8am Wednesday the 10th August 1864 saw the end of the Fiskerton murderer, RIchard Thomas Parker, and the end of public executions in Nottingham. After this date all executions became a private affair witnessed by only a handful of officials.

Richard Thomas Parker, aged 29, was a drunk and prone to execessive violence. After a drunken row with his father, Parker shot them both along with Miss Tutbury (Parkers 75 year old Grandmother whos attempt to save her son from harm resulted in her death). Parkers father survived but his mother was not so lucky.

Many people gathered to watch the execution the night before outside the Shire Hall, it was estimated at 10,000.

The scaffold was surrounded by boarding about 4 feet high to prevent onlookers seeing the prisoner after the drop.

2 minutes before 8am the actiong under-sherrif Mr JT Brewster, the chaplain Reverend W Howard, the prisoner Richard Thomas Parker and the hangman appeared on the scaffold. Parker was engaged in prayer as the white hood was placed over his head. As the chaplain uttered the words "In the midst of life we are in death" the bolt was drawn and Parker hung.

After hanging on the gallows for an hour, the body was cut down, quick lime added to the coffin and buried under the slabs in the backyard.

Richard Thomas Parkers headstone can be seen in front of the window on the first archway in the picture, the initial are R.T.P and not R.I.P.