The beautiful abstract memorial to those executed inside the Tower of London smooths the rough edges of what happened here.
From Wikipedia, the history and full list of those who were executed inside the Tower of London: (
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"TOWER GREEN
Tower Green is a space within the Tower of London, a royal castle in London, where two English Queens consort and several other British nobles were executed by beheading. It was considered more dignified for nobility to be executed away from the gawping spectators, and Queen Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey were among the nobility beheaded here. Queen Victoria asked for information on the exact location at which the executions took place, and had some granite paving laid to mark the spot. However it is unclear whether the location is indeed correct because other sources place it on the current parade ground, between the White Tower and the entrance to the current Waterloo Barracks.
Location
Tower Green is an open space located south of the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula. Beheading in the privacy of the Tower Green was considered a privilege of rank; the executed were spared insults from jeering crowds, and the monarch was spared bad publicity. Other prisoners in the tower were executed in public on Tower Hill, just outside the fortress, or at Tyburn on the other side of the city. In the middle of the green is a small square plot paved with granite, which shows the site commonly believed to be the spot on which stood the scaffold on which private executions took place. The granite paving was specially created by order of Queen Victoria.
There is dispute that the memorial site is actually the scaffold site. It appears that there are sources that indicate that the site of the current memorial is merely a spot incorrectly pointed out to Queen Victoria, by an unknowing Yeoman Warder, when she inquired about the scaffold site during a visit to the Tower. Other sources describe Anne Boleyn's final walk to the scaffold, at a location on the current parade ground, between the White Tower and the entrance to the current Waterloo Barracks (not built until 1845).
History
During the Middle Ages, the area was used as a burial ground. As a result of relaying the 19th century granite sett stones, shallow excavations of the foundations revealed remains of a building that sat on that site. Historic plans of the Tower of London show a building at the site of the Tower Green. It was demolished in 1684, but was rebuilt in 1685. It was removed once again soon thereafter. It appears that the building was used at the time as a guardhouse for the predecessors of the Yeomen Warders. The executions at the Tower Green were done inside this building to maintain the privacy of the nobles,
Executions
The following nobles are known to have been executed on the Tower Green:
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, by order of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, in 1483
Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, 19 May 1536.
Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, the last of the Plantagenet dynasty on 27 May 1541.
Queen Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, by a bill of attainder on 13 February 1542.
Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, by order of Henry VIII on 13 February 1542.
Lady Jane Grey, the "Nine Days Queen", wife of Lord Guildford Dudley, by order of a special commission for High treason, on 12 February 1554.
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex for treason on 25 February 1601.
Each of these individuals was beheaded with an axe save for Anne Boleyn who was beheaded with a sword. The bodies of all seven were buried in the Chapel of St. Peter.
In addition to the seven listed above, three additional names are listed on the memorial at Tower Green:
Farquhar Shaw and the brothers Samuel Macpherson and Malcolm Macpherson. All three were soldiers in the Black Watch Regiment from the Scottish Highlands who were charged with mutiny and executed at the Tower on 19 July 1743 by a firing squad made up of their fellow soldiers."
This historic marker presents more detailed history of those beheaded here in "privileged" executions, carried out within the Tower walls away from prying eyes, unlike the more public executions on Tower Hill. Three English Queens two English lords, and two English ladies were all executed here.
The marker reads as follows:
"EXECUTIONS AT THE TOWER OF LONDON
Tower Green is famous is the spot where three Queens, two lords and two ladies were beheaded as traitors. It was very unusual to be executed within the Tower, rather than on Tower Hill. Those executed here and on Tower Hill are buried in the 16th century chapel of St. Peter Vincula in front of you.
These “privileged” executions of controversial people were easier to control within the fortress, out of the public gaze. Scaffoldings were built afresh for each execution, and not always in the same place.
Until the 19th century, the area in front of St. Peter's with the cemetery for parishioners. A chapel has existed on the site since the 12th century. The Chaplain and Doctor of the Tower live in the Georgian houses next to it.
In 1861, Queen Victoria visited the tower, and was so moved by the story of and Boleyn's death that she requested that the spot claimed to be her execution site be marked with the plaque. Today, a sculpture by artist Brian Caitling continues this Victorian tradition.
Main: Anne Boleyn on the scaffold 19 May 1536. This contemporary picture is inaccurate - and was beheaded by a hatchet, not the more usual axe.
Cameo: Queen Catherine Howard, 5th wife of Henry VIII, was executed at the tower six years after her cousin Anne Boleyn
Left: from 1866 2006, a plaque marked the spot associated with the towers famous executions
[Abridged text in several international languages follows]"