Cromwell’s Body Hanged.
“It was the joyfullest funeral that ever I saw, for there were none that cried but dogs, which the soldiers hooted away with as barbarous noise, drinking, and taking tobacco in the streets.”
On the eve of January 30, 1661, the bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, and the regicide Bradshaw were dug from their graves. The next day they were dragged to Tyburn and hanged with their faces to Westminster Hall, where they had sentenced Charles to death. The corpses were buried at the foot of the gallows, where Connaught Square is now, and the heads, impaled on pikes, remained for years above the entrance of Westminster Hall.
After many years a high wind carried the head of the Lord Protector down. A soldier made off with it, and in 1779 it was on exhibition in Old Bond Street. A private family is now in possession of the ghastly relic—the features so well preserved that the large wart over one eye which was so noticeable in life is still plainly visible.