The Executioner

While Col. Peter Stubbers lived at 15 High Street, his neighbour to the rear was the executioner “prime suspect”, Richard Gunning. The belief at the time was that Gunning was given the property as payment for his part in the execution of King Charles I - the ‘Price of Royal Blood’. He was also making a very successful living by exporting white slaves from Galway to work on his plantation in the West Indies. Gunning was facilitated in this operation by his neighbour Col. Stubbers. This arrangement continued very profitably for both parties until, in 1655, Col. Stubbers, having made himself extremely unpopular, was removed as Governor.

As legend has it Gunning was heard to boast in the Taverns of Galway that his arm “had felt the muscles on the neck of the King of England”. It is more likely however that on that fateful day, 3rd Jan 1649, the man who executed Charles I was in fact Col. Peter Stubbers. Research by Galway historian Jackie Uí Chionna directly links Stubbers to the execution of the King. Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II introduced the Act of Indemnity which pardoned those who conspired against his father. However he specifically exempted Stubbers from this ‘pardon’. This along with the subsequent ‘disappearance’ of Stubbers makes it extremely likely that he did indeed have a real case to answer. It was a case, then, of ‘right legend, wrong man!’

One thing for sure, the building genuinely lays claim to the name ‘The Kings Head’!