London Roman Wall - surviving section by Tower Hill gardens full section

Tower Hill as shown on the Agas map of 1561

Tower Hill is the area surrounding the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

in the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and ...

. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher ground north-west of the Tower of London moat is now occupied by Trinity Square Gardens. Tower Hill rises from the north bank of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

to reach a maximum height of 14.5 metres (48 ft)

Ordnance Datum An ordnance datum (OD) is a vertical datum used by an ordnance survey as the basis for deriving altitudes on maps. A spot height may be expressed as above ordnance datum (AOD). Usually mean sea level (MSL) at a particular place is used for the d ...

. The land was historically part of the Liberties of the Tower of London, an area the Tower authorities controlled to keep clear of any development which would reduce the defensibility of the Tower. Building has encroached to a degree, but a legacy of this control is that much of the hill is still open. The hill includes land on either side of the

London Wall The London Wall is a defensive wall first built by the Ancient Rome, Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in AD 200, as well as the name of a #modern, modern street in the City of London, England. Roman London was ...

, a large remnant of which is visible.

Definition

Generally speaking, the name Tower Hill informally applies to those parts of the Tower Liberty that are outside the

and its moat. ''Great Tower Hill'' is the land lying inside (or west) of the line of the

whereas ''Little Tower Hill'' is the land outside (or east) of the wall.

Public executions

Public executions of high-profile traitors and criminals, often attainted peers, as well as innocent Catholics in the 16th century, were carried out on Tower Hill (some others were carried out within the confines of the Tower of London itself). The backgrounds to those carried out at Tower Hill ranged from the

Peasants' Revolt The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black ...

of 1381 to the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fo ...

; Lollardism; claims to the throne by

Perkin Warbeck Perkin Warbeck ( – 23 November 1499) was a pretender to the English throne claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, who was the second son of Edward IV and one of the so-called "Princes in the Tower". Richard, were he alive, would ...

and Lambert Simnel; the

English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...

; the

Pilgrimage of Grace The Pilgrimage of Grace was an English Catholic popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536 before spreading to other parts of Northern England, including Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham and north Lancashire. The protests occurre ...

; the

Monmouth Rebellion The Monmouth Rebellion in June 1685 was an attempt to depose James II of England, James II, who in February had succeeded his brother Charles II of England, Charles II as king of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and ...

; the Jacobite Rising and the

Gordon Riots The Gordon Riots of 1780 were several days' rioting in London motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment. They began with a large and orderly protest against the Papists Act 1778, which was intended to reduce official discrimination against British ...

of 1780. Lord Lovat's execution for high treason in 1747 was the last judicial beheading in England while the final executions on Tower Hill were hangings in 1780. Some 120 executions are chronicled and they include:- * 1381 –

Simon Sudbury Simon Sudbury ( – 14 June 1381) was Bishop of London from 1361 to 1375, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1375 until his death, and in the last year of his life Lord Chancellor, Lord Chancellor of England. He met a violent death during the Peasan ...

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

Sign at site of the scaffold (2) (beheaded by an angry mob) * 1381 – Sir Robert Hales * 1388 – Sir Simon de Burley * 1388 – John de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp (fourth creation) * 1397 – Richard Fitzalan, 11th

Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and it is used (along with the earldom of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title ...

* 1440 – Rev. Richard Wyche, Vicar of

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century ...

* 1462 – John de Vere, 12th

Earl of Oxford Earl of Oxford is a dormant title in the Peerage of England, first created for Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford, Aubrey de Vere by the Empress Matilda in 1141. De Vere family, His family was to hold the title for more than five and a half cen ...

* 1462 – Aubrey de Vere, eldest son and heir of John de Vere, 12th

* 1462 – Sir Thomas Tuddenham * 1462 – William Tyrrell * 1462 – John Montgomery * 1470 – John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester * 1495 – Sir William Stanley Sign at site of the scaffold (3) * 1497 – James Tuchet, a commander of the Cornish Rebellion of 1497 * 1499 – Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick * 1502 – James Tyrrell * 1510 –

Edmund Dudley Edmund Dudley (c. 1462Gunn 2010 or 1471/147217 August 1510) was an English administrator and a financial agent of Henry VII of England, King Henry VII. He served as a leading member of the Council Learned in the Law, Speaker of the House o ...

* 1510 – Sir Richard Empson * 1513 –

Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 6th Earl of Suffolk, Order of the Garter, KG (c. 147130 April 1513), Earl of Suffolk, Duke of Suffolk, was an English nobleman and soldier. The son of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk and his wife Eliz ...

* 1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham * 1535 –

John Fisher John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Rochester from 1504 to 1535 and as chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is honoured as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Chu ...

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester, Kent, Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Rochester Cathedral, Cathedral Chur ...

* 1535 – Sir

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VII ...

, ex-Lord Chancellor * 1536 – George Boleyn, brother of

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...

