As well as being a lovely piece of carpentry, Henkersteg (Hangman's Bridge) has a small and gruesome story to tell. The first wooden bridge was built here in 1457, and from the 16th to the 19th centuries the bridge, or rather the tower at the end of the bridge, housed Nuremberg's hangmen. The job of hanging people was, as you might expect, not a popular one, and the job was considered a dishonourable one. Accordingly hangmen lived secluded lives, in this case for reasons lost to history, on this bridge.