London Guided Walks » Episode 156: Smithfield: London’s Theatre of Public Execution

Episode 156: Smithfield: London’s Theatre of Public Execution

Join us as we explore the grim and fascinating history of executions at Smithfield, from the martyrdom of John Rogers and Anne Askew to the notorious hanging, drawing, and quartering of William Wallace. Discover how the market, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and the surrounding streets formed the backdrop for these events, and learn how the atmosphere, public spectacle, and sensory experiences — the sights, the crowds, even the smell of the market — shaped contemporary reactions. Perfect for history enthusiasts, true crime fans, and anyone curious about the intersection of justice, faith, and public life in Tudor and medieval London.

Host: Hazel Baker

Hazel is an active Londoner, a keen theatre-goer and qualified CIGA London tour guide.

She has won awards for tour guiding and is proud to be involved with some great organisations. She is a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors and am an honorary member of The Leaders Council.

Channel 5’s Walking Wartime Britain(Episode 3) and Yesterday Channel’s The Architecture the Railways Built (Series 3, Episode 7). Het Rampjaar 1672, Afl. 2: Vijand Engeland and Arte.fr Invitation au Voyage, À Chelsea, une femme qui trompe énormément.

Guest: Maria Alexe

Maria Alexe is a performer and language specialist whose work explores the intersection between storytelling, place, and lived experience. With a background in the performing arts, she is particularly interested in how urban spaces function as stages for human drama, where history, memory, and narrative continue to unfold.

Maria’s research focuses on London’s historic sites as theatrical landscapes, with Smithfield offering a striking case study. She examines the individuals who faced execution there, reconstructing what these events may have looked and felt like, and considering the responses of those who witnessed them — as spectators, participants, and storytellers. Her work also reflects on what remains visible in the present-day environment, and how these traces shape our understanding of justice, memory, and the stories a city chooses to preserve.

When not guiding or researching, Maria is drawn to uncovering the human narratives embedded in familiar places, using performance and language to bring historical experiences into sharper focus for contemporary audiences.

Smithfield: London’s Execution Ground and the Theatre of Punishment

Hazel Baker introduces Smithfield (West Smithfield by St Bartholomew’s Hospital, the meat market and St Bartholomew-the-Great) as a deceptively ordinary open space with a long history as both marketplace and London’s major stage for public execution. With tour guide Maria Alexe, the episode explains why Smithfield’s location outside the old walls helped authorities use it for spectacles of power and belief, from the first clearly recorded execution in 1305 (William Wallace, hanged, drawn and quartered) to the last clearly documented burning in 1612, alongside later uncertainty about continued hangings. It focuses on Tudor-era burnings for heresy, especially the Marian burnings (about 48 at Smithfield), and on Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, including John Rogers and Anne Askew. It also covers execution methods (hanging, burning, boiling alive) and the crowd’s festival-like atmosphere, then points to surviving traces in today’s Smithfield and the walking tours that explore them.

Timings:

00:00 Welcome to Smithfield

01:47 Where is Smithfield

03:03 Markets and Fairs

03:37 Why Executions Here

06:10 Timeline and Victims

08:13 Foxe and Martyr Memory

09:41 John Rogers Burning

11:11 Anne Askew Story

15:17 How Executions Worked

18:59 Boiling Alive Horror

24:02 Crowds and Spectacle