Executions!

-

The Museum of London Docklands currently has an exhibition exploring 700 years of executions in London's history; originally planned to appear in 2020 the exhibition fell victim to lockdown cancellations and disappeared from the Museum's schedule. It's finally here, but now on show at Docklands rather than the London Wall site.

As I mention the London Wall site, it is about to permanently shut its doors (December 4th), in preparation for its move to the new site in West Smithfield (planned to open in 2026) and rebrands itself London Museum.

The exhibition runs until 16th April 2023 and has an entrance charge. The Musuem recommends that the exhibition is suitable for 12 years and older. Obviously, the lack of interactive execution methods precludes the very young. The exhibition, unsurprisingly given its theme, is very macabre and probably isn't for everyone.

The exhibition starts with a look at methods of execution and its use in medieval times, mostly the exhibits are woodcuts with informative, wordy, explanation panels. On entering the first main space of the exhibition you are confronted with an audio-visual presentation and, for those of us interested in the Civil Wars, the star attractions. Needless to say, the execution of Charles I figures prominently.

King Charles The Martyr c1660, the mourners represent England, Scotland and Ireland the Three Kingdoms

c1649 German print of Banqueting House and the execution of Charles I 

The highlight of the exhibition is a case containing a number of items claiming to have been worn by Charles to the executioner's scaffold.

Linen handkerchief with royal cypher in silk, mid-C17th. Claimed to have been carried by Charles on the day of his execution. Possibly too plain to have been a royal handkerchief? 

Leather gloves mid-C17th. Believed to have been given by Charles to Bishop Juxen who accompanied him to his execution.

Knitted silk vest, mid-C17th. Claimed to be the 'extra shirt' that Thomas Herbert stated the King wore to his execution. The shirt was acquired by the museum in 1924: it was supposedly given to the King's physician Dr Hobbs, whose family kept it until the late C-19th when it was sold. It then changed hands a number of times before being acquired by the museum. Testing of the stains has been inconclusive, but what they are is certainly not blood. This, and the uncertain provenance throw considerable doubt upon whether this belonged to Charles.

Royalist memorial pendant, and fragments of a cloak believed to have been worn by Charles to the scaffold. These fragments had an accompanying note claiming that they were all that was left of the cloak that was spirited away by Thomas Herbert.

The cloak fragments are interesting, as a National Trust property close to Château KeepYourPowderDry claims to have part of Charles's execution cloak: the story being that the cloak was cut up and distributed to loyal supporters. Whilst the Legh's of Lyme were Royalist supporters I wouldn't have them down as 'premier league' supporters, they wouldn't be on any list of 'most loyal' supporters who I would expect to have been given a portion of cloak. Of course, if the Lyme claim is accurate, money may have exchanged hands to acquire such an artefact. 

The final item of Charles's execution clothing is a scarf, which again, whilst very fine cannot be pinned down to having belonged to Charles.

Grrr! Exhibit label describes this fine scarf as a 'sash' 1625-1650

There are a number of other examples of execution in the C17th, most notably that of witches, which feature heavily in the audio-visual room dominated by the Tyburn three-legged tree.

As the exhibition appears to be laid out in chronological order, I expected that my C17th interest would falter after leaving the Tyburn tree 'room', I was wrong. There are a number of other relevant exhibits amongst the harrowing stories of Georgian and Victorian capital punishment.

Copy of 1658 play 'The Witch of Edmonton' by Rowley, Dekker and Ford

The identity of Charles's executioner was never revealed. Richard Brandon was official executioner at the time, so many believed that it was him - this pamphlet apparently being Brandon's death bed confession. The 'confession' is regarded as a fake, but Richard is one of the most likely candidates to have been the man who killed the king. Richard had dispatched Archbishop Laud and the Earl of Strafford.

C17th halberds

...and in the interests of balance, the posthumous execution of Cromwell gets a mention too

As this was the first time that I have visited the Docklands site I thought I'd have a look around the rest of the museum. Things get a little interesting on the second floor - a labyrinth worthy of Ikea or as a home to a minotaur. I'm genuinely relieved to say that myself and #4 son escaped with our lives.


