Stocks

Last updated
Stocks, unlike the pillory or pranger, restrain only the feet. Stocks (PSF).png
Stocks, unlike the pillory or pranger, restrain only the feet.

Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing its use is cited by the orator Lysias: "'He shall have his or her foot confined in the stocks for five days, if the court shall make such addition to the sentence.' The 'stocks' there mentioned, Theomnestus, are what we now call 'confinement in the wood'" (Lys. 10.16). [1]

Contents

Form and applications

The stocks, pillory, and pranger each consist of large wooden boards with hinges; however, the stocks are distinguished by their restraint of the feet.

The stocks consist of placing boards around the ankles and wrists, whereas with the pillory, the boards are fixed to a pole and placed around the arms and neck, forcing the punished to stand.

Victims may be insulted, kicked, tickled, spat on especially between the toes, or subjected to other inhumane acts. In the Bible, the treatment of Paul and Silas, disciples of Jesus, was detailed in the Acts of the Apostles: "Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks." [2] The Old Testament's book of Job also describes the stocks, referring to God:

He puts my feet in the stocks, he watches all my paths. [3]

The stocks were employed by civil and military authorities from medieval to early modern times including Colonial America. Public punishment in the stocks was a common occurrence from around 1500 until at least 1748. [4] The stocks were especially popular among the early American Puritans, who frequently employed the stocks for punishing the "lower class". [5]

In the American colonies, the stocks were also used, not only for punishment, but as a means of restraining individuals awaiting trial. [6]

The offender would be exposed to whatever treatment those who passed by could imagine. This could include tickling of the feet. As noted by the New York Times in an article dated November 13, 1887, "Gone, too, are the parish stocks, in which offenders against public morality formerly sat imprisoned, with their legs held fast beneath a heavy wooden yoke, while sundry small but fiendish boys and girls improved the occasion by deliberately pulling off their socks and shoes and tickling the soles of their defenseless feet." [7]

Village stocks in Bramhall, England. Men in Bramhall stocks 1900.jpg
Village stocks in Bramhall, England.

England's Statute of Labourers 1351 prescribed the use of the stocks for "unruly artisans" and required that every town and village erect a set of stocks. [8] In towns and cities they were commonly placed in prominent central locations, such as the one before Bristol's High Cross. The 1351 Act was repealed in 1863. [9] Sources indicate that the stocks were used in England for over 500 years and have never been formally abolished. [10]

The south prospect of the High Cross in Bristol (1728) Millerd1728dhighcross.jpg
The south prospect of the High Cross in Bristol (1728)

Their last recorded use in the United Kingdom was on 11 June 1872 at Newbury, Berkshire, England. [11]

In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, court records from 1811 required the building of a set of stocks for punishment. [12]


The Spanish conquistadores introduced stocks as a popular form of punishment and humiliation against those who impeded the consolidation of their settlements in the new world. They were still used in the 19th century in Latin America to punish indigenous miners in many countries for rebelling against their bosses.

Modern use

United States

In 1989, the Arkansas town of Dermott passed a curfew law punishable by up to thirty days in jail for the offender and up to two days in the stocks for the offender's parents. [13] The city almost immediately remitted the punishment because, among other things, the city did not have a set of stocks and had allocated no funds to build one. [14]

United Kingdom

The British town of Thame made international headlines in 2016 when it took up a proposal to build stocks in the town. Introduced by Councillor David Bretherton, the stocks would be used for hire and for charitable events. As noted by Bretherton, "Perhaps for charity we could do something like that, get people in the stocks and have others donate money for the time they last while having their feet tickled and syrup poured between their toes for laughs." [15] Bretherton noted that the stocks were still legal in England. It is not believed that the stocks would be used for actual punishment purposes. Currently, further study of the topic is ongoing. [16]

Colombia

In Colombia in 2012, married thirty-four-year-old Alfreda Blanco Basilio and her eighteen-year-old lover Luis Martinez were placed in stocks by the Sampues tribe in Colombia due to Basilio's adultery. Basilio spent 72 hours barefoot in the stocks for her offense. [17]

The Stocks at Belstone in Dartmoor, a Grade II listed monument. Stocks at Belstone.jpg
The Stocks at Belstone in Dartmoor, a Grade II listed monument.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, police in Chinu, Colombia, placed residents who broke quarantine in stocks for a few hours.

Examples

Stocks in Keevil, Wiltshire. Stocks, Keevil, Wiltshire.jpg
Stocks in Keevil, Wiltshire.
Stocks in the churchyard of St Mary's church, Honley, West Yorkshire. Honley stocks 312.jpg
Stocks in the churchyard of St Mary's church, Honley, West Yorkshire.

Stocks are occasionally preserved in churches or museums; as wooden devices they are naturally subject to rotting and decay. Some have been heavily restored in the 19th and 20th centuries. Most are protected as listed buildings.

