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10 stops · about 0.2 km on foot · London, United Kingdom

Dark history around Tower Hill, London (part 4)

Follow the stops in order. Each is a documented story set at or near this spot.

Open the walking route in Maps See it on the Dark Atlas

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  1. Start · Tower of London, London · 1542

    The Woman Who Served Five Doomed Queens

    A lady-in-waiting survived the fall of two Tudor queens before the scaffold finally came for her too.

  2. 192 m on · Tower Hill, London · 1547

    Executed for a Coat of Arms

    A dying king found an excuse to bring down one of England's most powerful noble houses over a painted family crest.

  3. same spot · Tower Hill, London · 1536

    The Man Who Refused to Save Himself

    Offered a chance to save his own life, the King's closest attendant chose silence and the executioner's block instead.

  4. same spot · Tower Hill, London · 1685

    The Botched Beheading That Named The Hangman

    It took the executioner several horrific blows to finish the job, and his name became slang for hangman forever.

  5. same spot · Tower Hill, London · 1535

    The Chancellor Who Refused His King's Supremacy

    Henry VIII's own former Lord Chancellor walked to the block for refusing to accept the king as head of the Church.

  6. same spot · Tower Hill, London · 1685

    The Duke Who Paid The Headsman In Advance

    He handed the executioner six guineas and begged him not to hack him apart like his last victim — it didn't work.

  7. same spot · Tower Hill, London · 1521

    The Duke Whose Royal Blood Was a Death Sentence

    His royal Plantagenet blood made him too dangerous to live under a paranoid, sonless Henry VIII.

  8. same spot · Tower Hill, London · 1554

    The Giant Who Fought His Own Execution

    A rebel knight who nearly toppled a queen met a brutal end on Tower Hill, and his head vanished within days.

  9. same spot · Tower Hill, London · 1746

    The Jacobite Lord Who Faced The Axe Unbroken

    An old Jacobite lord followed Bonnie Prince Charlie to Culloden and then to the executioner's block on Tower Hill.

  10. same spot · Tower Hill, London · 1747

    The Last Man Beheaded In Britain

    An 80-year-old Jacobite chief drew the biggest crowd Tower Hill had ever seen, cracking jokes as he went to the axe.

Coordinates mark the place of each story, and some are approximate. Check opening times and access before you go.