had a name, it was called 'Little Ease',
in 1534, a
man and woman were arrested fleeing from the Tower of London, it was yeoman
warder, John Bawd, and a female prisoner, Alice Tankerville, a condemned thief,
the guard, John Bawd, was destined to enter the Tower record books, he is the first known
occupant of a peculiarly infamous cell used during the reigns of the Tudors and
early Stuarts, named Little Ease, the windowless cell measured 4 square feet (1.2
meters) its effect was simple, the prisoner within it could not stand nor sit
nor lie down but was forced to crouch over, in increasing agony, until freed
from the suffocating, dark space, apparently in the 16th century prisoners
were unquestionably tortured in the Tower of London, the royal family rarely
used the fortress on the Thames as a residence; more and more, its stone
buildings contained prisoners, “It was during the time of the Tudors that the
use of torture reached its height,” wrote historian L.A. Parry in his 1933
book The History of Torture in England. “Under Henry VIII it was
frequently employed; it was only used in a small number of cases in the reigns
of Edward VI and of Mary. It was whilst Elizabeth sat on the throne that it was
made use of more than in any other period of history.” The lovers were
condemned to horrible ends for trying to escape. According to a letter in the
State Papers of Lord Lisle, written on March 28, Alice Tankerville
was “hanged in chains at low water mark upon the Thames on Tuesday. John
Bawd is in Little Ease cell in the Tower and is to be racked and hanged.” According to this article the whereabouts of the room is unknown, having said that this one names where it is, in any event it does not sound pleasant, at all!
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