The Village Stocks: Have You Seen Them?

Right outside our front door, you can’t miss the stocks. Most folk stroll past them on a sunny afternoon with a pint, have a bit of a laugh, and take turns posing for a photo. But if you stop and actually take a proper look at them, you’re looking at hundreds of years of village justice right on our doorstep.
Originally, back in the 1300s, they were carved from great heavy slabs of English oak. Over centuries of Yorkshire winters, driving rain, and no doubt a fair few disgruntled locals trying to kick their way out, that old timber eventually rotted and wore clean away. What you see out there now are the stone uprights set in to take their place and built to last, just like the pub itself, and completely unyielding. The original oak beams have had to be replaced but the stone sybolising where they were and how low someone had to sit uncomfortably in them!
Stocks actually became a legal requirement under King Edward III with the Statute of Labourers in 1351. The Black Death had just ripped through England, leaving crops rotting in the fields and labourIng jobs were sparse. When surviving workers started demanding higher wages or upping sticks for better pay, the Crown put a stop to it and ordered every parish to put up stocks to punish anyone breaking the wage rules. When you consider our inn had already been open and pulling ale for forty-four years by the time that law was passed in 1307, it puts the whole thing into perspective.
Before long, though, the magistrate found a much more frequent use for them right outside the tavern door: drunk and disorderly regulars, fortunately we are blessed with all our customers and have not had to use them in the time we have owned the pub.

By the 1600s, the law stated that if you were convicted of being drunk, you had to hand over five shillings or sit locked up for six long, humiliating hours. If an unlucky soul couldn't pay, they were marched straight out into the cold, locked in place, and left at the mercy of their neighbours of whom were more than happy to jeer, toss rotten veg, or simply stand there supping a fresh ale right in front of them. How mean!!

Next time you’re sitting out front enjoying a drink, spare a thought for the poor devils who spent an afternoon clamped into that cold stone and be thankful that these days, the only penalty for having one too many bevvies is a sore head in the morning Haha! xx