Site of many executions outside Castle Museum
Long before York opened museums, built pedestrianised shopping centres, and became the city of festivals, people had to make their own entertainment. And back then, the populace liked nothing more than a public hanging. For more than four centuries, executions took place at Tyburn, alongside Knavesmire. A large stone next to Tadcaster Road marks the spot. It was here that notorious highwaymen “Swiftnicks” Nevison and Dick Turpin met their end.
For celebrity deaths like these, you were guaranteed a good crowd. But generally it was a bit of a chore to traipse all that way out of town to watch lesser criminals dangle. So when the New Drop was built right in the city centre, it offered a more modern and convenient way to catch a necktie party.
Info
Address York Castle Museum, Eye of York, York YO1 9RY, +44 (0)1904 687687, www.yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk | Public Transport Parking in Castle car park. Closest bus stop: Tower Street | Hours Daily 9:30am–5pm| Tip Next door to the Castle Museum is Clifford’s Tower, the remains of a castle built at the time of William The Conqueror. From the top it offers 360-degree views across York’s rooftops.
The New Drop saw the gallows and scaffold erected within the walls of the Castle Prison, facing St George’s Field. Those about to be executed spent their last night in the condemned cell of the castle, which can now be visited on a tour of York Castle Museum. The next morning they were led out onto the scaffold, followed by their own coffins. That was the big moment for the crowd, who could let rip with jeers and cheers. One of the biggest draws at the New Drop was the August 1856 hanging of William Dove, a former farmer who poisoned his wife, Harriet, with strychnine. As many as 20,000 spectators were in attendance.
From 1802 to 1835, the executioner was William “Mutton” Curry, a former sheep stealer who took the job to avoid being transported to Australia. He found the work so stressful that he drank gin to steel himself for the task. Once, he was so intoxicated that he couldn’t find the culprit’s head with the rope. And in September 1821, after Curry had despatched seven men, he managed to fall through the trap door himself. Unlike his victims, the executioner escaped with nothing more than a few bruises.
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