|
Ever hear of the Tyburn Jig? It's a dance you would NOT have wanted to perform. I came across it while writing my children's sci-fi Taylor Davis series. (Sometimes a story can take me down the weirdest rabbit trails!)
Within the story, Taylor and crew must track down a 400-year-old pirate who ate from the Tree of Life and cannot die. At one point, however, they learn that he did hang. So I found myself looking up English hanging laws and customs. My research led me to a little crossroads town named Tyburn that had become synonymous with capital punishment. Built in 1571, the massive triangular gallows known as the Tyburn Tree became one of the main places of execution for the criminal population of London. It was large enough to accommodate mass hangings, such as on June 23, 1649 when 24 prisoners—23 men and one woman—were hanged at the same time.
Monday was hanging day. Condemned prisoners from London’s Newgate Prison were carried in open carts the few miles out of town to the crossroads in the country where the massive structure stood. Public hangings drew tens of thousands of spectators. One enterprising property owner even built risers on her property and charged admission!
It is estimated that as many as 60,000 people lost their lives at Tyburn between 1196, the year of the first recorded hanging at the site, and 1783, when public executions were moved to Newgate Prison. It has also been estimated that 90% of those executed were young men under 21.
|
