Area of London, England
Human settlement in England
Tower Hill
is the area surrounding the
Tower of London
in the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher ground north-west of the Tower of London moat is now occupied by Trinity Square Gardens.
Tower Hill rises from the north bank of the
River Thames
to reach a maximum height of 14.5 metres (48 ft)
Ordnance Datum
.
[1]
The land was historically part of the
Liberties of the Tower of London
, an area the Tower authorities controlled to keep clear of any development which would reduce the defensibility of the Tower. Building has encroached to a degree, but a legacy of this control is that much of the hill is still open. The hill includes land on either side of the
London Wall
, a large remnant of which is visible.
[2]
Definition
[
edit
]
Generally speaking, the name
Tower Hill
informally applies to those parts of the
Tower Liberty
that are outside the
Tower of London
and its moat.
Great Tower Hill
is the land lying inside (or west) of the line of the
London Wall
whereas
Little Tower Hill
is the land outside (or east) of the wall.
[3]
Public executions
[
edit
]
Public executions
of high-profile traitors and criminals, often
attainted peers
, as well as innocent Catholics in the 16th century, were carried out on Tower Hill (some others were carried out within the confines of the Tower of London itself). The backgrounds to those carried out at Tower Hill ranged from the
Peasants’ Revolt
of 1381 to the
Wars of the Roses
;
Lollardism
; claims to the throne by
Perkin Warbeck
and
Lambert Simnel
; the
English Reformation
; the
Pilgrimage of Grace
; the
Monmouth Rebellion
; the
Jacobite Rising
and the
Gordon Riots
of 1780. Lord Lovat's execution for high treason in 1747 was the last judicial beheading in England while the final executions on Tower Hill were hangings in 1780. Some 120 executions are chronicled and they include:-
- 1381 ?
Simon Sudbury
,
Archbishop of Canterbury
[4]
(beheaded by an angry mob)
- 1381 ?
Sir Robert Hales
[4]
- 1388 ?
Sir Simon de Burley
[4]
- 1388 ?
John de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp (fourth creation)
- 1397 ?
Richard Fitzalan
, 11th
Earl of Arundel
[4]
- 1440 ? Rev. Richard Wyche, Vicar of
Deptford
[4]
- 1462 ?
John de Vere
, 12th
Earl of Oxford
[4]
- 1462 ? Aubrey de Vere, eldest son and heir of
John de Vere
, 12th
Earl of Oxford
- 1462 ?
Sir Thomas Tuddenham
- 1462 ? William Tyrrell
- 1462 ? John Montgomery
- 1470 ?
John Tiptoft
, 1st
Earl of Worcester
[4]
- 1495 ?
Sir William Stanley
[5]
- 1497 ?
James Tuchet
,
[5]
a commander of the
Cornish Rebellion of 1497
- 1499 ?
Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick
[5]
- 1502 ?
James Tyrrell
- 1510 ?
Edmund Dudley
- 1510 ?
Sir Richard Empson
- 1521 ?
Edward Stafford
, 3rd
Duke of Buckingham
[5]
- 1535 ?
John Fisher
,
Bishop of Rochester
[5]
- 1535 ?
Sir Thomas More
,
[5]
ex-Lord Chancellor
- 1536 ?
George Boleyn
, brother of
Anne Boleyn
- 1537 ?
Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy
[5]
- 1538 ?
Henry Courtenay
,
Earl of Devon
[6]
- 1538 ?
Edward Neville
- 1539 ?
Sir Nicholas Carew
- 1539 -
Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu
- 1540 ?
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex
[6]
- 1540 ?
Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford of Heytesbury
[7]
- 1547 ?
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
[6]
- 1549 ?
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley
- 1552 ?
Sir Ralph Vane
- 1552 ?
Sir Thomas Arundell of Wardour Castle
- 1552 -
Sir Michael Stanhope
- 1552 ?
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset
[6]
- 1553 -
John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland
- 1554 ?
Sir Thomas Wyatt
[6]
- 1554 ?
Lord Guildford Dudley
- 1554 -
Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk
[8]
- 1572 ?
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
[6]
- 1601 ?
Sir Christopher Blount
- 1615 ?
Sir Gervase Helwys
- 1631 ?
Mervyn Tuchet
, 2nd
Earl of Castlehaven
- 1641 ?
Thomas Wentworth
, 1st
Earl of Strafford
[6]
- 1645 ?
