The grave of Rick Turpin – England’s most infamous highwayman – is tucked away on a quiet street St George’s Roman Catholic Church.
He was executed by hanging at York Tyburn – Knavesmire – after a criminal career that included poaching, housebreaking, armed robbery, murder, and – most notoriously – highway robbery.
Born in 1705 to a butcher and innkeeper named John Turpin and his wife Mary, it is though he first worked with his father.
He married in 1725 and opened his own butcher shop in Buckhurst Hill, Essex.
He started a side hustle dealing in stolen game, and progressed to join a violent gang of robbers, known as The Gregory Gang.
When most of the gang were captured, he turned to highway robbery and became England’s most wanted after murdering a man who tried to apprehend hi,.
Fleeing to Yorkshire, he continued his life of crime and was eventually caught in Beverly.
Imprisoned at York Castle Museum, he was tried in March 1739 and sentenced to death by hanging.
The gravestone is in St George’s Churchyard.