Tyburn Triple Tree Gallows Poster

Public executions at Tyburn took place between 1196 and 1783, after which they were later moved to Newgate Gaol because the crowds gathered more for the entertainment of it all, and eventually became more ugly and harder to control.

Tyburn was located at the junction of what is now Edgware Road, Park Lane and Oxford Street1, the gallows overlooked Hyde Park. There are estimates of between 40,000 and 60,000 people who would show up for hanging day.

At Newgate, the condemned would have been released from their chains, put in an open carts while sitting on their coffin and begin their their last journey.

Their first stop would be at St Sepulchre's Church, where the condemned would traditionally receive a nosegay of flowers, and from there the procession moved down Snow Hill, turned left and then crossed Fleet Ditch over a narrow stone bridge, and then uphill to High Holborn. It meandered through the narrow streets of St Giles High Street, before the last part of the death route, Oxford Road.

The nearly three-mile journey could often take up to two hours and more if the condemned was of rock star status, such as Dick Turpin, an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticized following his execution in York for horse theft.

The second stop on the route was the Bow tavern, where a pint of ale was give to each of the condemned prisoners so they could have "one for the road". It was during this stop that the phrase "on the wagon" was coined, because prisoners were put back on the wagon, obviously never to drink again.

William Hogarth did a drawing of the Triple Tree Gallows at Tyburn Fair around 1747. In the background you can see the what was either Mother Proctor's Pew or Mammy Douglas' Pews, which the public rented in order to have the best seats in the house, for a price.

(Please note, the Hogarth illustration is merely to show you a historical reference to what Tyburn Fair looked like - the Hogarth illustration does not come with the poster)

The Tyburn tree was a huge triangular construction, the three posts were 18 feet high and the crossbeams were nine feet long - capable of hanging 24 (eight on each horizontal beam) prisoners at once. Records only show it being used at full capacity once, in 1649, but hanging days when only one person was dispatched were very rare.

The very first execution at Tyburn (also known as The Elms) took place in 1196 where the condemned were quickly dispatched from the stand of Elm trees that stood on he bank of the Tyburn River. Later, a pair of gallows were built in 1220, but it wasn't until 1571 when the mighty Triple Tree was erected. The Triple Tree was used consistently until 1759 when it was removed because it obstructing traffic on the highway.

This poster is 17 inches wide by 22 inches high, generous black ink lushly printed on parchment stock.

PLEASE NOTE: This poster image was hand drawn by Madame Talbot using nothing more than pen and ink on illustration board.

After the poster was completed, it was taken to a real printer and printed on an offset printing press.

Absolutely no computers were used in the making of this poster, all of it was drawn entirely by hand.

The copyright notice is on the website image only and not on the printed poster.

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