William Laud
, Archbishop of Canterbury
[9]
- 1651 ?
Christopher Love
, Presbyterian minister
- 1662 ?
Sir Henry Vane
[9]
- 1683 ?
Col. Algernon Sidney
[9]
- 1685 ?
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth
[9]
- 1716 ?
James Radclyffe
, 3rd
Earl of Derwentwater
[9]
- 1716 -
William Gordon, 6th Viscount of Kenmure
[10]
- 1746 ?
William Boyd
, 4th
Earl of Kilmarnock
- 1746 ? Robert Boyd (of
Clan Boyd
)
- 1746 ?
Arthur Elphinstone
, 6th
Lord Balmerino
- 1747 ?
Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat
[9]
Trinity Square and Gardens
[
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]
After the abandonment of Tower Hill as a site for public executions, Trinity Square and Gardens were laid out in 1797 by
Samuel Wyatt
as the setting for
Trinity House
, completed a year earlier as headquarters of the
Corporation of Trinity House
.
In the 1880s, a section of the London Underground
Circle Line
was constructed beneath Trinity Square Gardens. In the first decade of the 20th century small buildings, courts and yards bordering Trinity Square were cleared to make way for the construction of the Port of London Authority headquarters at
10 Trinity Square
. Begun in 1912 and completed in 1922, the Grade II* building is now a Four Seasons hotel which opened as such on 26 January 2017.
[11]
The
Merchant Navy Memorial, First World War section, Grade I-listed
, was unveiled by Queen Mary (deputising for her husband, King
George V
) on 12 December 1928.
[12]
To avoid overshadowing this, the Grade II* Second World War section is In the form of a sunken garden and was unveiled by HM The Queen on 5 December 1955
[13]
while that commemorating merchant seamen killed in the 1982
Falklands War
was unveiled on 4 September 2005 by the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir
Alan West
.
Tower Hill Trust
[
edit
]
In October 1933,
Reverend P B (“Tubby”) Clayton
of
All Hallows by the Tower
and Dr B R Leftwich published “The Pageant of Tower Hill”, which included the outline of a scheme to improve Tower Hill. In December 1933 the inaugural meeting of the Tower Hill Improvement Fund was held.
Lord Wakefield
was elected president and launched an appeal at the
Guildhall
in January 1934.
[14]
One of the Trust's first actions was to create a
beach
on the north bank of the
Thames
between St Katherine's Steps and the
Tower
for families from the
East End
.
[14]
In 1937 the Fund became the Tower Hill Improvement Trust and set about purchasing a number of buildings it considered
eyesores
. These were demolished in order to provide gardens and open public spaces. Among the buildings demolished was the giant Myer's tea warehouse, which stood next to All Hallows and blocked the view of the Tower from the west.
[14]
During 2001-2003 the Trust part-financed the refurbishment of Trinity Square Gardens.
[14]
In June 2006 the Trust's name was shortened to Tower Hill Trust.
[14]
Tower Hill (the street)
[
edit
]
The street of Tower Hill, within the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
, adjoins the
City of London
at
Byward Street
and runs eastwards to
Minories
and Tower Bridge Approach. It replaced Postern Row in the 1880s and was widened and extended a decade later.
[15]
[16]
[17]
Tower Hill is in the
London congestion charge
zone from its junction with Minories westwards.
A pedestrian subway links
Tower Hill tube station
to the boundary of the Tower of London where the remains of the south tower of the medieval
postern gate
are visible.
Tower Hill Terrace and Tower Vaults
[
edit
]
Tower Hill Terrace is the pedestrian way that runs south off
Tower Hill
to Gloucester Court and also the adjoining paved public space, redeveloped in 2019, atop the Tower Vaults shopping complex.
[18]
A floor plaque in Tower Vaults commemorates its re-opening in 1991 as the surviving part of the 1864 George Myers built Mazawattee Tea Warehouse, extensively bomb-damaged in Second World War air raids and later demolished.
No. 7 of the original 31
Tower Liberty boundary markers
is sited at the bottom of the steps linking Gloucester Court to Tower Hill Terrace and no. 8 is positioned at the base of the circular concrete air duct adjoining Tower Hill.
