Home > Encyclopedia > Placeography > Sites

Tyburn

roseModern Map
roseList documents mentioning Tyburn
roseList variant names and spellings
Tyburn is best known as the location of the principal gallows where public executions were carried out from the late 12th century until the 18th (Drouillard, Wikipedia). It was a village to the west of the city, near the present-day location of Marble Arch (beyond the boundary of the Agas Map). Its name derives from a stream, and its significance to Stow was primarily as one of the sources of piped water for the city; he describes how
In the yeare 1401. this priſon houſe called the Tunne was made a Ceſterne for ſweete water conueyed by pipes of Leade frõ the towne of Tyborne, and was from thence forth called the conduite vpon Cornhill Gap in transcription. Reason: Editorial omission for reasons of length or relevance. Use only in quotations in born-digital documents.[…] (Stow 1598, Cornhill Ward.)

References

  • Drouillard, Tara. Executions. The Map of Early Modern London, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 15 Sep. 2020, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/EXEC1.htm.
  • Stow, John, and William fitz-Stephen. Survey of London: Cornhill Ward. The Map of Early Modern London, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 15 Sep. 2020, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1598_CORN1.htm.