30th January 1661: Oliver Cromwell posthumously executed, two and a half years after his death

On the twelfth anniversary of Charles I’s execution, Cromwell’s remains were subjected to a ceremonial trial and then hanged in chains at Tyburn. The body was subsequently decapitated, and the head displayed above Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster.

16th March 1660: England’s Long Parliament dissolved after twenty years in session

The dissolution of the Long Parliament signalled the end of the republican experiment initiated by the Civil War and cleared the way for Charles II to return to England as king, marking the beginning of the Restoration era.