![]() ![]() You can also see gibbet irons, a Georgian 'birching stool', and the equipment used to force-feed suffragettes and conscientious objectors who were on hunger strikes. Some of the exhibits require a strong stomach! Included in them is the bathtub from the 'brides in the bath' murders, for which George Joseph Smith was hanged in 1915. Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst stood in the dock after her arrest, as did her daughter Christabel, and, more recently, the novelist and politician Jeffrey Archer The museum has a collection of over 40,000 objects linked to the administration of justice and punishment of criminals.Īmong the fascinating objects on display is the door of Oscar Wilde's prison cell from Reading Gaol, evidence gathered in the Great Train Robbery (including the Monopoly set the gang played while waiting for the manhunt to die down), and the prisoner's dock from the Bow Street Magistrates Court in London.įamous prisoners to stand in the dock included Oscar Wilde, Dr Crippen, and the infamous Kray brothers. Visitors can explore the historic courtroom and the original prison cells. ![]() ![]() Today the Shire Hall and the neighbouring Edwardian police station have been transformed into the largest museum in Britain dedicated to law, justice, crime and punishment. The opening show gun positions for 'Demi-culverin' (?), with reputed cannon ball recess on the left.Occupying one side of Nottingham's historic Lace Market is Shire Hall and County Gaol, built on a site used for the administration of justice since the 14th century. The passage was probably constructed in the 12th century. He was hanged, drawn and quartered on the 29th of November 1330 and his wretched remains skewered on spikes and left to rot on traitors gate at Tyburn. The now doomed monarch killer was led away, so legend has it, to Isobel's mournful cries of 'Fair son, have pity on the gentle Mortimer.' Sir Roger was imprisoned in the castle, taken to London and executed as a traitor. Edward himself is said to have seized Mortimer. With a band of loyal supporters the King burst into his mother's bedroom and surprised the lovers. Seeking to bring his father's killer to justice and expose his feckless mother, the young King Edward III entered a network of secret tunnels that led ultimately into the castle itself. On the night of October 19th 1330 the Queen and her lover Mortimer were staying at Nottingham castle. Mortimer, the Earl of March and lover of Queen Isobel, was probably her accomplice in the murder of Edward II. ![]() The passage way is eerie enough but is made all the more so by the reputed presence of the ghost of Sir Roger Mortimer himself. The caves here show 'Mortimers Hole' which was a secret tunnel through the castle rock up to the castle itself. They have always been famous, and Asser, the friend and biographer of King Alfred, writing about 900, tells us that the ancient name for Nottingham was Tiuogobauc, which he translates as meaning ' the cave dwellings.' Later etchings and pictures show the caves with windows fixed in place, used for habitation and storage. Some of them are natural others are artificial, but date back to prehistoric times, others again are mediaeval or even modern cellars. The caves which are found here as well as all over Nottingham are one of the most difficult and intricate problems of local archaeology. ![]()
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