With stocks, boards are placed around the legs or the wrists, whereas in the pillory they are placed around the arms and neck and fixed to a pole, and the victim stands. However, the terms can be confused, and many people refer to the pillory as the stocks.

The practice of using stocks continues to be cited as an example of cruel and unusual punishment.

Historical uses

Public stocks were typically positioned in the most public place available, as public humiliation was a critical aspect of such punishment. Typically, a person condemned to the stocks was subjected to a variety of abuses, ranging from having refuse thrown at them, paddling, and tickling, to whipping of the unprotected feet, a now illegal action called bastinado.

The stocks were used in Elizabethan England, and by the Puritans in the colonial period of American history. Their last recorded use in the United Kingdom was in 1872 at Adpar, west Wales.

Current uses

The stocks have also taken on a lighter image, as they are often found at Renaissance Fairs where the public can experience a form of "stocks entertainment" by watching actors locked in the stocks.

Examples

An excellent example of stocks can be seen in Dromore, County Down, in Northern Ireland.

Locations of examples in England include:

• Aldbury
• Chapel en le Frith
• Chapeltown, Lancashire
• Lymm, Cheshire
• Nottingham
• Prestbury, Cheshire
• Seamer, North Yorkshire
• Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire

See also

• Barrel pillory
• Stock (cage)

References