Off with their heads ............

This is a full size replica of the Halifax Gibbet which was the forerunner of the 'French' guillotine.
The Halifax Gibbet was a guillotine used for public execution. The earliest reference to this was in 1280 and use continued through to the 17th century, long after the practice had been discontinued in the rest of the country.
This was 600 years before the French guillotine was used.
Dr Joseph Guillotine visited Halifax in his search for a means of execution during the French Revolution.
The gibbet law was swift and unforgiving and it’s notoriety spread throughout the country - Halifax was not the place to steal.
The famous Beggar's Litany 'From Hell, Hull and Halifax, Good Lord deliver us' refers to the gibbet law:
"At Halifax, the Law so sharpe doth deale,
That whoso more than thirteen pence doth steale,
They have a jyn [engine] that wondrous quicke and well
Sends Thieves all headless unto Heav'n or Hell".

No further comment required - but if you view 'large' you will see the blade - not much bigger than a axe blade - and the story is that it was never sharpened :-(