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All the United Kingdom England York Dick Turpin's Tombstone

Dick Turpin's Tombstone

The final resting place of England's most notorious bandit.

York, England

Added By
Will Nett
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The Grave of John Palmer, alias Richard Turpin or Dick Turpin   Michael Jagger / CC BY-SA 2.0
The Grave of John Palmer, alias Richard Turpin or Dick Turpin   Michael Jagger / CC BY-SA 2.0
A close-up of the gravestone   Will Nett (Atlas Obscura User)
  Will Nett (Atlas Obscura User)
  Will Nett (Atlas Obscura User)
View taken from behind the headstone.   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
  SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
Information placard.   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
Police Sketch   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
Holding Cell, York Castle Museum   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
  rbenn250 / Atlas Obscura User
View from the entrance, grave is at the back.   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
Blue Boar Pub   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
Blue Boar Pub   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
Blue Boar Pub   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
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About

The county of Essex has produced a great many legends, but perhaps none so notorious as cattle-worrying highwayman Richard "Dick" Turpin. For a time, his interred remains proved almost as elusive as the man himself. Today, a rather singular headstone in a deserted churchyard in York proclaims to be Turpin's final resting place. 

Turpin was born in 1705. He apprenticed as a butcher, but turned to crime and fell in with a gang of cattle rustlers where his knowledge of butchery gave him a leg up in stealing livestock. Turpin's crimes soon escalated, and he became known for his unorthodox methods of criminal persuasion. He allegedly emptied a kettle of boiling water over one victim, and threw another into a fireplace. For a time, Turpin joined forces with another highwayman, but killed his accomplice after a bungled robbery and fled town. He assumed the alias 'John Palmer' and made a meager living by stealing horses.

Eventually Turpin was identified and arrested, and in April 1739 he was executed by hanging on York's Knavesmire, a wooden triangle gallows, also known as the "Three-Legged Mare," at York's Tyburn. But even in death, Turpin was plagued by theft when his body was dug up and sold for illegal dissection. Eventually it was recovered, and buried at the current site with the names John Palmer and Dick Turpin both displayed on his headstone.

His name might have been forgotten if not for Harrison Ainsworth's 1834 novel, Rookwood, which included a story about Turpin and his famous horseback ride from London to York. Ainsworth even added his own twist; that Turpin's horse, Black Bess, died upon their arrival in York. Though apocryphal, the tale cemented Turpin's place in history as a legendary highwayman.

Related Tags

Cemeteries Gravestones Crime Theft Graves

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A 10 minute walk from the city center, the grave is located directly opposite of St. George's Church off Lead Mill Lane. Full public access.

One can visit the jail cell that Turpin was held in, prior to execution, at the York Castle Museum.

Community Contributors

Added By

Will Nett

Edited By

SEANETTA, rbenn250, jonathancarey, Michelle Cassidy

  • SEANETTA
  • rbenn250
  • jonathancarey
  • Michelle Cassidy

Published

February 6, 2020

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Sources
  • https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-myth-of-highwayman-dick-turpin-outlives-the-facts/
  • http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/georgian/dick-turpin
  • https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/museum/item.asp?item_id=25
Dick Turpin's Tombstone
6 Lead Mill Ln
York, England, YO1 9QH
United Kingdom
53.954848, -1.075976
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