* 1537 –

Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy of Darcy or of Temple Hurst ( 1467 – 30 June 1537) was an English nobleman, the only son, and heir, of Sir William Darcy (1443 – 30 May 1488) and his wife, Euphemia Langton, the daughter of Sir John Langton. Darc ...

* 1538 – Henry Courtenay,

Earl of Devon Earl of Devon is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of England. It was possessed first (after the Norman Conquest of 1066) by the Redvers family (''alias'' de Reviers, Revieres, etc.), and later by the Courtenay famil ...

Sign at site of the scaffold (4) * 1538 – Edward Neville * 1539 – Sir Nicholas Carew * 1539 –

Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu (also written Montague or Montacute; circa 1492 – January 1539), was an English nobleman, the only holder of the title Baron Montagu under its 1514 creation, and one of the relatives whom King Henry VIII of ...

* 1540 – Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex * 1540 – Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford of Heytesbury * 1547 –

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, KG (1516/1517–19 January 1547) was an English nobleman, politician and poet. He was one of the founders of English Renaissance poetry and was the last known person to have been executed at the insistence of King ...

* 1549 – Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley * 1552 – Sir Ralph Vane * 1552 – Sir Thomas Arundell of Wardour Castle * 1552 – Sir Michael Stanhope * 1552 –

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp (150022 January 1552) was an English nobleman and politician who served as Lord Protector of England from 1547 to 1549 during the minority of his nephew King E ...

* 1553 –

John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1504Loades 2008 – 22 August 1553) was an English general, admiral, and politician, who led the government of the young King Edward VI from 1550 until 1553, and unsuccessfully tried to install Lady Jane ...

* 1554 –

Sir Thomas Wyatt Sir Thomas Wyatt (150311 October 1542) was a 16th-century English politician, ambassador, and lyric poetry, lyric poet credited with introducing the sonnet to English literature. He was born at Allington Castle near Maidstone in Kent, though hi ...

* 1554 –

Lord Guildford Dudley Lord Guildford Dudley (also spelt Guilford) ( – 12 February 1554) was an English nobleman who was married to Lady Jane Grey. She occupied the English throne from 10 July until 19 July 1553, having been declared the heir of King E ...

* 1554 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk * 1572 –

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, (10 March 1536 or 1538 2 June 1572), was an English nobleman and politician. He was a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth I and held many high offices during the earlier part of her reign. Norfolk was the s ...

* 1601 – Sir Christopher Blount * 1615 – Sir Gervase Helwys * 1631 – Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd

Earl of Castlehaven Earl of Castlehaven was a title in the Peerage of Ireland, created on 6 September 1616. It was held in conjunction with the Baron Audley, Barony of Audley (created 1312 in the Peerage of England), the Barony of Audley of Orier (created with the ...

* 1641 – Thomas Wentworth, 1st

Earl of Strafford Earl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in English and British history. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in January 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, the 1st Viscount Wentworth, the clo ...

* 1645 –

William Laud William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Caroline era#Religion, Charles I's religious re ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury Sign at site of the scaffold (5) * 1651 – Christopher Love, Presbyterian minister * 1662 – Sir Henry Vane * 1683 – Col. Algernon Sidney * 1685 –

James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, 1st Duke of Buccleuch, (9 April 1649 – 15 July 1685) was an English nobleman and military officer. Originally called James Crofts or James Fitzroy, he was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the eldest ill ...

* 1716 – James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater * 1716 –

William Gordon, 6th Viscount of Kenmure William Gordon, 6th Viscount of Kenmure and Lord Lochinvar (c. 167224 February 1716) was a Scottish Jacobite. William Gordon was the only son of Alexander Gordon, 5th Viscount of Kenmure of Kenmure Castle and succeeded his father on his death ...

* 1746 – William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock * 1746 – Robert Boyd (of Clan Boyd) * 1746 – Arthur Elphinstone, 6th

Lord Balmerino The title of Lord Balmerino (or Balmerinoch) was a title in the Peerage of Scotland; it was created in 1606 and forfeited in 1746 on the attainder and execution of the 6th Lord Balmerino in the Tower of London. The title of Lord Coupar or Cupar ...

* 1747 –

Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, ( 1667 – 9 April 1747) was a Scottish landowner and head of Clan Fraser of Lovat. Convicted of high treason in the United Kingdom, high treason for his role in the Jacobite rising of 1745, he was the last ma ...

Trinity Square and Gardens

After the abandonment of Tower Hill as a site for public executions, Trinity Square and Gardens were laid out in 1797 by Samuel Wyatt as the setting for

Trinity House The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House (and formally as The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Guild Fraternity or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity and of St Clement in the ...

, completed a year earlier as headquarters of the

Corporation of Trinity House The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House (and formally as The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Guild Fraternity or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity and of St Clement in the ...

