Gallows a broken neck rather than through strangulation, especially if extra weights were fixed to their ankles. During the era of public execution in London, England, a prominent gallows stood at Tyburn, on what is now Marble Arch. Later executions occurred outside Newgate Prison, where the Old Bailey now stands. Gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame, typically wooden, from which objects can be hung or “weighed.” Gallows were thus widely used for public weighing scales for large objects such as sacks of grain or minerals, usually positioned in markets or toll gates. The term was also used for a
Old Newgate Prison the prison was used to house Loyalists who fought against independence, as well as British prisoners of war. During this time the holding areas in the mines became known as "Hell", and the prisoners were employed as miners (although this turned out to be unprofitable). In 1790 it became a state prison, the first such in America. Most of the above-ground facilities present today were built between then and 1802. These include the main prison wall, and five brick-and-masonry buildings, all of which now stand in ruins. In 1827, the remaining prisoners were transferred to the new, "state-of-the-art" Wethersfield State