[19]
Bulwark Gate (site of)
[
edit
]
Immediately east of the Tower of London Welcome Centre on Great Tower Hill are the buried structural remains of the medieval Bulwark Gate and
bastion
. The lower half of Tower Hill was enclosed in the late 15th century to protect the western entrance to the Tower of London. The large brick bastion commissioned by
Edward IV
extended part way up Tower Hill from
Tower Dock
, but was demolished in 1668.
[20]
Tower Subway
[
edit
]
Tower Subway
is a tunnel under the
Thames
running from Tower Hill to Vine Lane in
Southwark
. The round brick-built entrance building near the Tower of London's ticket office was constructed in 1926 by the
London Hydraulic Power Company
.
[21]
The year of 1868 visible on the structure refers to the Tower Subway Act of 1868 which authorised the construction of the tunnel.
[22]
Former Pump House
[
edit
]
The grade II listed former
pump house
(Tower of London shop) was built in 1863 and designed by the architect
Anthony Salvin
.
[23]
Public transport
[
edit
]
London Buses route 15
east to
Blackwall
and west to
Trafalgar Square
runs along Tower Hill.
Tower Hill tube station
is adjacent and
Tower Gateway DLR station
close by as is Tower Pier for London River Services.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Based on spot heights marked on Ordnance Survey digital map of the area.
- ^
Wheatley, Henry Benjamin
;
Cunningham, Peter
(1891).
"Tower Hill"
.
London Past and Present
. Vol. 3. London: John Murray. pp. 400?402.
- ^
Map of Early Modern London
https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/LITT7.htm
, see also linked Tower Hill entry. Note, the posterngate was a small gate in the City Wall; the foundations survive.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Sign at site of the scaffold (2)
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Sign at site of the scaffold (3)
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Sign at site of the scaffold (4)
- ^
"Walter Hungerford and the 'Buggery Act' | English Heritage"
.
www.english-heritage.org.uk
. Retrieved
20 March
2017
.
- ^
"Duke of Suffolk's Monument, Astley | Warwickshire Museum's Take the Timetrail"
.
timetrail.warwickshire.gov.uk/
. Retrieved
22 October
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Sign at site of the scaffold (5)
- ^
"The Scots peerage : Founded on Wood's ed. Of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom"
.
- ^
"City of London, Trinity Square Conservation Area, Draft Character Summary and Management Strategy SPD"
(PDF)
.
Democracy: City of London
. City of London Corporation
. Retrieved
23 November
2021
.
- ^
Historic England
.
"The Merchant Navy Memorial, First World War section (1260087)"
.
National Heritage List for England
.
- ^
Historic England
.
"The Merchant Navy Memorial, Second World War section (1031597)"
.
National Heritage List for England
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"History of the Tower Hill Trust"
.
Tower Hill Trust
. Retrieved
19 November
2021
.
- ^
Henry A Harben, 'Portpool Lane - Potters' Alley, Court', in A Dictionary of London (London, 1918), British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/dictionary-of-london/portpool-lane-potters-alley-court
[accessed 24 November 2021].
- ^
Henry A Harben, 'Tower Chambers - Traitors' Bridge', in A Dictionary of London (London, 1918), British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/dictionary-of-london/tower-chambers-traitors-bridge
[accessed 24 November 2021].
- ^
Henry A Harben, 'Little Somer's Key - Little Tower Hill', in A Dictionary of London (London, 1918), British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/dictionary-of-london/little-somers-key-little-tower-hill
[accessed 24 November 2021].
- ^
"Tower Hill Terrace"
.
www.architectsjournal.co.uk
. EMAP Publishing Limited
. Retrieved
25 November
2021
.
- ^
Historic England
.
"HM TOWER OF LONDON LIBERTY BOUNDARY MARKERS (1393922)"
.
National Heritage List for England
. Retrieved
26 November
2021
.
- ^
Historic England
.
"Tower Hill West (1001980)"
.
National Heritage List for England
. Retrieved
27 November
2021
.
- ^
"Tower Subway"
.
www.Subterranea Britannica.org.uk
. Subterranea Britannica
. Retrieved
27 November
2021
.
- ^
Smith, Denis (2001).
Civil Engineering Heritage: London & The Thames Valley
. Institution of Civil Engineers/Thomas Telford Ltd. p. 22.
ISBN
9780727728760
.
- ^
Historic England
.
"FORMER PUMP HOUSE (1357558)"
.
National Heritage List for England
. Retrieved
27 November
2021
.
External links
[
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]