British Gallows Used for Spies and Traitors at Pentonville or Wandsworth
Sixteen spies and traitors were hanged at either Pentonville or at Wandsworth prisons in London.
There are no photographs of the gallows at Pentonville. However, we do know that at the end of the 1920s, to save the prisoner from having to walk the 25 yards to the gallows, a new execution facility was provided within the prison. It comprised a stack of three rooms in the middle of A Wing.
The topmost room contained the double beam from which up to three 2-inch link chains could be suspended, for attachment of the rope(s) which hung down through floor hatches. The chain-adjusting mechanism allowed the drop to be set to an accuracy of half an inch.
For a single hanging, the centre adjuster was used for the hanging rope, while the outer two were used to suspend ropes for the warders to hold onto while they supported the condemned man.
The first-floor room, painted a pale green, contained the lever and trapdoors, and the ground-floor room acted as the “pit” into which the prisoner dropped. Adjacent to this room was an autopsy room where post-mortems were carried out.
Albert Pierrepoint described the trap in 1931 as having two leaves, each some 8 feet 6 inches long by 2 feet 6 inches wide, with rubber-backed spring clips to catch them when they were released.
Also on the first floor were the two condemned cells, separated from the execution chamber by an anteroom. It was just 20 feet from the condemned cells to the gallows.
Wandsworth Prison’s Gallows
Wandsworth Prison’s gallows was allowed to be photographed and still survives in pieces within the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham, where the author saw and photographed it.
There were two sets of condemned cells at Wandsworth, back to back in a mirror image pattern on E Wing. These were reached by the prisoner from the yard, by climbing a metal staircase. Between Condemned Cell A and the execution room was a small lobby, through which officials entered from the main prison to witness the hanging.
As at Pentonville, the execution chamber comprised three cells, one above the other, at the end of E Wing where it joins the rotunda. This Condemned Suite was constructed in 1937. Alfred Richards was the first to be hanged here, on 12 July 1938.
The top floor, reached by a steel ladder from the execution room, contained the beam with three floor traps through which hung down chains for attachment of the ropes. There were three chain-adjusting blocks bolted to the beam, with the centre one for use in single executions and the outer two for double ones.
The first floor contained the 8 feet 6 inches long by 5 feet 8 inches wide trapdoors and the operating lever.
For a single execution, two ropes hung down for the warders to hold onto as they stood on plank bridges over the drop to support the condemned man with the palm of their other hand under the person’s elbows, so as the prisoner dropped, their hand would fall away.
There were two wall-mounted handrails for the warders to hold onto during double executions.
The ground-floor cell was the drop room, with a gate to the yard through which the body was brought out. When Sid Dernley assisted at an execution there in the 1940s, he recalled how clean and tidy it all was—even the wooden floor being varnished.
It is thought that the trapdoor release mechanism at Wandsworth was unusual and not the same as at Pentonville. The first diagram shows that the two trapdoors were released by withdrawing bolts from the ends of the two doors, positioned on the centre line. This was unlike the more normal arrangement, shown in the next drawing, where one trapdoor had hinges only extending the width of it, while the other had hinges extending right across the drop, with their ends resting on a slotted drawbar. The hinge ends lined up with these slots when the lever above was pushed.
Gallows Used to Execute British Soldiers Convicted of Murder
Six of the soldiers were hanged at Wandsworth using the gallows described above. James McNicol was hanged at Pentonville, also as described above.
The layout of the Condemned Suite at Durham, constructed in 1925, is very similar to that at Wandsworth, with a small lobby formed from a single cell with double doors in and out, separating the condemned cell (formed from three cells) from the execution room, which had been formed from two cells.
No details of the gallows at Dorchester, Durham, Norwich, and Walton prisons have ever been made available, but it is assumed they were of a similar pattern to those at Wandsworth and Pentonville.
The layout of the condemned suite at Oxford Prison, where Harold Hill was hanged, is rather unusual. In most cases, the gallows room was adjacent to the condemned cell or separated from it by a lobby. At Oxford, the condemned cell’s entrance was in A Wing, with a doorway leading out into a corridor into C Wing. Hill would have had to walk down this corridor past a number of cells, turn left into the execution chamber, and left again onto the gallows.
