Bloody Tower: The Diary of Tilly Middleton, London, 1553-1559(2002)

Alison Prince

The diary of Tilly Middleton, London, 1553-1559 12th February, 1554 Through my roof hole I am watching the final touches being put to the scaffold on Tower Green. It is draped in black, and straw has already been strewn around the block to catch the blood. There is no axe yet. The executioner will bring that. I wonder if Mother will let us watch? We usually do, on Tower Hill, but this is the first execution within the Tower Walls since I was about one and a half years old. Mother says that was a double execution-a queen and her lady-and tomorrow is the twelfth anniversary of those deaths. I do not remember them, of course, but I will certainly remember this...there have been many, many deaths in other parts of the Tower-some we never hear about. This bloody Tower.