Site of Execution Dock – London, England - Atlas Obscura

Site of Execution Dock

Where condemned pirates met their grisly end at the gallows on the River Thames.  

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The city of London was once the largest port in the world, and as such attracted its fair share of pirates and smugglers. Policing the port was the responsibility of the Admiralty court, which often handed down a death sentence to those convicted of piracy. Prisoners would be marched en masse along the south side of the Thames, across London Bridge, past the Tower, and to the foreshore of the river in Wapping. They ended their journey, and lives, at the site known as Execution Dock.

Pirates meeting their gruesome end on the gallows at Execution Dock were allegedly subject to an unusual hanging. The rope was too short to break the neck on the drop, so the condemned would be strangled, appearing to dance as their limbs twitched as they died. Their bodies were often left hanging until three tides had washed over them. Particularly notorious pirates’ corpses were tarred and placed in cages (known as gibbets) along the river as a warning to other would-be bandits. Captain William Kidd is probably the most famous swashbuckler to meet his end this way in 1701; his gibbeted body was left in the Thames estuary for three years.

All traces of Execution Dock are now long gone; after 400 years of use the last pirates stepped off in 1830. The exact location of the former dock is disputed, with three riverside pubs claiming the site: the Prospect of Whitby (which comes complete with replica gallows), Captain Kidd, and the Town of Ramsgate. The last is thought to be the most likely location. Down a narrow alley along the western side of the Town of Ramsgate, you’ll see a set of stairs known as the Wapping Old Steps. At low tide, they lead all the way down to the river foreshore, to what may well have been the site of Execution Dock. 

Know Before You Go

The stairs only lead to the foreshore at low tide, so time your visit accordingly. Watch out for mud and debris when walking down toward the water.

There is no sign indicating the location of the dock. However, there is a pub named The Town of Ramsgate situated along Wapping High Street, take the narrow lane named Wapping Old Stairs E. The dock is about a 15 minute walk along the Thames Path from the Tower of London to the South & Wapping Station to the North.

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March 1, 2019

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