Tyburn: London's Fatal Tree

Contemporary Review, Sept, 2004

Tyburn: London's Fatal Tree. Alan Brooke and David Brandon. Sutton Publishing. [pounds sterling]20.00. ix 246 pages. ISBN 0-7509-2971-5. Tyburn, notorious for 600 years as one of London's principal places for public executions is the subject of this study. The spot where some 50,000 were executed between the thirteenth century and 1783, now lies under the juncture of Oxford Street and Edgware Road.

The authors' aim is 'to make a modest addition to the social and cultural history of crime and punishment, the history of London and the history of Tyburn in particular' and they tell their history with numerous illustrations. The 'Tyburn tree' was the gallows from which the condemned were hanged and choked to death--the 'drop' which broke the condemned's neck only came at the end of the eighteenth century. In some cases hanging was only a precursor to drawing and quartering. In addition to criminals many martyrs met their deaths at Tyburn and there is a Catholic chapel nearby which commemorates the sufferings of Catholic victims. The authors follow a basically chronological approach although there are chapters on hangmen, on the famous crowds that gathered to witness executions and, finally, on travelling the historic route from Newgate to Tyburn in today's London. To their story they add numerous asides which both embellish and inform. As the authors conclude, the site 'is still a place of brooding memories and deserves to be recognised as such'.