Made specifically for, but never used in, the execution of the five ring leaders of the Cato Street conspiracy, this axe is a curious reminder of a time when the state readily killed its own citizens. In February 1820, they plotted to kill the Prime Minister and members of the government. They were executed, but by hanging and decapitation, rather than by meeting the block.

Gruesome objects have real appeal to museum visitors. The he temporary exhibition Executions, charting 700 years of executions in London. Visitors can see the smock Charles I was wearing when he was executed (remember kings, you can be overruled); a bedsheet embroidered with human hair and a gibbet cage used for displaying executed bodies.