Photo: Guy Carpenter, Gullwing Photography When my daughter was young, we once picked her up from school in fancy dress costumes (long story!). She was mortified to see her father walking into the playground in a flowery yellow 1970s suit.
After that if she behaved badly we only had to say "dad will pick you up from school in that yellow suit" and she instantly reformed...
I'm not sure whether that punishment would be better or worse than the one that was used for centuries in England: the village stocks.
After that if she behaved badly we only had to say "dad will pick you up from school in that yellow suit" and she instantly reformed...
I'm not sure whether that punishment would be better or worse than the one that was used for centuries in England: the village stocks.
Double decker stocks in Kettlewell You can still see wooden stocks in several villages around the Yorkshire dales. I can instantly think of the ones in Bainbridge (see above), Kettlewell and Kirkby Malham, but there are many more. Being made of wood, some have long since rotted or been moved away from the village green to a less obvious spot. I like that each village had their own different style.
The basic construction of stocks was broadly similar - moveable planks with holes cut out for the legs, occasionally two tiers to include holes for the arms as well. A boulder or stool may be added for the victim to sit on.
They were used for minor miscreants, such as vagabonds who'd drink too much. Victims were kept in the stocks for a few hours at least, and since they were usually on village greens in full view of passers-by, part of the punishment was the humiliation as people made "laughing stocks" of them, sometimes even throwing rotten vegetables.
The basic construction of stocks was broadly similar - moveable planks with holes cut out for the legs, occasionally two tiers to include holes for the arms as well. A boulder or stool may be added for the victim to sit on.
They were used for minor miscreants, such as vagabonds who'd drink too much. Victims were kept in the stocks for a few hours at least, and since they were usually on village greens in full view of passers-by, part of the punishment was the humiliation as people made "laughing stocks" of them, sometimes even throwing rotten vegetables.
Was Kirkby Malham a particularly unruly place as there as these stocks have space for 3 people? A law was passed in 1350 called the Stature of Labourers to order that every village and town in England should have village stocks. The last recorded use was in Rugby in 1865.
When I was researching their history for this blog (you can see how my whimsical research is a fantastic procrastination activity), I discovered that their use has never been expressly abolished so in theory we could bring them back into use... For politicians maybe?
When I was researching their history for this blog (you can see how my whimsical research is a fantastic procrastination activity), I discovered that their use has never been expressly abolished so in theory we could bring them back into use... For politicians maybe?
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