NEWGATE PRISON , BIRDCAGE WALK.and the Cato Street conspirators.

The Bird-Cage Walk:

Newgate Prison

The Murderers are buried under the flooring.

Source: The Illustrated London News, Dec. 29, 1888, p.775

 

A narrow passage connected Newgate Gaol and the adjoining Sessions House. It was named "Birdcage Walk" due to its bars across its roof. It was also called "Dead Man’s Walk" because it was the last walking place of those awaiting execution. There are 97 executed prisoners who are recorded to have been buried in quicklime under the paving slabs in the passage. The letters on the wall at the left are the initials of the surnames of those buried , recording their approximate burial place in the passage. The row of letters T B I D & T indicate the burial place of five executed Cato Street conspirators : Arthur Thistlewood , Thomas Brunt , James Ings , William Davidson & Richard Tidd. On the 1st of May, 1820, they were hanged then decapitated with a surgeon’s knife outside Newgate Prison.