The American Military Prison at Shepton Mallet in Somerset
Under the provisions of the Visiting Forces Act (1942), 16 men were hanged at Shepton Mallet.
To enable these executions, a new brick-built extension was added to one of the prison’s wings. The two-story red-brick structure looked totally out of place against the weathered stone walls of the original building.
A new British-style gallows was installed on the first floor of the building, and two cells within the main building were converted into a condemned cell.
There are no photographs of the interior of this extension, but we can assume it followed the standard pattern, as at Pentonville, with trapdoors of sufficient width to permit double hangings—of which there were three.
The Gallows at Hameln
It is officially reported that the gallows erected at Hameln was in the west wing of the main prison building. This wing was kept separate from the rest of the prison.
The gallows was modelled on the design of the one at Pentonville, which had trapdoors wide enough to permit double (side-by-side) hangings. This became the norm for male executions at Hameln.
A total of 191 men and ten women were executed on this gallows.
There are no photographs available, but since it is known that the split beam was installed in the second floor above the execution chamber, it seems unlikely that it was supported by wooden uprights, but rather by brackets set into sockets in the walls.
U.S. Army Gallows in Germany, France, and Italy
Bruchsal
From surviving photographs, it is possible to determine that this gallows had 6-inch square uprights supporting the 6-inch square beam, which had a metal eyebolt at its centre for attachment of the 13-coil noose. The uprights appear to be very close together—perhaps only 3’6″ apart.
A tarpaulin hung down from the platform, concealing the hanging prisoner. The single-leaf trapdoor was released by a “ball chute” mechanism, housed in a wooden structure adjacent to the staircase at the front of the gallows.
Landsberg
It is unclear whether there were more than two open-air gallows at Landsberg. It appears that Reichhart’s gallows was the original one and was modified for the first hangings on 19 November 1945. By 10 December, the handrail had been painted black and cross braces added between the beam and uprights.
The uprights were considerably further apart than those at Bruchsal—perhaps nearly eight feet, almost the width of the platform (which was about 8 feet square and eight to nine feet from the ground). The beam was deeper than the one at Bruchsal, around 10 inches.
There were several possible release mechanisms for the double trapdoors. Surviving photographs show unequal-length hinges, with one door’s hinges running a few inches under the other and resting on a drawbar.
The lever to release the traps was located behind the prisoner. A canvas curtain beside the steps was drawn back to allow examination and removal of the prisoner.
Woods’ gallows, used for the May 1946 executions, appears to be a mirror image of Reichhart’s.
Little is known of the gallows used for the final seven hangings in 1951, other than they were set up in a “loft.” A photograph was taken of Oswald Pohl standing on what appears to be a double trapdoor, but no other details are discernible.
Nuremberg
Very little detail is available on the gallows at Nuremberg, as no photography was permitted. Three gallows were built at Landsberg under Master Sergeant John C. Woods. They were sectionally constructed and painted olive green for covert transport.
Each gallows stood 15 feet tall with an 8-foot platform. The beam had a centre eyebolt for the rope. Woods designed a latch mechanism to prevent the trapdoors from swinging back and striking the prisoner.
Rheinbach
Only one photo survives, showing a single trapdoor with a ball chute release mechanism. The trapdoor appears to be about 3 feet square and is caught by a latch mechanism when opened.
U.S. Military Disciplinary Training Centres in Europe
Few details remain of the gallows at these locations. The execution report for German spy Günther Ohletz, the first to be hanged at DTC Paris, states that the gallows was of the ball chute type and that the executioner cut the string to release the trap.
It has been reported that gallows used in France and Belgium were transportable, enabling executions near the crime scene.
Peninsular Base Section at Aversa in Italy
The gallows at Aversa was a large, permanent wooden structure within the stockade. A photograph taken before the hanging of Louis Till on 2 July 1945 shows 13 steps leading up to the platform, with heavy wood uprights supporting the beam.
The rope was tied to a hook or eyebolt, and the uprights stood about 3’6″ apart. The trapdoor was released by three soldiers underneath the platform, pulling wooden levers attached to ropes linked to the release mechanism.
The handrail uprights extended above the beam, forming a high-level frame—possibly allowing a tarpaulin to be fixed in case of bad weather.
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