Samuel Burrows And The Gallows Pole
As it happens, my favourite band of all time is Led Zeppelin and one of my favourite tracks happens to be Gallows Pole. Some may be thinking, “yes, so what.” And also thinking, “no one called Samuel Burrows released a version of Gallows Pole. What’s he on about?” Samuel Burrows may not have had a musical involvement with a classic Led Zeppelin track, but he did have some involvement with a gallows pole. This of course will probably raise another question. Who is, or was, Samuel Burrows? A good question indeed. Read on to find out more. Led Zeppelin fans out there, you may wish to stick Led Zeppelin 3 on the turntable and play track one, side two to get you right in the mood.
Samuel Burrows And The Gallows Pole
It would be of little, or no surprise, if the name of Samuel Burrows might be unfamiliar to you. But that’s all about to change with the release of a new book at the end of this month. This new book, written by local author Nick Kevern, will certainly bring him to your attention.
The book is called “The Noose of Samuel Burrows: Tales of a 19th Century Hangman and Those He Condemned.”, It is being published by Pen & Sword Books, and it examines the life of Cheshire’s notorious Georgian executioner together with those unfortunate souls who found their way to his macabre gallows above the gatehouse of New City Gaol during his 26-year career.
Twenty six years!! Now that is one long career in any niche, discipline or profession. Imagine the end of work conversation in his house. “Good day at work today Samuel?” Where, or how, do you begin to answer that question. For the purpose of this article we can begin with a brief, closer look at the man himself. No, not Robert Plant lead singer of Led Zeppelin. We’ve moved on from them. I mean Samuel Burrows.
Samuel Burrows All In A Day’s Work
A brief look at Samuel Burrows career looks a bit like this. From 1809 to 1835, Burrows publicly executed over 53 convicted criminals in Chester, with further executions taking place in Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Hereford, Ruthin and Shrewsbury.
Author Nick Kevern highlights the grim reality many faced in the early 19th century as public executions took place in the City of Chester. As Nick explains it, here’s a snippet of what it was like.
“It’s hard for us to imagine a public execution nowadays, but it would have been a major event in Chester. The condemned were paraded through the streets from Chester Castle to what is now the Queen’s School. The streets would have been packed with spectators, with people selling memorabilia and singing songs. On some occasions, up to 10,000 people came to Chester to witness Burrows in action. Executions helped the local economy as hotels and inns were full to the brim.”
Was This Really Entertainment?
The mind boggles. People singing songs, selling memorabilia and hotels and inns full to the brim. It sounds like a cross between a Chester Races day out and a karaoke night in The Oddfellows. It’s hard to imagine that public executions were a source of entertainment, or seen as a “day out” so to speak. Author Nick has only fairly recently heard of Samuel Burrows himself. As far as executioners are concerned, our Samuel Burrows was far from being a household name when compared to other famous executioners such as James Berry and Albert Pierrepoint.
I suppose it’s a bit like comparing someone like Mo Salah’s footballing fame and recognition to say, a player from a lower league team. Let’s randomly pick a lower league team like Sandiacre Town. With the greatest respect to Sandiacre Town, can anyone apart from Sandiacre fans name any of their star players? I thought not. Mind you though, wouldn’t it be weird if they had a player called Sam Burrows on their books. Oh wait, they have!!
I think you get my drift though. Samuel Burrows wasn’t as well known as others in his line of work. So credit to Nick for unearthing some very interesting facts about him.
Nick Kevern’s Research
It was only when Nick Kevern researched the topic further that he found him in the first place. Again, as Nick himself says:
“I found Samuel Burrows purely by chance in the Chester Archives on Duke Street. The original project was meant to focus on the history of execution in Chester, but stumbling upon Burrows piqued my interest. It was almost as if I was being urged to write something about him.”
It led Nick to uncover more about the notorious hangman in ways that have not been done before, prompting the author to venture to archives across the country to find out more.
In telling the story of Samuel Burrows, Kevern has looked further than just the executions he performed and has also focused on his disjointed family life and his descent into alcoholism.
“Alcohol was an important part of Georgian life. The inn was where people gathered, gossiped, and where business deals were struck. But for Burrows, it was where he was most likely to be found. Parading himself with self-importance, trying to sell things from executions and drinking on credit. It was a perfect storm for his descent into alcoholism really.”
