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Stocks

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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).

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." 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.

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. The stocks were especially popular among the early American Puritans, who frequently employed the stocks for punishing the "lower class".

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

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."

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. 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. Sources indicate that the stocks were used in England for over 500 years and have never been formally abolished.

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.

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


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. 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.

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." 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.

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.

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 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.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2021)

England

  • Broughton-in-Furness, Cumbria
  • Caverswall, Staffordshire
  • Evesham, Worcestershire, on Merstow Green.
  • Eyam, Derbyshire; 18th century, on the village green.
  • Little Longstone, Derbyshire; stone stock-ends in a small walled recess on the village street, dating from the 17th century or earlier.
  • Canewdon, Essex; inside the village lock-up, dated 1775.
  • Aldbury, Hertfordshire; combined stocks and whipping post on the village green.
  • Great Amwell, Hertfordshire; in the churchyard but originally sited behind a public house.
  • North Turton, Lancashire; 18th or 19th century stocks in the High Street.
  • Haveringland, Norfolk; 1804 or earlier.
  • Oakham Market Cross and stocks, Oakham, Rutland.
  • Alfold, Surrey; 18th century stocks and whipping post under a roof outside the church.
  • Bilton, Warwickshire; last used in 1866, located on The Green since 1954.
  • Ufton, Warwickshire; 18th century or earlier, by the churchyard wall.
  • Poulton-Le-Fylde, Lancashire; 18th century, in the market square.
  • Huntley, Gloucestershire

Northern Ireland

See also

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.

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