Tyburn Tyburn Tyburn was a village in the county of Middlesex close to the current location of Marble Arch and the southern end of Edgware Road in present-day London. It took its name from the Tyburn Brook, a tributary of the River Westbourne. The name Tyburn, from Teo Bourne meaning 'boundary stream', is quite widely occurring, and the Tyburn Brook should not be confused with the better known River Tyburn, which is the next tributary of the River Thames to the east of the Westbourne. For many centuries, the name Tyburn was synonymous with capital punishment, it having been the principal
Scaffold (execution site) Scaffold (execution site) A scaffold (, ) is a raised, stage-like site for public executions. The execution was practised in public places. The "public spectacle" character of the execution was meant to deter the people from committing crimes, and demonstrate the authority of the Government, while simultaneously acting as a form of entertainment for the masses. For this purpose, the scaffold was often higher than a podium setup, and was therefore also called scaffold. Initially, beheading by an executioner was usually performed with a sword, axe, or hatchet, later executions were sometimes performed with a guillotine instead. In the Wolfgang