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Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and
public humiliation Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned puni ...
. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in
Solon Solon ( grc-gre, Σόλων;  BC) was an Athenian statesman, constitutional lawmaker and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic Athens.Aristotle ''Politics'' ...
's law code. The law describing its use is cited by the orator
Lysias Lysias (; el, Λυσίας; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was a logographer (speech writer) in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace i ...
: "“He shall have his 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 The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the stocks ...
, 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, or subjected to other inhumane acts. In the Bible, the treatment of
Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
and
Silas Silas or Silvanus (; Greek: Σίλας/Σιλουανός; fl. 1st century AD) was a leading member of the Early Christian community, who according to the New Testament accompanied Paul the Apostle on his second missionary journey. Name and et ...
, disciples of Jesus, was detailed in the
Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its messag ...
: "Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks." The
Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
's
book of Job The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars ar ...
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 In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
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
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
s, 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 ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' 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 improved the occasion by deliberately pulling off their shoes and tickling the soles of their defenseless feet." England's
Statute of Labourers 1351 The Statute of Labourers was a law created by the English parliament under King Edward III in 1351 in response to a labour shortage, which aimed at regulating the labour force by prohibiting requesting or offering a wage higher than pre-Plague sta ...
prescribed the use of the stocks for "unruly artisans" and required that every town and village erect a set of stocks. This Act was repealed in 1863. Sources indicate that the stocks were used in England for over 500 years and have never been formally abolished. Finger pillories often went by the name of "finger stocks". Public stocks were typically positioned in the most public place available, as
public humiliation Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned puni ...
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,
tickling Tickling is the act of touching a part of a body in a way that causes involuntary twitching movements or laughter. The word evolved from the Middle English ''tikelen'', perhaps frequentative of ''ticken'', to touch lightly. In 1897, psycholo ...
to
paddling Paddling with regard to watercraft is the act of manually propelling a boat using a paddle. The paddle, which consists of one or two blades joined to a shaft, is also used to steer the vessel. The paddle is not connected to the boat (unlike in r ...
, whipping of the unprotected feet (
bastinado Foot whipping, falanga/falaka or bastinado is a method of inflicting pain and humiliation by administering a beating on the soles of a person's bare feet. Unlike most types of flogging, it is meant more to be painful than to cause actual injury ...
). Their last recorded use in the United Kingdom was in 1872 at either
Adpar Adpar, formerly Trefhedyn, is a village in Ceredigion, Wales, in the community of Llandyfriog, now considered as a part of Newcastle Emlyn to which it is joined by a bridge across the River Teifi. In ancient times Adpar was a borough in its own r ...
,
Newcastle Emlyn Newcastle Emlyn ( cy, Castellnewydd Emlyn) is a town on the River Teifi, straddling the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in West Wales. It is also a community entirely within Carmarthenshire, bordered by those of Llangeler and Cenarth ...
, west
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
or
Newbury, Berkshire Newbury is a market town in the county of Berkshire, England, and is home to the administrative headquarters of West Berkshire Council. The town centre around its large market square retains a rare medieval Cloth Hall, an adjoining half timbere ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
(11 June). In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, court records from 1811 required the building of a set of stocks for punishment. The Spanish
conquistadores Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to ...
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 Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
to punish indigenous
miners A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...
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 Thame is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the county border wi ...
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. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, police in Chinu, Colombia, placed residents who broke quarantine in stocks for a few hours.


Examples

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 In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.


England

*
Evesham Evesham () is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Evesha ...
, Worcestershire, on Merstow Green. *
Eyam Eyam () is an English village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales that lies within the Peak District National Park. There is evidence of early occupation by Ancient Britons on the surrounding moors and lead was mined in the area by the Roma ...
, Derbyshire; 18th century, on the village green. *
Little Longstone Little Longstone is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district, in the county of Derbyshire, England. The village is on a minor road west of Great Longstone, just off the B6465 road from Wardlow to Ashford-in-the-Water. There is ...
, Derbyshire; stone stock-ends in a small walled recess on the village street, dating from the 17th century or earlier. *
Canewdon Canewdon is a village and civil parish in the Rochford district of Essex, England. The village is located approximately northeast of the town of Rochford, while the parish extends for several miles on the southern side of the River Crouch. Can ...
, Essex; inside the village lock-up, dated 1775. *
Aldbury Aldbury () is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, near the borders of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in the Bulbourne valley close to Ashridge Park. The nearest town is Tring. Uphill from the narrow valley are the Bridgew ...
, Hertfordshire; combined stocks and whipping post on the village green. *
Great Amwell Great Amwell is a village and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is southeast of Ware and about north of London. History On a hill above the church there are some traces of an Iron Age ...
, Hertfordshire; in the churchyard but originally sited behind a public house. *
North Turton North Turton is a civil parish of the unitary authority of Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire, England. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001 the civil parish has a population of 3,736, increasing to 3,867 at the 2011 Census. North Turton ...
, Lancashire; 18th or 19th century stocks in the High Street. *
Haveringland Haveringland is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk about north-west of Norwich. It covers an area of and had a population of 187 in 69 households at the 2001 census.Oakham Market Cross and stocks,
Oakham Oakham is the county town of Rutland in the East Midlands of England, east of Leicester, south-east of Nottingham and west of Peterborough. It had a population of 10,922 in the 2011 census, estimated at 11,191 in 2019. Oakham is to the west o ...
, Rutland. *
Alfold Alfold is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England on the West Sussex border. Alfold is a dispersed or polyfocal village in the Green Belt, which is buffered from all other settlements. The Greensand Way runs north of the village along th ...
, Surrey; 18th century stocks and whipping post under a roof outside the church. *
Bilton, Warwickshire Bilton is a suburb of Rugby in Warwickshire, England, located about south-west of Rugby town centre. It is also a ward of the Borough of Rugby, which at the 2021 Census had a population of 6,544. It comprises much of the western half of the town ...
; last used in 1866, located on The Green since 1954. *
Ufton Ufton is a small village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District of Warwickshire, England. The population taken from the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 319. It is south east of Royal Leamington Spa and west of Southam ...
, Warwickshire; 18th century or earlier, by the churchyard wall. *
Huntley, Gloucestershire Huntley, Gloucestershire, is a village on the A40 located seven miles (11 km) west of Gloucester. It is in the north of the Forest of Dean. History Huntley (meaning Huntsman's clearing) is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Huntelei. T ...


Northern Ireland

*
Dromore, County Down Dromore () is a small market town and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies within the local government district of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon. It is southwest of Belfast, on the A1 Belfast–Dublin road. The 2011 ...
; in the Market Square.


See also

*
Stock (cage) A cattle crush (in UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Botswana and Australia), squeeze chute (North America), cattle chute (North America), standing stock, or simply stock (North America, Ireland) is a strongly built stall or cage for holding cattle, ...
*
Shrew's fiddle A shrew's fiddle or neck violin is a variation of the yoke, pillory or rigid irons whereby the wrists are locked in front of the bound person by a hinged board or steel bar. It was originally used in the Middle Ages as a way of punishing those w ...
*
Wheel clamp A wheel clamp, also known as wheel boot, parking boot, or Denver boot, is a device that is designed to prevent motor vehicles from being moved. In its most common form, it consists of a clamp that surrounds a vehicle wheel, designed to preven ...
the equivalent restraining device for vehicles with wheels.


References


External links

{{EB1911 Poster, Stocks
Photos of village stocks in the UK on geograph.org.uk
Medieval instruments of torture Modern instruments of torture Corporal punishments Physical restraint European instruments of torture