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The History behind this place is that there has been a sighting of a figure of a man walk through a solid wall which was seen by two policemen in 1972.
This street was where the last public execution in 1806
took place in Birmingham. The man who meet his death at the gallows was
called "Phillip Matsell". Matsell was in a gang of petty criminals who
operated in the Snow Hill area but shortly before his execution Matsell
was involved with a lady called Kate Pedley who apparently was a member of
a rival gang who wanted to be the only gang working in this area.
On the evening of 18 July 1806, Kate had an opportunity
to discredit Matsell's gang. Matsell had been on a drinking binge & had
fallen asleep so Kate stole his clothes and dressed in them herself & went
on a rampage around the streets of Snow Hill. Her main aim was to get
noticed but a nightwatchman approached her and Kate took out a pistol,
shot him. He died and Kate escaped but not before witnesses could make a
mental note of the culprit. Cause of the witness descriptions Matsell was
arrested and sent for trial at Warwick Assizes. Despite claiming his
innocence and putting forward his defence Matsell was found guilty and
sentenced to death - to be hung by the spot where the deed was committed.
The execution was on 22 August on an erected scaffold
near the junction of Great Charles Street & Snow Hill. Matsell was
transported from Warwick on a horse-drawn cart with a priest on one side
and the hangman on the other with his coffin in front of him. Matsell was
reported to be very calm. After the execution it was rumoured that fellow
gang members buried his body in the graveyard of nearby St Phillip's
church, this would of been done illegally as he was a convicted murderer.
The questions that are still asked today are: Was
Matsell wrongly accused? Was it his ghost the policemen saw? Are there any
more accounts of anybody seeing this ghost?
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