The buildings in Stanhope Place, where the Parkwood Hotel is situated, were built in the reign of William IV during the early 1800’s at the heart of a district then known as Tyburnia, located near the site of the infamous Tyburn Tree, the King's gallows between 1196 and 1783. The Tyburn tree was a huge triangular construction, the three posts were 18 feet high and the crossbeams were nine feet long - capable of hanging 24 (eight on each horizontal beam) prisoners at once. Records only show it being used at full capacity once, in 1649, but days when only one person was hanged were very rare.

Hangings were a big public festival. Most Mondays a crowd of around 10,000 people attended the executions but, when the case had received a lot of publicity, numbers could reach more than 50,000. The rich rented upper-storey rooms in houses and pubs along the route from Newgate Prison to the gallows (Oxford St. was part of this route and was called Tyburn Rd. at that time) so that they could get the best views. The prisoners were conveyed in open carts and the procession would stop at several inns on the way where the condemned prisoner would always be offered wine. The expression “one for the road” (i.e. to the gallows) originated as a result of this practise and it was a rule that one of the guards minding the prisoner had to remain in charge of the cart so, as they could not drink, the saying "on the wagon" is thought to have originated from this time.
The hangman was entitled to the clothes of the dead, which was why some prisoners would wear their worst rags - they didn't want him to benefit too much. Some prisoners took the opposite view and wore their finest clothes in the hope that the hangman would make it as easy as possible for them. He would then help out by pulling on their legs so that they died more quickly.
The last hanging on the site was November 7, 1783, when a forger took his leave. Today, a plaque marks the approximate location of the gallows but the exact position is not known. However, the Tyburn Tree did exist very near the present site of the Marble Arch, where Bayswater Road, Oxford Street and Park Lane meet.

Immediately to the rear of the hotel is a monastery, the Tyburn Convent, founded near the famous site of the martyrdom on the gallows of more than 100 Roman Catholic Reformation Martyrs. This monastery is now the Mother House of a Congregation which now has monasteries in England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and in Peru, Ecuador and in Colombia. A sister is available for guided tours of their shrine daily at 10.30am, 3.30pm and 5.30pm.

Interesting links

http://www.historic-uk.com/DestinationsUK/SpeakersCorner.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-london/A988833
http://www.tyburnconvent.org.uk/home/index.html