A gruesome spectacle - public executions
Extract from Tough Times and Grisly Crimes
Saturdays around St James’s Park in Newcastle are always a fantastic spectacle. Tens of thousands of men, women and children gather for an afternoon of excitement. But, whereas these days the fans turn out to see a football match, if we turn the clock back a couple of hundred years, our ancestors were treated to a different kind of family entertainment.
For in Georgian times, the crowds gathered to witness men – and women – being hanged. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, when the population of Newcastle was a quarter of what it is now, crowds of more than 20,000 would gather to watch the victim’s death throes.
The name Gallowgate is still with us. But, where soccer fans now tread, crowds once followed men and women as they were led out to the Town Moor to be hanged.And there was no shortage of victims. In Georgian times, there were nearly 200 offences, including pick-pocketing, which were punishable by death.
Ironically, there are records of pickpockets mingling with the crowds on the Town Moor and making use of the chaos to steal a few pounds. Indeed, many traders saw these spectacles as an opportunity to make money.> Perhaps like today’s football programme sellers, there were men selling papers featuring the details of the prisoner’s crime and even his or her final words. Such bills survive to this day and are held in Newcastle Central Library. Each one makes fascinating reading.
