, surprisingly, had him executed against the law of the time. Richard III set a precedent for further executions. Five of the other victims were women who were executed in the privacy of the Tower, while male prisoners continued to be publicly executed on Tower Hill. Contrary to what is often assumed in later representations, these executions were small-group events in front of selected guests. The public show executions, however, took place on Tower Hill.

The square could also be seen from the adjacent cells in other tower buildings, in which Henry VIII had the alleged lovers of his wives locked up, who could follow the executions from there. The only women in English history who were beheaded for high treason died on Tower Green .

The largest execution took place in 1743. A total of 107 soldiers from the Scottish 43rd Regiment of Foot (the Black Watch ) were charged with mutiny and were sentenced to death by a court martial . Of these, 104 were pardoned and sent to the Mediterranean or America. Three, Samuel Macpherson, Malcolm Macpherson and Farquhar Shaw, were shot dead in front of their comrades on July 19 outside St. Peter ad Vincula . The riflemen came from the guard regiment on duty, which happened to consist of the Scots Guards .

The executions took place with the help of mobile equipment, so there was no fixed place of execution. Presumably they were all carried out on the cemetery grounds south of St. Peter ad Vincula . The location of the monument is an invention of the 19th century.

List of those executed

  1. William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings , on the orders of Duke Richard of Gloucester , June 13, 1483.
  2. Queen Anne Boleyn , second wife of Henry VIII , May 19, 1536.
  3. Margaret, Countess of Salisbury , last of the Plantagenet dynasty on May 27, 1541
  4. Queen Catherine Howard , fifth wife of Henry VIII, with Jane Boleyn on February 13, 1542.
  5. Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford , on the orders of Henry VIII on February 13, 1542 with Catherine Howard.
  6. Jane Gray , on February 12, 1554 on the orders of Mary I.
  7. Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex , on February 25, 1601 on the orders of Elizabeth I.
  8. Samuel Macpherson, Malcolm Macpherson and Farquhar Shaw, soldiers of the 43rd Scottish Regiment of Foot, July 19, 1743

Garden and open space

For the longest time after the Old Main Guard was demolished, the square served as a garden for the tower's residents. There were upper and lower gardens separated by walls.

Later, the square served as an open space for residents of the tower and occasional prisoners in the fortress. In the following centuries it was probably covered with cobblestone .

Memorial to the executed

A memorial for the executed on Tower Green was erected on Queen Victoria’s instructions in 1866. When, on a visit in 1860, she wanted to know where Anne Boleyn had been executed, the Yeoman Warders showed her a roped and marked spot on her next visit in 1861. Victoria ordered that the square be cordoned off and given a granite block with a plaque. The work was £ 6 and it was finished in 1866.

This monument has been renewed and replaced several times. The last version was made after 2006. Also at the end of the 19th century, the lawn was planted and the square was named Tower Green .

Usage today

Today a monument commemorates the executions on Tower Green. There is also a replica of a scaffold nearby where tourists can have their photos taken. According to legend, no more grass should grow at the exact location of the place of execution. No more grass to be planted there, goes back to an instruction from Queen Victoria.

The ceremony with which a new constable of the Tower is introduced to his office every five years takes place on the remaining lawn . The Lord Great Chamberlain hands over a bunch of keys to the new constable on behalf of the monarch. In addition to the two, the Yeoman Warders , a band and honor guard from the regiment of the new constable are present.

Remarks

  1. ^ Alison Weir: The Six Wives of Henry VIII Grove Press, 2000, ISBN 0802136834 , p. 327
  2. ^ Watson, S. & Pre-Construct Archeology Ltd (London): An Assessment of an Archaeological Watching Brief on Tower Green, Tower of London, London EC3, London Borough of Tower Hamlets . Europeana. S. 8. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  3. ^ A b c d Watson, S. & Pre-Construct Archeology Ltd (London): An Assessment of an Archaeological Watching Brief on Tower Green, Tower of London, London EC3, London Borough of Tower Hamlets . Europeana. P. 9. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  4. ^ A b Watson, S. & Pre-Construct Archeology Ltd (London): The Results of an Investigation at the Execution Site, Tower Green, Tower of London, London EC3, London Borough of Tower Hamlets . Europeana. P. 8. Retrieved December 11, 2012.
  5. ^ Watson, S. & Pre-Construct Archeology Ltd (London): An Assessment of an Archaeological Watching Brief on Tower Green, Tower of London, London EC3, London Borough of Tower Hamlets . Europeana. P. 3. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  6. ^ Watson, S. & Pre-Construct Archeology Ltd (London): An Assessment of an Archaeological Watching Brief on Tower Green, Tower of London, London EC3, London Borough of Tower Hamlets . Europeana. P. 13. Accessed December 12, 2012.
  7. ^ A b c Watson, S. & Pre-Construct Archeology Ltd (London): An Assessment of an Archaeological Watching Brief on Tower Green, Tower of London, London EC3, London Borough of Tower Hamlets . Europeana. P. 32. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  8. ^ Watson, S. & Pre-Construct Archeology Ltd (London): An Assessment of an Archaeological Watching Brief on Tower Green, Tower of London, London EC3, London Borough of Tower Hamlets . Europeana. P. 33. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  9. ↑ Ronald H. Fritze, William Baxter Robison: Historical dictionary of late medieval England, 1272-1485 Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, ISBN 0313291241 , p. 242
  10. ↑ a b David Piper, Fionnuala Jervis: The companion guide to London Companion Guides, 2000, ISBN 190063936X , p. 30
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Sarah Valente Kettler, Carole Trimble: The amateur historian's guide to medieval and Tudor London, 1066-1600 Capital Books, 2001, ISBN 1892123320 , p. 62
  12. ^ A b W. Reid: The Tower and the Army in John Charlton (Ed.): The Tower of London. Its Buildings and Institutions. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1978, ISBN 0-11-670347-4 , pp. 140-141.
  13. ^ Watson, S. & Pre-Construct Archeology Ltd (London): An Assessment of an Archaeological Watching Brief on Tower Green, Tower of London, London EC3, London Borough of Tower Hamlets . Europeana. P. 4. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  14. ^ Watson, S. & Pre-Construct Archeology Ltd (London): The Results of an Investigation at the Execution Site, Tower Green, Tower of London, London EC3, London Borough of Tower Hamlets . Europeana. P. 9. Retrieved December 11, 2012.
  15. ^ Watson, S. & Pre-Construct Archeology Ltd (London): The Results of an Investigation at the Execution Site, Tower Green, Tower of London, London EC3, London Borough of Tower Hamlets . Europeana. P. 4. Retrieved December 11, 2012.
  16. ^ Julian Paget: Discovering London Ceremonials and Traditions , Osprey Publishing, 2003, ISBN 0747804087 , p. 92

Web links

Commons : Tower Green  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 30 "  N , 0 ° 4 ′ 35"  W.