Canterbury Pillory

Overview

Sources

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Overview

Nation   England

County   Kent

Location   Former Market Place,  Canterbury

Map location   in the vicinity

Year opened   Before 1518

Year closed   Unknown

Century of Operation   1500-1599

Building Type   Pillory

Remarks   Located in the Market Place but the modern location of the old market could not be ascertained. New cage built beside the pillory c.1518 (see separate listing)

Descriptions

'It was formerly a common custom to put persons in the pillory during the time of public market. We may name, as an example, a case occurring at Canterbury, in 1524. A man was set up in the pillory, which was in the Market Place, and bearing on his head a paper inscribed, "This is a false, perjured, and forsworn man." He was confined in the pillory until the market was over, and then led to Westgate and thrust out of the town, still wearing the paper. "If he be proud," says an old writer, "he may go home and shew himself among his neighbours."'

William Andrews, 'Bygone Punishments'. London: William Andrews & Co., 1899.

'...in 1518-19 carpenters and sawyers had been paid for the construction "of the new Cage standing beside the pillory" intended for "scolds and other malefactors"'

Karen Jones, Gender and Petty Crime in Late Medieval England: The Local Courts in Kent, 1460-1560. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2006. P.125

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SOURCES

    William Andrews, 'Bygone Punishments'. London: William Andrews & Co., 1899.

  • http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29117/29117-h/29117-h.htm
  • Karen Jones, Gender and Petty Crime in Late Medieval England: The Local Courts in Kent, 1460-1560. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2006.

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