England

Northern Ireland

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby, Warwickshire</span> Town in Warwickshire, England

Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. At the 2021 census, its population was 78,117, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby, which had a population of 114,400 in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southam</span> Market town in Warwickshire, England

Southam is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England, located about 6+1⁄2 miles (10 km) east-southeast of Leamington Spa. In the 2021 census, the population of Southam was 8,114.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Market cross</span> Structure marking a market square

A market cross, or in Scots, a mercat cross, is a structure used to mark a market square in market towns, where historically the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by the monarch, a bishop or a baron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pillory</span> Restraint used to hold and punish a person in a standing position

The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, used during the medieval and renaissance periods for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the stocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakham</span> Market and county town of Rutland, England

Oakham is a market town and civil parish in Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The town is located 25 miles (40.2 km) east of Leicester, 28 miles (45.1 km) south-east of Nottingham and 23 miles (37.0 km) north-west of Peterborough. It had a population of 12,149 in the 2021 census. Oakham is to the west of Rutland Water and in the Vale of Catmose. Its height above sea level ranges from 325 to 400 ft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public humiliation</span> Form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person

Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned punishment in previous centuries, and is still practiced by different means in the modern era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coleshill, Warwickshire</span> Market town in Warwickshire, England

Coleshill is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England, taking its name from the River Cole, on which it stands. It had a population of 6,900 in the 2021 Census, and is situated 11 miles (18 km) east of Birmingham, 8.5 miles (13.7 km) southeast of Sutton Coldfield, 11 miles (18 km) south of Tamworth, 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Coventry by road and 13 miles (21km) west of Nuneaton. It borders the parish village of Kingshurst in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull to the west. It is also home to the 502 year The Coleshill School seated next to the dual carriageway.

Tickle torture is the prolonged use of tickling to abuse, dominate, harass, humiliate, or interrogate an individual. While laughter is popularly thought of as a pleasure response, in tickle torture, the one being tickled may laugh whether or not they find the experience pleasant. In a tickling situation, laughter can indicate a panic reflex rather than a pleasure response. Tickle torture can cause real physical and mental distress in a victim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Monkton</span> Human settlement in England

West Monkton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 2 miles (3.2 km) north east of Taunton. The parish includes the hamlets of Monkton Heathfield, Bathpool, and Burlinch and the western parts of Coombe and Walford, and had a population of 2,787 at the 2011 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Market Overton</span> Human settlement in England

Market Overton is a village on the northern edge of the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The population of the civil parish was 494 at the 2001 census, increasing to 584 at the 2011 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Croston</span> Village in Lancashire, England

Croston is a village and civil parish near Chorley in Lancashire, England. The River Yarrow flows through the village. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 2,917.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compton Martin</span> Village and civil parish in England

Compton Martin is a small village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in Somerset and in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority in England. The parish has a population of 508. It lies between Chew Valley Lake and Blagdon Lake, north of the Mendip Hills, approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of Bristol on the A368 road Weston-super-Mare to Bath.

<i>Curious Punishments of Bygone Days</i> 1896 book by Alice Morse Earle

Curious Punishments of Bygone Days is a history book published in 1896. It was written by Alice Morse Earle and printed by Herbert S. Stone & Company. Earle was a historian of Colonial America, and she writes in her introduction:

In ransacking old court records, newspapers, diaries and letters for the historic foundation of the books which I have written on colonial history, I have found and noted much of interest that has not been used or referred to in any of those books. An accumulation of notes on old-time laws, punishments and penalties has evoked this volume.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Village lock-up</span> Historic building once used for the temporary detention of people

A village lock-up is a historic building once used for the temporary detention of people in England and Wales, mostly where official prisons or criminal courts were beyond easy walking distance. Lockups were often used for the confinement of drunks, who were usually released the next day, or to hold people being brought before the local magistrate. The archetypal form comprises a small room with a single door and a narrow slit window, grating or holes. Most lock-ups feature a tiled or stone-built dome or spire as a roof and are built from brick, stone and/or timber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judicial corporal punishment</span> Punitive practice

Judicial corporal punishment is the infliction of corporal punishment as a result of a sentence imposed on an offender by a court of law, including flagellation, forced amputations, caning, bastinado, birching, or strapping. Legal corporal punishment is forbidden in most countries, but it still is a form of legal punishment practiced according to the legislations of Brunei, Iran, Libya, the Maldives, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Qatar, as well as parts of Indonesia and Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Augustine's Church, West Monkton</span> Church in Somerset, England

The Church of St Augustine in West Monkton, Somerset, England, dates from the 13th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forthampton</span> Village in Gloucestershire, England

Forthampton is a village in Gloucestershire, England. The village is located three miles from the market town of Tewkesbury and features "a great number of interesting buildings", fine views, several duck ponds, a church, a collection of thatched cottages and farmsteads, a village hall and a village club. Forthampton was designated a Conservation Area in 2003 due to its special architectural and historic interest, character and appearance which it was desirable to preserve and enhance. Notable features of the village include extensive historic buildings clustered around farm houses situated at the centre of the village, the many roadside ponds and grass verges around and between buildings and significant panoramic views.

