john atte kiln
Execution Chamber
WARNING - SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND THE FOLLOWING TEXT UPSETTING.
This is a real (although, happily, now disused) execution chamber. It is in the Crumlin Road prison in Northern Ireland. The whole prison is now superseded and instead is a tourist attraction. The procedures for an execution brought to condemned man to a holding cell for a few days, where he could do the best he could to prepare himself. He was told that the execution chamber was in another part of the prison and he expected to eventually walk to it. But in reality it was behind a dummy cupboard which, at the appointed time, was crashed to one side to reveal the sight you see here. He was then marched forward and dealt with. The practised team took less then half a minute to complete the task. 17 criminals died here.
I expected to see a central noose (the loop of rope above it was tied to pull apart as the man fell, part of the "long drop" technique that Britain developed, designed to kill "instantly" instead of strangle). The length of rope was dependent on the prisoner's weight; the lighter the man, the longer the rope. What I didn't expect were the two side nooses. These are straps to hold on to (much as you get of trains and trams). Two officers stood either side of the condemned man and stopped him hopping about or collapsing. When the trapdoor crashed open (and the release of the safety lock and trapdoor is terrifyingly sudden and noisy) they obviously didn't want the officers to also fall into the hole.
Execution Chamber
WARNING - SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND THE FOLLOWING TEXT UPSETTING.
This is a real (although, happily, now disused) execution chamber. It is in the Crumlin Road prison in Northern Ireland. The whole prison is now superseded and instead is a tourist attraction. The procedures for an execution brought to condemned man to a holding cell for a few days, where he could do the best he could to prepare himself. He was told that the execution chamber was in another part of the prison and he expected to eventually walk to it. But in reality it was behind a dummy cupboard which, at the appointed time, was crashed to one side to reveal the sight you see here. He was then marched forward and dealt with. The practised team took less then half a minute to complete the task. 17 criminals died here.
I expected to see a central noose (the loop of rope above it was tied to pull apart as the man fell, part of the "long drop" technique that Britain developed, designed to kill "instantly" instead of strangle). The length of rope was dependent on the prisoner's weight; the lighter the man, the longer the rope. What I didn't expect were the two side nooses. These are straps to hold on to (much as you get of trains and trams). Two officers stood either side of the condemned man and stopped him hopping about or collapsing. When the trapdoor crashed open (and the release of the safety lock and trapdoor is terrifyingly sudden and noisy) they obviously didn't want the officers to also fall into the hole.