Between 1555 and 1558, more than 50 Protestants were burnt at the stake for their beliefs during the reign of Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary), including clergymen, tailors and maids. The presence of the Crown Jewels, kept at the Tower since the 17th century, is a reminder of the fortress’ role as a repository for the Royal Wardrobe. Most spies were arrested and tried after letters, newspapers or telegrams they had sent were intercepted by British intelligence. Still the largest prison in the country, Wandsworth Prison assumed the execution duties of Horsemonger Lane Gaol when that fine institution closed in 1878. The four men in question were Sir Everard Digby, Robert Winter, John Grant and Thomas Bates, who all met their bloody end in the churchyard first suffering hanging and then disembowelment. Haicke Janssen, 30. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. The Tower literally ‘towered’ over its surroundings until the 19th century. As befits the age-old crime of treason, the conspirators were hanged, drawn and quartered. The Tower of London is a rare survival of a continuously developing ensemble of royal buildings, evolving from the 11th to the 16th centuries, and as such, has great significance nationally and internationally. ( CC BY SA 4.0 ). Sir Thomas More, the Lord High Chancellor of England, the man who opposed Henry VIII’s separation from the Catholic Church and the annulment of his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon is also named on the plaques, as is his arch nemesis Thomas Cromwell. The fate of successive prisoners wasn’t as lucky. As the gateway to the capital, the Tower was in effect the gateway to the new Norman kingdom. His message to the millions of Britons that regularly tuned in to his jeering, sarcastic broadcasts was that resistance was futile and surrender was their best option. Although the most notorious English highwaymen of the day appear to have met their end on the gallows at Tyburn, the crime of highway robbery remained so prevalent right up until the early 19th century that the Shooter’s Hill hangman was kept busy enough. The fact that not a single act of sabotage took place during the war indicates the extent to which British Intelligence had German espionage under control and the degree to which propagandists exaggerated the truth about enemy spying. His head was displayed on a pole on London Bridge. In 1603 Sir Walter Raleigh became a prisoner here, and during his internment, he wrote his History of the World. The extent of public concern about enemy aliens during the opening month of the war can be illustrated by the fact that the Metropolitan Police had received between 8,000 and 9,000 reports of espionage by the beginning of September. This meant that the public executions were now held in the heart of the City of London, drawing large audiences all the way up until the public executions were abandoned in 1868. The bodies were presumed to be those of the Princes in the Tower and were re-buried in Westminster Abbey. New York:  St. Martin’s Press, 2011. A series of unrests occurred between 1763 and 1769 that centred on London’s East End, as thousands of silk weavers took to the streets to protest about poor rates of pay, cheap imports and the introduction of mechanised looms. What Really Lies Hidden in the Vatican Secret Archives? From Antwerp, Crippen and Ethel boarded a ship bound for Canada. The 12th man to be executed for spying during WW1, Robert Rosenthal, was hanged at Wandsworth jail on 15 July 1915. Prisoners were kept in the tower. She moved to Georgia to attend college at Spelman College and loved it so much that she decided to call Georgia home. A rare survival of a continuously developing ensemble of royal buildings, from the 11th to 16th centuries, the Tower of London has become one of the symbols of royalty. The Tower of London is considered to be one of the most haunted places in London. The Tower of London is an internationally famous monument and one of England’s most iconic structures. The Tower is no longer in use as a fortress, but its fabric still clearly tells the story of the use and function of the monument over the centuries. Vlad the Impaler: The Real Count Dracula? The White Tower currently contains the Chapel of St John, where the Royal Family and their court worshipped and where knights of the Order of Bath spent a vigil the night before a king or queen was crowned. At its peak, it is said that there were some 220 crimes which were punishable by death including: London – the largest and most influential city in the country – provided a grand backdrop for some of the most famous executions in history. The first women to be hanged were Amelia Sachs and Annie Walters in February 1903. Queen, Complicity in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, Abetting one of his servants to rape Lady Audley, Offering to surrender Plymouth to King Charles I, Involvement in bogus plot against the army, Offering to betray Scarborough Castle to King Charles I, Treason trying to raise an army for the King, Treason - paymaster to a secret Catholic army planning to kill Executed 30 July 1915, Ernst Melin, 49. She was struck eleven times with the axe before she died. Full article Daily news briefing direct to your inbox. There were many more notable executions, such as those of Sir Thomas More, Lady Jane Grey, and Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, and therefore it is perhaps not surprising that there are many ghost stories and hauntings attached to this forbidding, old fortress.