The Bank Hall Estate is the demesne of the Jacobean mansion house of Bank Hall, including much of land around the village of Bretherton, which is owned by the Lilford Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Andrew's Church, Folkingham</span> Church in England

The Church of St Andrew in Folkingham, Lincolnshire, England, is Grade I–listed Anglican church. Originating in the late 12th century, it was largely completed by the late 15th, with restorations carried out in 1825, 1858 and 1860. It has early Decorated style arcades and a mainly Early English chancel, with a Norman pier where there was an opening into a chantry chapel. On the south side of the church are the remains of stocks and a whipping-post.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutton Mandeville</span> Human settlement in England

Sutton Mandeville is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, in the Nadder valley and towards the east end of the Vale of Wardour. The village lies south of the river and north of the A30 Shaftesbury-Wilton road, about 7 miles (11 km) west of Wilton and 2.5 miles (4 km) east of the large village of Tisbury.

References

  1. ↑ "Lysias, Against Theomnestus 1, section 16". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
  2. ↑ Bible, Acts 16:24. This most likely occurred around the year 57.
  3. ↑ Job 13:27. Biblical scholars are unable to agree on when Job lived. But, it is most likely that he lived somewhere between 2350 and 1400 B.C. "When is Job on the Bible Timeline?". Archived from the original on 2014-12-02. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  4. ↑ Earle, Alice Morse. "Curious Punishments of Bygone Days," (1896), available in digitized form through the Gutenberg project. Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Cox, James A., "Colonial Crimes and Punishments" Archived 2012-11-15 at the Wayback Machine , CW Journal, Spring 2003. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  6. ↑ "Pillory, Stocks and Whipping Post, Colonial Williamsburg, VA - Punishment and Disciplinary Devices on Waymarking.com". www.waymarking.com. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  7. ↑ David Ker, "England in Old Times" (page 11 of New York Times, November 13, 1887)
  8. ↑ 25 Edward III - Statute 1, Chapter 2
  9. ↑ Statute Law Revision Act 1863, 26 and 27 Victoria, Chapter 125
  10. ↑ "Stocks". www.medieval-life-and-times.info. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  11. ↑ Unknown, Sheffield Daily Telegraph (Friday 14 June 1872)
  12. ↑ "Crime & Punishment in Colonial Upper Canada Toronto". www.russianbooks.org. Archived from the original on 23 September 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "New Ordinance in Arkansas Town Threatens Parents with confinement in the stocks". Observer-Reporter. Washington, PA. Associated Press. 13 August 1989. p. A4. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  14. ↑ "Arkansas City Revises Stockade Ordinance". Associated Press News. 22 August 1989. Archived from the original on 1 January 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  15. ↑ "Town council makes bid to reinstate medieval punishment". The Oxford Times. 2 July 2016. Archived from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  16. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-03-19. Retrieved 2017-07-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. ↑ Brian Andrews on NTN24 and RCN, "Couple having an affair put in stocks by Indian tribe in Columbia" Archived 2016-03-09 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ↑ Historic England. "The Stocks, Evesham (1081360)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  19. ↑ Historic England. "VILLAGE STOCKS, CHURCH STREET (1100334)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  20. ↑ Historic England. "Stocks, Main Street (1109911)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  21. ↑ Historic England. "VILLAGE LOCK UP AND STOCKS ADJACENT TO CHURCHYARD, HIGH STREET (1147585)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  22. ↑ "The Stocks and Whipping Post, Stocks Road, Aldbury, Hertfordshire". historicengland.org.uk. Historic England. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  23. ↑ Historic England. "STOCKS IN CHURCHYARD 23 METRES WEST OF TOWER, ST JOHNS LANE (1078744)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  24. ↑ Historic England. "VILLAGE STOCKS, HIGH STREET (1241569)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  25. ↑ "Village Stocks - A Grade II Listed Building in Haveringland, Norfolk". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  26. ↑ Historic England. "Oakham Marketplace Stocks (Grade I) (1073279)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  27. ↑ "The Stocks and Whipping Post - A Grade II Listed Building in Alfold, Surrey". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  28. ↑ "Bilton Stocks, The Green". timetrail.warwickshire.gov.uk. Warwickshire Historic Environment Record. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  29. ↑ "Stocks to NE of Ufton Church". timetrail.warwickshire.gov.uk. Warwickshire Historic Environment Record. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  30. ↑ "TOWN STOCKS MARKET SQUARE DROMORE CO.DOWN". apps.communities-ni.gov.uk/Buildings/. Department for the Communities, NI Government. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.