Hidden Britain AtlasOpen the map
All places › Gibbets & executions
Execution site

The Hartlepool Monkey

Hartlepool, County Durham

The townsfolk who, legend says, hanged a monkey as a French spy.

During the Napoleonic Wars, so the story goes, a French ship was wrecked off Hartlepool, and the only survivor was the ship's monkey, dressed in a uniform. Having never seen a Frenchman, the locals decided it must be a French spy, held a trial on the beach, and hanged it.

Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.

Open The Hartlepool Monkey on the mapReport a sighting here
When
Legend, Napoleonic Wars
Where
54.6900, -1.2100
Group
Gibbets & executions

Visiting

A statue of the monkey stands on Hartlepool marina.

Nearby mysteries