. In the 1880s, a section of the London Underground Circle Line was constructed beneath Trinity Square Gardens. In the first decade of the 20th century small buildings, courts and yards bordering Trinity Square were cleared to make way for the construction of the Port of London Authority headquarters at 10 Trinity Square. Begun in 1912 and completed in 1922, the Grade II* building is now a Four Seasons hotel which opened as such on 26 January 2017. The Merchant Navy Memorial, First World War section, Grade I-listed, was unveiled by Queen Mary (deputising for her husband, King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

) on 12 December 1928. To avoid overshadowing this, the Grade II* Second World War section is in the form of a sunken garden and was unveiled by The Queen on 5 December 1955 while that commemorating merchant seamen killed in the 1982

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

was unveiled on 4 September 2005 by the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Alan West.

Tower Hill Trust

In October 1933, Reverend P B ("Tubby") Clayton of All Hallows by the Tower and Dr B R Leftwich published "The Pageant of Tower Hill", which included the outline of a scheme to improve Tower Hill. In December 1933 the inaugural meeting of the Tower Hill Improvement Fund was held. Lord Wakefield was elected president and launched an appeal at the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...

in January 1934. One of the Trust's first actions was to create a

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

on the north bank of the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

between St Katherine's Steps and the

Tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

for families from the East End. In 1937 the Fund became the Tower Hill Improvement Trust and set about purchasing a number of buildings it considered eyesores. These were demolished in order to provide gardens and open public spaces. Among the buildings demolished was the giant Myer's tea warehouse, which stood next to All Hallows and blocked the view of the Tower from the west. During 2001–2003 the Trust part-financed the refurbishment of Trinity Square Gardens. In June 2006 the Trust's name was shortened to Tower Hill Trust.

Tower Hill (the street)

The street of Tower Hill, within the

, adjoins the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

at Byward Street and runs eastwards to Minories and Tower Bridge Approach. It replaced Postern Row in the 1880s and was widened and extended a decade later. Tower Hill is in the

London congestion charge The London congestion charge is a fee charged on most cars and motor vehicles being driven within the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ) in Central London between 7:00am and 6:00pm Monday to Friday, and between 12:00noon and 6:00pm Saturday and Su ...

zone from its junction with Minories westwards. A pedestrian subway links Tower Hill tube station to the boundary of the Tower of London where the remains of the south tower of the medieval postern gate are visible.

Tower Hill Terrace and Tower Vaults

Tower Hill Terrace is the pedestrian way that runs south off

Tower Hill Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher gro ...

to Gloucester Court and also the adjoining paved public space, redeveloped in 2019, atop the Tower Vaults shopping complex. A floor plaque in Tower Vaults commemorates its re-opening in 1991 as the surviving part of the 1864 George Myers built Mazawattee Tea Warehouse, extensively bomb-damaged in Second World War air raids and later demolished. Scale Model Of The Tower Of London In The Tower Of London

Scale Model Of The Tower Of London In The Tower Of London

No. 7 of the original 31 Tower Liberty boundary markers is sited at the bottom of the steps linking Gloucester Court to Tower Hill Terrace and no. 8 is positioned at the base of the circular concrete air duct adjoining Tower Hill.

Bulwark Gate (site of)

Immediately east of the Tower of London Welcome Centre on Great Tower Hill are the buried structural remains of the medieval Bulwark Gate and

bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...

. The lower half of Tower Hill was enclosed in the late 15th century to protect the western entrance to the Tower of London. The large brick bastion commissioned by

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

extended part way up Tower Hill from Tower Dock, but was demolished in 1668.

Tower Subway

Tower Subway is a tunnel under the

running from Tower Hill to Vine Lane in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

. The round brick-built entrance building near the Tower of London's ticket office was constructed in 1926 by the London Hydraulic Power Company. The year of 1868 visible on the structure refers to the Tower Subway Act 1868 which authorised the construction of the tunnel.

Former Pump House

The grade II listed former pump house (Tower of London shop) was built in 1863 and designed by the architect

Anthony Salvin Anthony Salvin (17 October 1799 – 17 December 1881) was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on Middle Ages, medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations, such as those of the ...

Public transport

London Buses route 15 London Buses route 15 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Blackwall DLR station, Blackwall and Charing Cross tube station, Charing Cross stations, it is operated by Blue Triangle, a subsidiary of ...

east to Blackwall and west to

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

runs along Tower Hill. Tower Hill tube station is adjacent and

Tower Gateway DLR station Tower Gateway is a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station in the City of London and is located near the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. It adjoins the tracks to Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station and is located on the si ...

close by as is Tower Pier for London River Services.

References

External links

*
The changing face of Tower Hill as portrayed by old maps
{{Authority control Areas of London Districts of London on the River Thames Districts of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Execution sites in England Squares in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Hills of London Tower of London Lady Jane Grey Lord Guildford Dudley