Erection date: 4/9/2006
{Around the edge of the lower black circle:}
Gentle visitor pause a while, where you stand death cut away the light of many days. Here jewelled names were broken from the vivid thread of life. May they rest in peace while we walk the generations around their strife and courage under these restless skies.
{Around the edge of the upper glass circle:}
Close to this site were executed:
{a list of 10 names each with the year of execution, in date sequence. For the names see the Subjects commemorated list.}
Catling wrote the poem as well as creating the sculpture. Doesn't that cushion look lovely and comfy - just the place to lay a weary head. From photos on the web we see that a tassel used to dangle at all four corners. We can't discover who was honoured to unveil this art-work. It really demands a queen but perhaps the PR department at the Palace felt it was an inappropriate association.
Following the Black Watch executions in the mid 18th century the executioner had a quiet life until WW1 when 11 German spies were executed here by firing squad. The last person executed here was a WW2 German spy.
Site: Tower of London execution site (5 memorials)
EC3, Tower Green, Tower of London
Members of royalty sentenced to death were spared the ordeal of public execution on Tower Hill. This spot, inside the very secure Tower of London, was reserved just for them, and apparently the executions took place under cover. Excavations have confirmed the existence of a building here.
But one also hears that Lady Jane Grey's prison windows looked out over Tower Green and that she must have seen her scaffold being erected, which would not have been the case had it been enclosed.
2017: Within a few weeks we came across not just one but two predecessors to the glass cushion which has been here since 2006. We're being very nerdish, publishing them as 'lost' memorials, even though the current location of one of them is actually known.
2023: We watched the 1946 short documentary film 'Prisoners of the Tower' from which we captured images of 2 other plaques at the site.
2023: Using Museum of London data Londonist have analysed the who, why, where, when and how of London executions. To see the more than 100 executees on London Remembers click here.
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