Smithfield, London personal signature of the Monarch), invariably upon ministerial recommendation, which if unexercised by the time of a Sovereign's death required renewed authority. In this case Queen Elizabeth did not approve the executions, thus freeing the Protestants. During the 16th century the Smithfield site was also the place of execution of swindlers and coin forgers, who were boiled to death in oil. By the 18th century the "Tyburn Tree" (near the present-day Marble Arch) became the main place for public executions in London. After 1785, executions were again moved, this time to the gates of Newgate prison, just to the south
Bow Common Booth described it as 'worse than almost any district in London.' Slums were cleared during the course of the 20th century, most hastened by bomb damage in the Second World War when Bow was targeted for it being an important artery, to feed the demands of the city, at that time. St Paul's Church was rebuilt in the fashionable 'new brutalism' style of1960 (replacing one damaged in the war) and is now a Grade II* listed building. Bow Common Bow Common is a locality that includes part of the Mile End and Bromley-by-Bow areas of the London Borough of Tower