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Mar 14, 2021 · Oliver Cromwell's head was passed down through generations before being buried in Cambridge in the 201th century. News. By. Harry Gold Trainee Multimedia Reporter. Oliver Cromwell is one...
Jul 26, 2019 · No, the strange saga of Oliver Cromwell’s head had only just begun. From Palace-Side Attraction to Museum Exhibit. From its perch on the south side of Westminster Hall, Cromwell’s...
Nov 9, 2009 · Bettmann / Getty Images. Oliver Cromwell was a political and military leader in 17th century England who served as Lord Protector, or head of state, of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland...
Nov 2, 2021 · Posthumously convicted of high treason, Cromwell's corpse was hanged and beheaded, and his head was impaled on a 20-foot (6-meter) spike outside of Westminster Hall. In an age when drawing and quartering was also a popular punishment, it takes a special kind of traitor to warrant digging up his dead body and "killing" him again.
During a storm in 1685 Cromwell’s head reportedly fell from the spike and was thrown to the ground. Since then the head has been reportedly through numerous hands, in various private and museum collections, even being put on display numerous times. Eventually it was buried at Sydney Sussex College at Cambridge University.
Cromwell's head was placed on a spike outside the Tower of London, where it remained for 30 years. It was ultimately reburied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1960. Cromwell has been variously described as a military dictator by Winston Churchill, [4] and as a hero of liberty by John Milton, Thomas Carlyle, and Samuel Rawson Gardiner.
In 1960, nearly three hundred years after it was hacked off at Tyburn, Cromwell’s head was reburied in the chapel of Sidney Sussex, his old Cambridge college. The exact location remains a secret. Cromwell’s dead face is still able to stir up strong passions today.