Postcodes for SatNavs & Transport
Museum of London Docklands, West India Quay E14 4AL DLR:West India Quay

If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider supporting the blog. 
Thanks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Newark's Defences - a town under siege

-
Image
The ECWtravelogue has visited Newark many times. The King, Queen Henrietta Maria, Prince Rupert all visited; it is home to the National Civil War Centre ; and is the location of possibly the best preserved Civil War earthwork - The Queen's Sconce . So why does it deserve another blog entry? In a word: Clampe's Plan ( but that's two! ). Clampe drew a plan of the Royalist defences of Newark and the Parliamentarian, and Scots siege lines. There's also another, slightly different, later version of the map: Buck's Map, which is held in the Royal Collection and can be viewed online here . The Queen's Sconce survived, did anything else? Clampe's Plan  I've seen photographs of other earthworks in Newark, but no locations for them. A little sleuthery comparing Nottingham's register of ancient monuments, and Historic England's records has resulted in an extensive list of sites. Unfortunately, the locations are so complex that they don't fit my normal
Read more

Houses of Interest: Staffordshire

-
Image
The  ECW Travelogue turns its attention on Staffordshire. For some reason, rather than starting the entry at the bit of Staffs that is 'next door' to  Château KeepYourPowderDry I started with the corner of Staffs that was furthest away. The first entries look at the escape of Charles II after the Battle of Worcester. Of course any post about Staffordshire requires, by law, pictures of Staffordshire slipware - this one by Thomas Toft; Potteries Museum, Hanley First up is Moseley Old Hall  on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, and is cared for by the National Trust. Moseley bills itself as "the home that saved a king" - considering the number of close calls that Charles had during his escape, this isn't really the unique selling point that you might expect it to be. I do wonder how many other houses, along the Monarch's Way could also make that claim? Built about 1600, the National Trust have recreated a seventeenth century garden on the estate. A rather s
Read more

Houses of Interest: West Yorkshire

-
Image
For more Yorkshire 'related stuff' you can find North Yorkshire here ,  South Yorkshire here ,   East Riding here . See also the Rupert Travelogue  entry for Yorkshire, and the entry for Adwalton Moor Oakwell Hall    was the inspiration for Charlotte Brontë's Fieldhead in "Shirley". More recently it has been used a number of times as a film set, including "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell". Located close to the M62 and the Leeds branch of purgatory on Earth (aka Ikea), this Tudor manor house is beautifully maintained by Kirklees Borough Council. The hall is presented as a seventeenth century home. I really like this approach, as so often historic houses have different rooms decorated for different eras, so it is really nice to see a house presented from one era in it's entirety. Oakwell was in the ownership of the Batt family, who supported the King; John Batt was a captain and most probably fought at Adwalton Moor. The retreating Parli
Read more

Trees

-
Image
It has been said of wargamers that they spend all their time painstakingly painting figures and then ignore the terrain. A trend that I feel is changing for the better with printed game mats and 'teddy bear fur'.   Today's post looks at trees: more specifically, Woodland Scenics deciduous Realistic Tree Kits. 2"-3" trees, light green foliage, PP and SF figures for comparison Warning: great trees, messy process. The trees come in several different sizes. Packaging varies, sample kits consisting of armatures and foliage are available, or alternatively elements can be bought separately. They all 'work' the same regardless of 'version'. 2"-3" on the left, 3"-5" on the right I've gone for the 2"-3" armatures and 3" - 5" armatures. Armatures are tree trunk brown plastic and look very uninspiring when you first encounter them., as they are 2 dimensional. But do not be put off, the 2D branches can be bent and the
Read more

Coat Colours Part 2: Royalist Regiments of Foot

-
Image
Continuing my therapeutic blogging (write rather than rant) antidote to incorrect English Civil War coat colour tables for wargamers, I give you the Royalist Regiments of Foot. For all of my coat colour articles see: Introduction   Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B  Montrose and the Irish Brigade Part 4  Dragoons, Horse and the New Model Army coat colours The Trained Bands London Trained Bands Auxiliary regiments Scarves   Same rules apply here, as they did with the Parliamentarian coat colours: Regiments often got renamed when command passed to a new colonel - these regiments are listed under their first name e.g. Jacob Astley's Regiment was originally Richard Fielding's Regiment. Coat colour notes refer to contemporaneous references and some of the deductions made by Reid, Spring,  Peachey and Prince. You will also notice that some regiments have several coat colours listed. Where there is some question around a coat colour I have t
Read more

Coat Colours Part 3b: The Army of Montrose and the Irish

-
Image
I suppose this post was inevitable; I started wondering what colour palette I would need to use to paint my forthcoming Montrose army. I've already investigated coat colours , general dye colours and how that roughly translates to paint codes , but I needed a rough idea of tartan colours, shirts and in particular those colours favoured by the Irish. Just as there is a wargamer fact™  that 'the London Trained Bands all wore red coats' so there are also quite a number of well established wargamer facts™  concerning the clothing of the Irish and Highlanders. But how factual are these facts? Highlanders Wargamer Fact™: the Highlanders wore yellow shirts .  Highlanders did wear shirts, and some, at least were dyed yellow. Highlander's shirts were made from coarse linen, they certainly didn't lace up at the front (in an Adam and The Ants style). James Gordon's History of Scots Affairs 1637-1641 (written 1841) has this description “As for their apparel; next the skin,
Read more

Coat Colours Part 1: Parliamentarian Regiments of Foot

-
Image
When I first started my Civil War gaming project I relied upon the many ECW coat colour tables on wargaming websites. As my project has progressed, my library has got bigger, my research has gone back to primary sources rather than relying upon second and third hand sources; and I have noticed quite a few errors in these lists for wargamers. I have also noticed the same errors appearing in multiple lists.     As a result of continually seeing 'the London Trained Bands and their Auxiliaries wore red coats' (there is no evidence supporting this at all, the evidence, whilst not explicit suggests that the London Trained Bands wore civilian clothes - some of the Auxiliaries might have been issued with blue winter coats) I decided to write my own list.  So here it is. If your allegiance lies elsewhere you might want to look at  Introduction   Part 2  Royalist coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B  Montrose and the Irish Brigade Pa
Read more

Houses of Interest: Lincolnshire

-
Image
The #ECWtravelogue has dipped its toe into Lincolnshire, gateway to the heartlands of the Eastern Association, and the important ports connecting England to the Low Countries. Make yourself a cup of tea and settle back for a story of blue on blue killing, and the use of  human shields. Please note that several entries are private residences with little or no public vantage points - they are included for 'completeness'. Do not trespass or irritate their owners please. At the outbreak of the Wars, Lincolnshire was a divided County, Parliament having slightly more support than the King. Following the 1643 campaign the County was a stronghold of Parliament - not that they had it all their own way. The Royalist strongholds at Newark and Belvoir Castle providing considerable nuisance when the Eastern Association left the County to pursue bigger goals. Gainsborough saw a small, but important, battle on the 28th July 1643; so it was only fitting that I visited on the anniversary of the
Read more

Lurkio ECW Range

-
Image
Always on the look out for new toys, I spotted Lurkio have started releasing their new ECW range after a bit of a hiatus. Thank you to Lurkio for kindly sending me some figures for review. My favourite figure from the samples I was sent, not quite sure what has happened to his face though I'll be very straight here, these might not be to everybody's taste. Why? They are headless (yay!) and the pikemen are open handed (double yay!). Whilst that makes me very happy, I know that many baulk at the idea of having to assemble teeny bits on figures, and see any assembly on anything smaller than 28mm figures a complete no-no.  The return of the scale-o-matic, horizontal lines are at 5mm spacing For those of you new to this 'sticking things together' game it isn't a problem, in fact it is pretty straightforward*. I find putting a big blob of superglue onto a palette, then use a cocktail stick as a glue spreader, the best way to get superglue into the precise area that you wa
Read more

Pikes

-
Image
I must not write "don't tell him your name Pike".  I must not write "don't tell him your name Pike". Oh damn! Pikemen figures come in two varieties, with cast on pikes, and open handed. Having previously owned 6mm ECW pikemen armed with pikes which quickly turn to overcooked spaghetti, I went the open handed pikemen route.  For those of you who choose this path, open handed pikemen raises two questions: how long should a pike be?, and where can I buy pikes from?  All this gives me an excuse to have a closer look at the 'queen of weapons'. How long should a pike be? You'd think that this question would be fairly easy to answer, it is in fact more than a little problematical. Pikes were between 15' and 18' in length, which should be quite easy to scale down, or so you would think. Sir James Turner  (Pallas Armata p.176) and General Monck (Observations p.26) both stated that the proper length for a pike should be 18'.The 1639 Direction
Read more