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A political history of Britain in the places where it happened: parliament and palace, courts and counting houses, and the streets where people pushed back.
A mosaic in the grass marks the burnt stump that made Speakers' Corner possible.
Protest & dissentIdeas & memoryFree to enter
The Reform League used an oak on this spot as its rallying point in the 1860s, and when its campaign for working men's votes was shut out of Hyde Park in 1866 the crowd broke in and the tree became the symbol of the day. It was burned, and the charred stump went on being used as a noticeboard for later meetings - protest infrastructure, in the most literal sense. The tree is long gone. A circular black-and-white mosaic laid in 2000 and unveiled by Tony Benn marks where it stood, and almost nobody walking to Speakers' Corner notices it. That is the wrong way round: the famous right to speak over there is the outcome, and this is the fight that produced it.
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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.