In the middle of all the different towers is the Tower Green. It's basically the courtyard area. The Tower Green was used as a burial grounds and as the location of some executions.
Most executions were conducted out at the Tower Hill; however, the public could view those. It was a "privilege" for the elite to be executed in the Tower Green because it was less of a spectacle.Of the people executed here, three were queens. Two of the queens were wives of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn (his 2nd wife) and Katherine Howard (his 5th.) The other queen was Lady Jane Grey. She only reigned for nine days and was executed in 1554 for high treason (capturing the throne of Mary I.)
Nearly all executions carried out here were decapitations by axe.
Today, a monument to the seven people executed in the Tower Green stands in the old location of the scaffold. On a side note, the death penalty in Britain has been completely abolished since 1998.
