Punishment and humiliation

These are the stocks on the village green at Berkswell - they are known to date from the late 18th century, although stocks would have been used as a punishment and humiliation for wrong-doers from Medieval times. You can probably see that the lower parts of these stocks have been fairly recently renovated. Punishment in the stocks generally lasted for at least several hours and often overnight. During this time passers-by would throw all forms of disgusting waste at the petty criminal. The second Statute of Labourers in 1350 ordered that stocks should be made in every town and village in England. Though this statute was never expressly abolished, the punishment of the stocks began to die out in England during the early part of the 19th century. The interesting part about these stocks is that, unusually, they have five holes. This is thought to be due to the fact there were three persistent offenders in the village who would often be sentenced to the stocks - one of whom only had one leg!