THE LAW
Every town had to have them
After the Black Death, the Statute of Labourers of 1351 made every township provide stocks. Anyone offering or demanding high wages could be set in them for up to 3 days.
Check the sentences
A HISTORY OF THE VILLAGE STOCKS
Feet in
the stocks.
On many English village greens stands an odd wooden bench with holes for ankles.
For centuries, stocks were how villages punished small offences in public. This independent history guide explains the laws behind them, who ended up sitting in them and why so few survive. It is about wooden stocks, not the financial kind.
1351 every town a set
Check the sentences- Laws required them
- Shame did the work
- Few survive
- A punishment you can still visit
THE SHORT ANSWER
What they were,
and why.
Stocks hold the feet; a pillory holds the neck and arms.
Both relied on public shame.
THE DEVICE
Boards around the ankles
Stocks are hinged wooden boards that close around the ankles, sometimes the wrists too, holding the offender seated. Passers-by could jeer, throw rubbish or tickle their feet.
How they ended
TODAY
Some are listed buildings
Hungerford's 17th-century timber stocks, with four holes and a whipping post, have been Grade II listed since 1962.
Spotting a set
FOUR THINGS TO LOOK FOR
Reading a set
of stocks.
Next time you pass a set on a green or in a churchyard, these details tell you more about it.
Count the holes
Sets vary. Hungerford's 17th-century timber stocks, for example, have four holes and a whipping post.
Look for a whipping post
Whipping posts became a common part of stocks during the rising vagrancy of the late 1500s; whipping was the usual punishment for petty theft.
Note where it stands
Stocks were often near the church or at a central spot. Meldreth's stand on a small green near the former home of a local family who may have held judicial powers.
Check if it is listed
Many surviving stocks are protected as listed buildings, and some have been heavily restored in the 19th and 20th centuries.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Thousands once,
hundreds now.
Wooden stocks rot, and many were destroyed.
Those left are often restored or replicas.
11,000+
Estimated sets of stocks by the 1700s
A statute of 1405 added a duty for every manor to provide stocks, on top of the 1351 duty on every township.
NORFOLK MUSEUM SERVICE
≤ 400
Sets left in an early 1900s survey
Some authorities preserved their stocks or made replicas; others destroyed them as reminders of a brutal past at a time when Victorians wanted to seem civilised.
NORFOLK MUSEUM SERVICE
Both figures are estimates quoted by the Norfolk Museum Service, not exact counts.
A QUICK SENTENCE CHECK
How long
in the stocks?
Pick an offence to see the time in the stocks set by old English statutes, as summarised by the Norfolk Museum Service. The bar shows how long.
In practice, authorities often preferred fines, which were used to fund poor relief.
HOW THEY ENDED
Never abolished,
just abandoned.
Stocks were in use in England by the Saxon period and appear in the Utrecht Psalter of about 820 AD. The 1351 Statute of Labourers was not fully repealed until 1863, so in theory stocks could be used until then. Most had fallen out of use by 1850.
The last recorded use in the UK was at Newbury, Berkshire, on 11 June 1872. In Meldreth, Cambridgeshire, the stocks are thought to have last been used in 1860, for brawling in church. Sources note that stocks have never been formally abolished.
Questions
Questions people ask
What is the difference between stocks and a pillory?
Stocks hold the ankles, and sometimes the wrists, with the person seated. A pillory has boards on a post around the neck and arms, so the person has to stand.
Why were stocks put in every village?
The Statute of Labourers of 1351 required every township to provide a set, as a response to the labour shortage after the Black Death. A 1405 statute required every manor to have them too.
When were stocks last used in England?
The last recorded use in the UK was at Newbury, Berkshire, on 11 June 1872. Most had fallen out of use by 1850.
How many sets of stocks survive?
A survey in the early 1900s found no more than 400 sets, compared with an estimated 11,000 or more by the 1700s.
Is this site about stock markets?
No. It is an independent history guide to wooden village stocks. It gives no financial, investment or legal advice.
Sources
- Norfolk Museum Service (David Tonge, 2002), via Itteringham.com: Village stocks history
- Meldreth History: The stocks and whipping post
- British Listed Buildings: Village Stocks, Hungerford (Grade II)
- Wikipedia: Stocks
Updated