The book does not focus solely on Burrows. Nick has also investigated those who found their way to his gallows and the social history behind their crimes.
Imagine the last few hours of someone destined for Samuel Burrows gallows pole. You can picture the scene. He loves his job, he’s looking forward to his next “assignments” and to really rub salt into the wounds for the criminals awaiting the inevitable, he was full of ale!!
Samuel Burrows And Criminals
In today’s society it is hard to fully understand who would be deserving of such a finale to their own lives. Murderers of course spring to mind. But Burrows client list, for want of a better phrase, weren’t all murderers. As Nick puts it:
“Not everyone was a murderer; many of those who found their way onto Burrows’ gallows were petty thieves, arsonists, Luddites, Swing Rioters, and Utterers. For some, the changing times of the Industrial and Agricultural Revolution left them behind and in a state of desperation. The question you always have to ask is…what would you do in their situation?”
Burrows himself worked during a time of great change. He was employed as Cheshire’s executioner during the era of the “Bloody Code” where over 200 crimes were punishable by death. Can you imagine that, 200 crimes punishable by death. You wouldn’t leave the house would you. Unless that in itself was a crime worthy of an execution.
Samuel Burrows And One Of Today’s Every Day Woes
It would seem that during his eventful career, Samuel Burrows happened to fall foul to one of today’s employment woes. Job cut backs. A big reason for this was because, during his career, reformers such as Sir Robert Peel aimed and succeeded in reducing the number of crimes that could lead to a death sentence. Ergo, less crimes equals less executions. Bad news in the Burrows household no doubt, but great news for others. Nick sums it up perfectly:
“Whilst the rest of the country celebrated the easing of the death penalty, it was a disaster for men like Burrows. Overnight, he saw his livelihood dwindle to the point where he needed to get another job. With most of Chester taking a dislike to him, he ended up being a rat-catcher to supplement his income.”
Go figure. There’s not a lot down for you really is there when your job hours have been cut, not many people like you and even the rat population has it in for you. No wonder he quaffed a few sherbets.
Samuel Burrows Book Release
The book, however, is only the first step in Nick Kevern’s plans to reintroduce the notorious hangman back into the minds of Cestrians and Chester’s history. Audio Tours of the city, visiting the sites where Burrows worked and lived, are due to be released, and local brewery, Weetwood, have produced an English Pale Ale to commemorate the book’s release.
How spooky and popular could that well be. A Samuel Burrows themed walking tour of Chester. Now that would be fascinating for more than morbid reasons. Put me down for a bit of that. Nick summarises it as follows:
“This is not just the story of Samuel Burrows and the work that he did. This is a story about those who were victims of the Georgian justice system that saw public execution as a means to control the populace. Bringing their stories to the forefront of people’s minds is arguably more important. They need to be remembered too.”
So, make a note of the title and its release date. The Noose of Samuel Burrows: Tales of a 19th Century Hangman and Those He Condemned. It is released on 30th September 2025 and it is available from all bookshops.
You can out more by visiting – www.thenooseofsamuelburrows.com
Right, time to flip the vinyl over. Cue track one, side one – Immigrant Song.
Chester Lifestyle Blog Posts
Thanks for visiting my Chester Lifestyle website and thanks for reading my latest Samuel Burrows blog post. A blog post about a new book entitled – The Noose of Samuel Burrows: Tales of a 19th Century Hangman and Those He Condemned – written by local author, Nick Kevern. I’m certainly looking forward to reading it. Best of luck in your book release Nick. I wish you every success with it Nick and all that might follow. Certainly a different trip down Memory Lane but undoubtedly a very interesting one.
If you would like to see all of my other blog posts on a variety of topics, then visit HERE.
And going off on a complete tangent and as this is Chester related website. Here’s another “help support a local small business” section.
As This Is A Chester Related Website
As this is a Chester related website, you may be looking for the ideal Chester related gift for your loved ones. If so, then have a look at my Chester section of my new Etsy store. You can find out more about my Etsy store HERE.
Plenty of originally created downloadable digital artwork for you to have a look at HERE. And, as I say, a variety of Chester related products to choose from. Like this artwork image of Chester Bandstand in The Groves:
