Tyburn Tree Marker

The lowdown

For nearly six hundred years the most notorious spot in London was Tyburn, the site of the city's public gallows, where the triple-beamed Tyburn Tree could hang twenty-four people at once. Crowds of thousands gathered on hanging days, which were public holidays, to watch condemned prisoners brought the long miles from Newgate.

Today the spot is an unremarkable traffic island near Marble Arch, marked only by a small round plaque set into the pavement. It is free to find and easy to miss, but standing there knowing what happened on the ground beneath your feet is a quietly chilling slice of London history.